(RNS) — For a Rabbis for Ceasefire delegation to the West Bank, the past week-and-a-half offered an up-close look at what they described as Israeli efforts to disrupt — if not destroy — a critical economic and cultural lifeline for Palestinian farmers.

A group of senior Israeli ex-military officials helped Palestinian farmers on Tuesday to harvest olives, in a gesture of solidarity amid an upsurge in militant settler violence targeting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. "When I see what is going on here, when I see these guys come... and hit women and kids, it…