This report highlights the effects on Palestinian olive cultivation arising
from recent Israeli settler colony extensions.

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> AIC Fact Sheet: The Palestinian Olive Harvest Oct-Nov 2002, and the
> settler violence directed against it.
> Published by the Alternative Information Center, 6 November 2002
>
> 1/ The economic aspect.
> The importance of the olive harvest should be seen in the context of
> Palestinian agriculture as a whole. According to the Palestinian
> Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, agricultural
> production accounts for 7% of Palestinian GDP. Since September 2000,
> productivity in this area has decreased by 70% due to closures and
> sieges, which prohibit access to agricultural land. [PECDAR, 2002]
> Moreover, transport and marketing of the produce is all but
> impossible, what with transport hindered by checkpoints and
> roadblocks, affecting export as well. Exports of agricultural goods
> are deemed to be especially upset by the crisis, with losses
> equivalent to 30% of their corresponding value in 2001. [World Bank,
> 2002] Olive oil is a prime export, destined to Arab countries in the
> Gulf and Saudi Arabia.
> 60% of the Palestinian population is rural, and the tightening of the
> occupation has resulted in an unprecedented economic depression. The
> Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics found in February 2002 that
> 66% of Palestinian households are living below the poverty line and
> increasingly dependant on food handouts from aid agencies. [PCBS,
> 2002] The picture is one of economic de-development, as stated by UN
> Trade and Development Board in its report of October 2002. [UNCTAD,
> 2002]
> Olives make up 38% of the fruit tree yield, and olive trees cover 45%
> of cultivated land [PCBS, 2002].  One of the specificities of the
> olive harvest is its biannual character. Weak years yield down to a
> quarter of the crop of a strong year. 2002 is a strong year, the
> first since the outbreak of the intifada and thus of heightened
> importance under the circumstances.
>
> 2/ The political aspect.
> Beyond the economic necessity of bringing the olive crop in, the act
> of harvesting olives is a statement of title to the land. This
> becomes a political issue in situations of friction with Israeli
> settlement colonies on Palestinian territory. As these are
> established on expropriated land, settlements often abut on
> Palestinian agricultural land, indeed destroying it. 17% of
> cultivated land has been bulldozed, and almost half a million olive
> and fruit trees have been uprooted since September 2000 [UNCTAD,
> 2002], in order to provide space for settlement construction and for
> building by-pass roads, or to create "security zones" around
> settlements and checkpoints where the field of vision is not
> obstructed by trees. Palestinian agriculture is being effectively
> destroyed by the policy of Israeli settlement.
> While the response to the economic crisis can be dealt with in purely
> humanitarian terms, the political issue demands political
> methodology. Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
> are illegal, and the government of Israel is responsible for the harm
> they cause the Palestinians. The land and the olive trees thereon are
> the property of Palestinians. In an effort to prove otherwise, the
> settlers resorted in the past month to physical violence directed at
> olive pickers. The defenseless farmers are on the frontline of the
> struggle over the jurisdiction of the land.
>
> 3/ Settler violence and the acquiescence of the military.
> Settler violence directed at olive harvesters was more or less
> concentrated in the northern West Bank region south of Nablus. This
> is a region where militant settlers live and which is concurrently
> rich in olive groves, an explosive combination. Itamar, Tappuakh,
> Yizhar, Brakha, Eli, Shillo, Shvut Rahel and their "outposts" are
> among the settlements that house violent, nationalist-messianic
> Israeli settlers. The Palestinian villages worst affected were
> Aqrabe, where a young man was killed on October 6, Turmus A'yya,
> Yasuf, AsSawiyye, Beit Furik, Awarta, and AlLuban AsSharqiyye,
> situated in the proximity of these settlements. The violence usually
> took on the form of shooting in the air or to the ground, stone
> throwing, and beating with the butts of rifles. Stealing of olives
> was reported on several occasions, and the torching of cars. A
> detailed list of incidents can be found as an appendix to this report.
