As the world races to recognise Palestine, a town in the West Bank symbolises the struggle for statehood.
In empty fields, the mangled remains of old olive trees are evidence of significant upheaval in a relatively quiet part of the West Bank.
Roughly 10,000 olive trees once grew in the fields on the eastern side of the town of Al Mughayyir, providing a living for the residents.
Their roots spent decades stretching deep into the soil, but in late August, they were ripped up by Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers in a major escalation of aggression towards Palestinians in the area.
The olive trees were destroyed during a siege that lasted four days, but the town's deputy mayor Marzouk Abu Naim said the impact on residents would be eternal.
"People are saying, 'All my source of livelihood is gone,'" he tells the ABC.
"They began crying over the olive trees, and saying, 'I have nothing left for me here.'"
Residents who once harvested the groves have been left with nothing but splintered trunks and dried out branches — reminders of what was and may never be again.
"The olive is our symbol, so they want to cut our history."
Al Mughayyir, north-east of Ramallah, is on the front line of a territorial battle in the West Bank.
It is an example of the serious hurdles standing in the way of Palestinians realising statehood, even as countries including Australia line up to recognise it.
The town of around 3,500 people is surrounded to the north, east and south by Jewish settlements and outposts, established by Israeli citizens on occupied Palestinian land.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law but supported by the far-right Israeli government. Outposts, which are unofficial settlements, are considered illegal even under Israeli law but are often approved retrospectively anyway.
The residents of Al Mughayyir have long complained about violence from settlers in the area.
This has ranged from stealing livestock and seizing agricultural land, to setting fire to buildings and vehicles, and shooting at children in the area.
Mr Abu Naim said the situation had taken on a new edge in the years leading up to and since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, with the settlers receiving tacit and, at times, explicit support from the Israeli military.
A kindergarten which sits on Al Mughayyir's south-eastern edge used to have more than 130 students. Now, just over 40 attend.
The proximity to an outpost from which settlers regularly open fire has scared students away, Mr Abu Naim said.
The local school had reported an Israeli military drone hovering over the schoolyard, as students lined up each morning and raised the Palestinian flag.
One man, who did not want to be identified for risk of reprisals, said he could not allow his young children to play in the yard of his home because they would be targeted.
He told the ABC he had been bashed by settlers for speaking to the media before.
Since mid-2023, residents have also been blocked from using the main Alon Highway — which runs on the eastern side of the village near the bulldozed olive groves.
Gates prevent cars from accessing the highway, while settlers violently enforce the road restrictions.
Two homes on the edge of the now-empty olive groves are encased in thick razor wire fencing, to safeguard themselves from further settler attacks. They put it up after a resident was shot by settlers who were wandering through the town, harassing locals.
Signs along the perimeter warn the fence is electrified.
Army bulldozes 3,000 trees
Tensions boiled over in late August when the whole village was sieged and thousands of olive trees were bulldozed.
On August 21 the military alleged a gunman from Al Mughayyir had attacked settlers in a nearby outpost and then fled from authorities through the trees.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later that morning entered the town and blocked the exits, preventing people from entering or leaving.
The next day, Avi Bluth, the head of the IDF Central Command, ordered 3,000 trees be removed in what was ostensibly a security measure: improving visibility from the highway.
"This clearing was carried out immediately to prevent a life-threatening situation caused by the concealed area, which obstructed the identification of enemy movement," the IDF told the ABC.
Palestinians could do nothing as olive trees — some that had been standing for more than 100 years — were ripped apart.
Video shot by an IDF soldier operating a bulldozer ripping through the groves, was posted on social media with the caption: "You sons of whores, don't mess with me, next terror attack I'll take down a house."
Major General Bluth went further in his explanation for the measure, reportedly saying there needed to be a message sent to the Al Mughayyir community that anyone who attacked settlers would "pay a heavy price".
His language prompted the Association for Civil Rights in Israel to accuse him of war crimes in the West Bank and demand an investigation by the military watchdog.
But the IDF stood behind him, and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his "full support" for Major General Bluth and all soldiers.
