Updated

Israeli rabbi Dov Lior ruled on October 16, 2026 that Jews may pick olives from Palestinian-owned groves in the occupied West Bank, saying the land belongs to the Jewish people and that publicly harvesting it fulfills a religious duty to "conquer the land." The ruling contradicts a letter issued a week earlier by six other Israeli rabbis who said taking the olives constitutes forbidden theft regardless of the owner's identity. The dispute highlights a rabbinic rift over settler conduct during the olive harvest season, which has coincided with a surge in settler attacks on Palestinian farmers across the West Bank.