> The violence takes place in an atmosphere of impunity. A typical
> scenario would include the appearance of an army jeep on the scene,
> whose contribution to law and order would be the announcement of
> a "closed military zone". This results in the evacuation of the
> Palestinians, halting their work and effectively giving right to the
> settlers. If the incident occurs in Area C, which it usually does,
> since villages are often in Area B (shared jurisdiction) but their
> lands are in Area C (Israeli jurisdiction), the Palestinians are
> entitled to file complaints with the police. These are rarely
> followed up, however, and the Palestinians have despaired of seeing
> justice done. This, in turn, means little legal evidence against the
> settlers is available to build a case post-facto.
>
> 4/ New actors: Israeli and international protectors.
> This autumn was characterized by a widespread campaign to save the
> olive harvest. Several Israeli groups, including the Rabbis for Human
> Rights, Gush Shalom and the Coalition for Peace encouraged Israelis
> to assist the olive pickers. On October 19, a crowd of 200 leftwing
> Israelis took part in an act of solidarity with Palestinian farmers.
> The settlers were infuriated by this presence, and riposted with
> shootings. From their point of view, these mistaken left-
> wingers "living comfortably in Tel Aviv" are traitors, betraying the
> true obligation to settle the Land of Israel, which the settlers are
> so dutifully fulfilling. The extent of their self-delusion is
> boundless.
> While the political message of the Israeli demonstrators is implicit,
> it would benefit from a more vocal popular campaign against
> settlements, which is currently lacking. The Israeli public seems
> ripe for a debate on the virtue of certain aspects of the settlement
> policy. 72% support the evacuation of "illegal outposts", and 62%
> approve of the use of force to evacuate the settlers. [Steinmetz
> Poll, 31 Oct] The general picture shows a majority of the public
> exasperated by the settlers' excesses, and alienated from the settler
> rabbis' extreme national-religious ideology. Indeed, the month of
> October saw a gradual shift of the controversy from the domain of
> radical leftist protest to a more mainstream platform, with well-
> known literary figures such as Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, Meir Shalev
> and David Grossman taking part in the olive harvest. Former DM
> Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, in his campaign to appear tough on settlements,
> was obviously counting on gaining public points for his stance, and
> not without reason.
> The involvement of international pro-Palestinian groups, such as the
> International Solidarity Movement and Grassroots International for
> the Protection of Palestinians, is politically more problematic. In
> the absence of a wider international campaign to put pressure on
> Israel to dismantle settlements, the actions of individuals on the
> ground is reduced to a show of well-meant but patchy humanitarian
> assistance. It must be acknowledged that ISM introduced new effective
> tactics of resistance, in the form of nonviolent direct action, such
> as sit-ins in the olive groves. It can only be hoped that the
> international activists will keep in mind that the Palestinian
> farmers, though grateful that they could get at least part of their
> crop in, cannot be satisfied with a campaign for olives. The campaign
> must be directed at the dismantlement of the settlement policy as a
> whole.
>
> 5/ The paradoxes of "security".
> Efforts were made on behalf of the settlers to prove that the
> Palestinian olive harvest is a "security threat". In an attempt to
> blur the differences that distinguish a "terrorist" from a
> Palestinian farmer, Guy Kotev on Israel Radio reported on 31 Oct that
> a "terrorist disguised as an olive picker" attacked a military jeep.
> It has yet to be specified what an olive picker's disguise looks
> like. Their arguments were compounded by an attack on the settlement
> of Hermesh west of Jenin on 29 October that killed two girls and a
> woman. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack in a
> leaflet, saying the attack was in part to avenge attacks on olive
> pickers. This hijacking of the olive pickers' cause only gives
> grounds for more repression of vulnerable farmers.