During the siege Palestinians were trapped, attacked and injured, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
Ambulances were prevented from entering the town. A woman in labour had tear gas canisters fired in her direction as she tried to reach one. A few medical cases managed to flee on foot.
IDF soldiers conducted house-to-house searches, ransacked their contents and physically assaulted residents.
Two children suffered fractures and bruises in their upper bodies and 11 people — including five children and an infant — suffered from tear gas inhalation.
A total of 14 Palestinians were detained, including a child and the head of the village council. Most were released a few days later with several having been physically assaulted, OCHA said.
'Why destroy them?'
The clearing of the olive trees continued well beyond what the military ordered — and, soon afterwards, settlers joined in with bulldozers, uprooting a further 7,000 trees.
"Why did they cut [trees] here? Why destroy them?" Mr Abu Naim said.
"These people rely only on agriculture, on the olives and sheep. [The settlers] have besieged the village in an extreme way."
Residents in Al Mughayyir accused some settlers of taking the trees back to their communities.
One of the nearby Jewish communities is Shilo, to the north of Al Mughayyir.
Its outskirts are visible from the now cleared olive groves, peaking through the hills, and some of its residents stand accused of attacking the villagers.
Shilo is one of the longest standing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, established in 1978 and now housing a population of almost 6,000 people.
Some residents, such as American-born Yisrael Medad, have distanced themselves from those perpetrating violence on Palestinians in nearby communities.
"I feel it's so unfortunate … because I don't want Jews to be acting illegally or extreme," he told the ABC.
"We have a good case [to be there], we have a logical case, we have [a] rational case, and I think that if we pursue it better, more people will be convinced and influenced about our arguments."
But when it comes to Al Mughayyir, Mr Medad insisted it was the Jewish settlers who were threatened.
"It's a terror village, like many other villages unfortunately," he claimed.
"I am not for, as we say, taking the law into your [own] hands or individual actions, but the situation is that Al Mughayyir is not a peaceful village or just sitting there and happens to have Jews flooding the place or throwing rocks or even setting fire.
"There's a background situation to that, and unfortunately it reflects on the larger struggle that we've had here over the past century."
Mr Abu Naim rejected the allegation his community was a "terror village".
"We have never killed a settler, we have not killed a settler," he said.
But, like many settlers, Mr Medad's belief in the right for Israelis to settle in the West Bank is ironclad.
He rejects last year's ruling from the International Court of Justice stating Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal, labelling it a "political court".
"There's always been a Jewish presence here," Mr Medad argued.
"We've never had a moment of peace here because it's a conflict … we want to win because we don't have anywhere else to go."
Mr Medad claims the Palestinian population could permanently move into neighbouring Arab countries instead.
"I do not want anybody to necessarily leave, but I want to be able also to exist — myself, my family, my friends and neighbours — in security and peace."
The history of Palestinian fragmentation
What is playing out in Al Mughayyir is part of a surge in violence in the West Bank sparked by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Many human rights advocates say the attack — which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and led to the capturing of 240 hostages — emboldened the Israeli settler community to lash out at Palestinians.
In Gaza, more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed and the UN has found Israel is committing genocide in the strip.
Israeli settlers have carried out more than 2,600 attacks in the West Bank since the war began, according to data collated by OCHA.
Much of the violence is committed by ultra-nationalist extremists with radical ideology shared by some of Israel's far-right government.
Palestinians often record these altercations with settlers and soldiers. Hundreds have been posted online, including the two videos shown below.
The number of settlements and outposts has also increased more rapidly since October 7.
"The West Bank today, [almost] two years after October 7, is a very different place than what it used to be two years ago," said Dror Etkes, founder of settlement monitoring activist organisation Kerem Navot.
"It was already very, very bad two years ago. But in many, many ways today it's way worse."
Alongside the violence and the land grabs, further rifts in the West Bank have been caused by the establishment of hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints and roadblocks.
Fragmentation of Palestinian communities is not only created by physical obstructions — such as settlements, highways and roadblocks — but also goes back to the administrative divisions that date back to the Oslo accords in the 1990s.
