Israel has targeted the olive trees throughout its ongoing occupation of the occupied territory as a systematic aggression to divest the lands from its Palestinian owners. Hundreds of thousands of olive trees were uprooted in the Palestinian territory over the years to build Israeli settlements, construct bypass roads, and establish security bases; however, the number of the uprooted olive trees has been doubled since Israel started constructing the Segregation Wall and the security buffer zone that goes along with it. According to ARIJ GIS database, more than 1.2 million (1.2%+) olive trees were uprooted since 1967 out of 12+ million olive trees in the Palestinian occupied territory.

What is it that Israel trying to achieve in its war against the olive trees?

The olive tree is an encoded element of the Palestinian identity and culture. The relation, which evolved over centuries between the two steady elements of this land; man and olive had its prints on the various aspects of Palestinians lives, mainly, social and economic.
According to Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture statistic report, the number of olive trees uprooted and destroyed as of the breakout of the second Intifada in September 2000 until 31/12/2005, Israel uprooted (464,945) olive trees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, (157,831) in the West Bank and (307,831) in Gaza Strip.

Numerous stories are told, but there are no specific counts of how
many deaths occur specifically because of the olive harvest or the olive trees.
The latest incident occurred Sunday October 6, 2002 near the village of Aqraba in the West Bank. A Jewish settler shot two Palestinians while they were harvesting their olives. The 22 year old Palestinian man died and the other was wounded.(Palestine Monitor BBC)
Olive farmers complain that the harassment by the settlers ranges from “theft of the harvests, burning and chopping down of trees, to violent physical attacks, including shooting.” (Palestine Monitor)

Ghaleb Jibril, a 70 year old farmer from Kufr Qalil, north of Nablus “went with his sons and brothers to check on his land after hearing that settlers had been harvesting his olives. Before he could reach his property, the family members were attacked by settlers wielding sticks, stones and guns. Jibril was severely injured, with bruises all over his body. The settler escaped to the Barkha with three large bags of olives.”

Another 70 year old farmer Mohammad Zalumud was killed while he was picking olives on his farm. Reportedly the settlers crushed his skull with large rocks, before escaping back to their settlements. The suspected killers were set free after only 1 week in detention because police claimed there was insufficient evidence from Palestinian witnesses. (Palestine Monitor (Olive harvesting season brings new risks for Pales. Farmers)

http://www.american.edu/TED/ice/olive-tree.htm