> The PA was quick at justifying attacks on settlers; as the new
> interior minister Hani alHassan stated, paramilitary settlement
> implants on Palestinian territory are legitimate targets for attacks
> [Reuters, 2 Nov 2002]. The difference the PA makes between attacks on
> Israeli civilians (on the Israeli side of the Green Line) and
> military targets (beyond the Green Line) reinforces the conceptual
> importance of the Green Line, which is precisely what the settlers
> refuse. The settler logic is forcing an erasure of the Green Line
> from Israeli consciousness, a drive that has succeeded in Jerusalem,
> for instance. The PA's position is not far from those elements in the
> Israeli left wing that claim that security can only be achieved when
> the settlements are removed, though the latter are considerably more
> embarrassed about condoning military struggle against settlements.
> Unconvincingly attempting to kill two birds with one stone, the IDF
> spokesperson declared on 3 November that the IDF would guard
> Palestinian olive harvesters and simultaneously ensure that
> no "terrorist activity" would take place in olive groves adjacent to
> settlements. Despite IDF claims to protect Palestinian civilian
> population, "war on terror" notwithstanding, it remains to be seen
> who will ensure the security of the farmers suffering from settler
> attacks.
>
> Appendix: Settler violence directed at olive pickers, Oct/Nov 2002
> Sources: LAW, PHRMG, PCRBS, Haaretz, B'Tselem
>
> October 6, Aqrabe: Hani Beni Maniyeh, 24, was shot dead by settlers
> as he was harvesting olives. "A group of 10 to 12 armed settlers
> opened fire and tried to disperse the olive-pickers," said Ghaled
> Myadmeh, mayor of Akraba. "They opened fire and Hani Beni Maniyeh was
> killed and another man wounded as they were trying to escape."
>
> October 6, AlLuban AshSharkiyyeh: Israeli police arrested a settler
> on charges of shooting and wounding a Palestinian. Three other
> Israelis were arrested.
>
> October 12, Beit Forik: Settlers opened fire on Palestinian olive
> pickers. When Israeli troops arrived to the area they arrested 6
> Palestinian farmers and prevented others from harvesting their olive
> trees. Settlers also carried out similar attacks on Palestinians
> farmers in Orif, Kufr Kalil, Deir al-Hatab, and Salem in the district
> of
> Nablus on the same day.
>
> October 12, AlMizra'a AshSharqiyye, Silwad: Israeli settlers set fire
> to olive groves northeast of Ramallah. The fire destroyed
> approximately 2000 olive trees belonging to
> Palestinian families.
>
> October 16, Yasuf: A group of settlers from the Tapuah settlement
> arrived and immediately began throwing stones and shooting at the
> Palestinian farmers and on Israeli activists, driving them out of the
> olive groves. Soldiers then declared the groves a "closed military
> zone" and prevented anyone from returning.
> October 19, AsSawiyye: Settlers attacked peace activists assisting
> Palestinians harvesting their olive groves. Israeli troops watched
> the attack without intervening to stop the perpetrators. Rather, they
> provided the assailants with protection.
> October 21, Kufr Kalil: Settlers from Brakha uprooted 54 olive trees,
> set fire to another 50 trees, and attacked Palestinian olive pickers.
> October 21, Turmus A'yya: Settlers from Shilo opened fire on
> Palestinian farmers, wounding four. The Palestinians attempted to
> run, but the settlers assaulted them with their fists, rifles, kicks,
> and stoning. Settlers then destroyed seven Palestinian-owned vehicles
> by setting them on fire. Settlers burned all of the just-harvested
> olives that were inside the cars, and attempted to steal olives that
> were not in the vehicles.
>
> October 21, Awarta: A 28-year-old Palestinian male was kidnapped by
> Israeli settlers from nearby Itamar. They kidnapped him while he was
> harvesting in his family's olive groves alone. They ordered him down
> from the tree and began to beat him by kicking him and punching him.
> The Palestinian man escaped and was found by local fellow villagers
> who took him to Rafidiyah hospital in Nablus. He is suffering from
> burns and broken bones.
>
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-- Views expressed are those of the contributors, and do not
-- necessarily represent the position of the Diocese of Ely

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