Ahmed Zeidat was tending his olive trees in the occupied West Bank when a group of Israeli settlers came charging towards him.
They punched him in the face and stomach. Zeidat fled on his tractor, with the settlers in pursuit.
Israeli soldiers eventually intervened, removing the settlers - and detaining Zeidat.
His offence, he was told, was being on his own land.
“When I asked the officer why I was being detained, he told me I was on private land that I wasn’t allowed to access,” the Palestinian farmer told Middle East Eye.
Bemused, Zeidat said: “This land is mine. How did it become private, and who does it belong to?”
The soldier, according to Zeidat, replied: “It belongs to us, and you’re not allowed to enter it.”
After a brief detention, Zeidat was released and ordered not to return.
“My land, the fruit of my labour and toil, is forbidden to me,” he said.
“It used to give me 600 kilos of pure olive oil. Now I look at it from afar. I can’t even look, because my heart aches.”
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