Many Palestinian Authority Arabs in the Samaria and Binyamin regions are using the olive harvest as an excuse to provoke conflict and incite against Israel, says Saryah Demski, head of the Agricultural Committee for both regions.

“Like what happened just recently near Elon Moreh, when they tried to uproot trees in an attempt to accuse us of the uprooting,” he recalled. “Thank God, in that case we figured it out in time, but there are many attempts to provoke violence here, leftist provocateurs come and exploit the Arabs to try to start riots.”

The IDF has been alert and helpful, he noted. If violence breaks out, he said, “the army responds quickly and puts a stop to it.”