The West Bank's borders are defined by the 1949 Armistice "Green" Line — - — (green) It encompasses East Jerusalem — - -(blue), the capital of a future Palestine which has been annexed by Israel.
But a 712-kilometre-long Barrier --- (bar), often called a separation wall, carves into the territory and wraps around areas segmented according the Oslo accords. These areas — A (areaa), B (areab) and C (areac) — determine who is in charge and how much freedom the residents have.
Area A (areaa) covers the major Palestinian cities. In these areas, the Palestinian Authority has full control.
Area B (areab) means the Palestinian authority has administrative control, but Israel has security control. This is where most of the smaller towns and villages, such as Al Mughayyir, fall into.
Area C (areac) covers the vast majority of the West Bank, including most of the agricultural land. This is under full Israeli control.
Around 500,000 settlers live in 140 Israeli settlements (sett) and up to 300 outposts (sett) dotted throughout Area C (areac) and around 200,000 East Jerusalem (blue) — all illegal under international law.
These divisions were once part of a process Palestinians hoped would lead to peace and achieving more self-rule under Israeli occupation.
But they have now turned into a tool to legitimise the takeover of more land by Israel, and undermine the prospect for a Palestinian state.
The settlements and outposts, particularly those where hardline settler activists live, are making larger parts of the West Bank inaccessible to Palestinians.
Dozens of Palestinian communities have been abandoned, their residents pushed out of areas close to Israeli settlements.
One settler leader rejoiced on social media as Palestinian residents fled an area further south from Al Mughayyir.
"It too was broken due to the campaign waged against it by the Jewish settlement points in the area," Elisha Yered posted on social media platform X.
"Retreating into the Arab construction blocs is a good thing for now, but with God's help, one day we will expel you to your natural place in Iraq and Saudi Arabia."
An uncertain future despite growing recognition
Despite much of the international community calling on Israel to stop grabbing land in the West Bank, the Netanyahu government has signalled it intends to take more.
In early September, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — himself a settler — spoke of plans to annex more than 80 per cent of the Occupied West Bank and force the Palestinian population out.
Mr Smotrich, who has been sanctioned by Australia for his rhetoric inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, has long argued for Israeli control of the area.
His latest comments were seemingly sparked by a growing list of nations, including Australia, announcing they would recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly session in New York.
"We have no desire to apply our sovereignty on [a] population that wants to destroy us — enemies should be fought against, not allowed a comfortable life," he said.
"Get it well into your heads, this is the slogan: maximum territory, minimum population."
Soon after those remarks, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) declared annexing Palestinian territory would be a "red line".
The UAE signed the United States-brokered Abraham Accords alongside Bahrain and Morocco in 2020, normalising ties and establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
A key plank of the deal was the halting of any plans to annex land.
But Mr Smotrich and other hardliners will "do whatever they can in order to accomplish their vision", Mr Etkes said.
"I don't think that the international community has to wait until this [annexation] stage of the Israeli plan for the future of the West Bank [to act].
"The policies which [the Israeli] government is taking in the West Bank are illegal and are not only dangerous for the Palestinians and Israelis who live in this country — [but] are dangerous also for the Middle East and actually probably also for a bigger part of the world."
Even as more countries move to recognise a Palestinian state — citing Israel's actions in both Gaza and the West Bank — Mr Etkes said achieving that dream is going to be difficult.
"We are in the most remote point ever from a Palestinian state," he argued.
"It's important to understand that what happens right now in West Bank, it's not about statehood, it is about the very ability of Palestinian communities to exist."
In Al Mughayyir, Mazrouk Abu Naim is hopeful the tide of international opinion is turning.
"We hope that these states will take positions on the side of justice, which is clear," he said.
"We are people who want that. Just as they have rights, we want rights. As they have a state, we want a state — not more and not less."
He insisted he would never leave the town.
"Not even once, not us and not our grandparents, no-one has thought of it," Mr Abu Naim said.
"Besides where should we go to? There is no option.
"We are staying here. This is our land. We cannot leave it."
Credits
Reporting: and Sami Sockol
Photography and video:
Digital production and mapping:
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