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The olive harvest in Palestine under the constant threat of Israeli settlers
Jalud (Occupied West Bank), Nov 7 (EFE) – Assaults, attacks with stones, cut or burned olive trees, destroyed agricultural material or stolen crops are the routine during olive harvesting for Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank, harassed annually by Israeli settlers from settlements close to their land. “Every year is worse than the last,” Mohamed Haj Mohamed, a farmer with several plots of olive trees in Jalud, a village in the center of the West Bank whose perimeter is increasingly surrounded by settlements that can be seen on the surrounding hills, told EFE. The olive season – vital for 100,000 Palestinian families who live on it or depend in part on their income – began in October, through the end of November, and that year began amid a spike of tension in the West Bank that saw an increase in settler attacks. WIDE VIOLENCE According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which, citing official Jewish security sources, indicated that settler violence is now more widespread. The United Nations Agency for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded at least 22 settler attacks that resulted in injuries or property damage, between 11 and 24 October alone. “They injured a Palestinian farmer and burned or damaged more than 800 olive trees,” while “large quantities of produce were stolen by people identified as settlers,” the OCHA detailed in its bi-weekly report on Palestinian territory. It was the settlers who destroyed 120 olive trees in Haj Mohamed this year, and every time he and his relatives go to work they do so for fear of being attacked, as in the past, so they are sometimes accompanied by international activists and Israelis to provide protection. “Sometimes they attack us and beat us, they steal our material and machinery and in 2021 they stole part of my harvest,” says the farmer, while harvesting olives with a group of volunteers from the Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights. , which for 28 years has organized teams to accompany peasants to the West Bank. “There is an increase in violence every year,” but “the rebound has been greater” this 2022, says Dani Brodsky, a member of the NGO, to EFE, which seeks to “help Palestinians access their land safely” and “to support them picking olives that they may not have been able to harvest” due to lack of time. Like Haj Mohamed, many West Bank farmers are unable to freely enter parts of their farms, especially if they are close to settlements, and need special permission from the Israeli military authority to enter, in many cases for limited days. This is a problem because “they don’t have time for the whole harvest,” and sometimes the settlers entered their lands earlier and destroyed or damaged the olive trees, according to Brodsky, who regrets the “violation of rights” and that the Le Israeli forces do not give real security to the peasants who are defenseless in front of the settlers. ARMY COMPLICITY? Claims that the army does not act when settlers attack are repeated every year. Incidents – some recorded and broadcast on social networks – in which Israelis throw stones or attack Palestinians while soldiers do nothing or look the other way are common. Witnesses and human rights activists accuse some troops of complicity or even joining the attacks. “Israel has never helped protect the Palestinian farmer, on the contrary, the soldiers are with the settlers to protect them,” Samir Naam, who recently suffered an unpunished attack by a guard in a settlement near his farm, told EFE. . in the north of the West Bank, in the Nablus area, particularly sensitive to settler violence. “The settlers come, they beat us and they won’t let me raise my hand to defend myself, because the army supports them,” Naam complains. Consulted by the EFE, the Israeli army assures that it “acts at all times to maintain law and order” and “stops violent acts directed against Palestinians and their property”. The attacks also hit Israeli activists: last October a 70-year-old woman accompanying a farmer to her land near Bethlehem was beaten by settlers with clubs. She was hospitalized for several days with a broken hand and several ribs and a punctured lung. A week later, the Israeli police made no arrests. However, the current cycle of violence is more serious and is part of what is already the deadliest year in the occupied West Bank since 2006: more than 140 Palestinians – some minors and civilians – have died in armed clashes and violent incidents with Israeli forces. 2022; while on the Israeli side 23 people died, including 16 civilians in the attacks. So far this year, OCHA counts 577 settler attacks up to 24 October, a figure that already exceeds 496 for the whole of last year. “People are afraid. We just want to work happily and go home safely,” says Naam, who regrets “the terrifying situation.” Joan Mas Autonell (c) EFE Agency
