Palestinian, Israeli Farmers Fight Over Olive Groves

By Sara Sorcher

AWARTA and SUSYA, West Bank -- The olive branch may be a universal symbol for peace, but in the West Bank, the olive harvest brings a season of unrest between Jewish settlers and Palestinians.

It owes much to proximity. Small communities of Israelis living in the West Bank are within areas typically closed off to Palestinians.

In some parts of the West Bank, the settlement security boundaries run directly through Palestinians' olive groves. In some areas, the trees are fenced in by these dividers, and in other areas, they lie just outside. Many farmers said they are too fearful to harvest without protection.

In 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court, in response to a series of violent attacks by settlers, ruled that the army must do more to protect Palestinians during the harvest.

As a result, the Israeli army now announces the days it will be patrolling in each area to protect Palestinians as they move closer to the settlement boundaries.

Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann, an activist from Rabbis for Human Rights, said that the smaller -- and often more radical -- settlements are threatened by peace negotiations and the talk of removing them. Some settlers have been reacting with acts of vandalism to discourage Palestinians from harvesting their olives, in light of a law left over from the Ottoman Empire stating that any land not worked after a period of three years is considered to be state land.

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"The settlers know that many people here don't have papers [from Israeli courts affirming official ownership of the trees] and that the land is ancestral," Grenimann said. "So if Palestinians can be shooed away from an area where there might be an olive tree or two ... because it's very sparse around here [in Susya] ... then eventually if land is declared state land, it might be handed over to the settlers."

In an act of vandalism before the harvest, settlers recently burned about 200 trees near the fence bordering the settlement of Itamar, near Nablus, and along the main road of the neighboring Palestinian village of Awarta, according to the town's Deputy Mayor Hani Darousha.

Darousha said the loss of the olive trees was particularly painful because of their special place in Palestinian culture and the amount of time it took for them to grow.

"When you plant a tree, it's like growing a child," Darousha said. "These trees are 500 years old."

Read more from GlobalPost.

Comments

[Justtellthetruth]

You have changed the title of this story to reflect something that it is ABSOLUTELY NOT SAYING IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.

These are not Israeli FARMERS battling with the rightful Palestinian owners of these olive groves, but rather settler terrorists who brutalize the Palestinian farmers and ruin their crops.

This is settler terror, and not a dispute between "farmers". Whomever changed the title to this story either did not read it, or is simply attempting to distort the truth.

[shafff]

Brought up the issue with my wife the other day about the settlers, "why the hell won't those palestinians leave the settlers alone" she screeched, explained to her the the settlers are illegally settling on palestinian land & her attitude changed.

They should be always referred to as Illegal settlers, this surely is a more fair description of them and more descriptive name to the less informed.

[Tony Andrews]

As illegal occupiers of land in the West Bank, would it not be more accurate to call them just that "illegal occupants"?
"Settlers" has a much too cosy, legitimate, pioneering, ring to it, in my opinion.

[lbsaltzman]

I agree. I prefer calling them squatters.

[MarcusT]

Ezra Danin’s words to Ben Gurion “The Arabs of the land of Israel have but one task left – to run away.” Danin was a member of the Israeli government Transfer Committee of 1948.

And so it goes...

[CigarGod]

If you have read the Goldstone report, you know Judge Goldstone understands why that comment was made, well.

[MosheDayanHero]

“Those who survive will remain in Palestine. I estimate that none of them will survive.” - Ahmed Shukairy, chairman of PLO in Jordanian Jerusalem, asked in news interview what will happen to the Israelis if there is a war
May 31st 1967
http://www.sixdaywar.co.uk/crucial_quotes.htm

And so it DID"NT go.
And will NEVER go,.

[joeyfoto]

As a Jew who believes in the state of Israel, I consider the burning of ancient olive trees to be a despicable and cowardly, which undermines the pretensions to legitimacy of those who seek benefit from it. Burning a Palestinian's olive trees is like burning a Jew's books. This is a sad story.

[CigarGod]

I agree.
It bothers me that it is so widespread.
There is obviously a supportive mindset in the various communities where it happens.

[rtb61]

It is interesting to note, this really does follow the typical historic trend from all over the globe. Greedy people using religion to steal some one else's land. Salem witch trials, the Spanish Inquisition, persecution of the Knights Templar and the continuing remorseless assault upon Muslim Palestinians by Jewish Palestinians. All of them claiming blessings of the religious deity with their only real motive being greed and a desire for somebody else's property.

[CigarGod]

Yep.
But don't forget....
They have the same examples in their holy books.

[jsarets]

One of my most vivid memories of my summer in Israel (I guess it's been 14 years already) was the olives and how delicious they were. All of the produce was just amazing, as if this was nature's perfection and what I'd grown up on was made of polystyrene, but the olives were the best of all.

I remember little pizza shops that would sell olive pizza for a few "cents" less than plain cheese pizza by the slice, because that was what the shop owners could move the fastest. But I have to say that the Arab street food was better than the Israeli street food. Shwarma is the best sandwich in the world.

[vascopyjama]

It's all to do with the total humiliation of the Palestinian people.

[mommamia526]

Well, what is going on? The Palestinians get police protection. Why are they getting police protection? There will be Palestinian pickers coming in to harvest the olives and with such an influx of young men a few might be inclined to do a little wrestling. That is a male thing, not a Palestinian thing and not an Israeli thing. And, yes the Israelis are probably on edge, and the Palestinians will be also. The borders are close. Antennae are up, on both sides. Not one mention of terrorism. If Israelis attack they will get a response from the Israeli Police force. If Palestinians attack, the Israelis will get a response from the Police Force. The police reinforcement is called in to protect the Palestinians.

What is also going on according to the writer? These olive trees are very old, and there are no ownership papers. Settlers who tend to the trees and live there may be afraid to lose their harvest. Or, a dispute over ownership could easily break out. This is just preventive action and some of the comment on this thread is not to the point at all.

[MarcusT]

"The settlers know that many people here don't have papers [from Israeli courts affirming official ownership of the trees] and that the land is ancestral," Grenimann said. "So if Palestinians can be shooed away from an area where there might be an olive tree or two ... because it's very sparse around here [in Susya] ... then eventually if land is declared state land, it might be handed over to the settlers."

[lbsaltzman]

Since the "settlers" are illegally squatting on land stolen from the Palestinians they have absolutely no right to any olive tree in the West Bank. They should all be deported back to Israel (the green line) immediately.

[Tony Andrews]

The Geneva Conventions, to which Israel is a signatory, prohibit the establishment of those occupations that have been created since 1967.
Israel has been called on, time and time again, to stop building them and to remove the Jewish civilians it has allowed to occupy them.
Palestinian farmers have been forcibly dispossessed in favour of Jewish occupiers.
The lack of adequate responses from the Israeli police to complaints by Palestinians in the West Bank is well known.
"To the point" is that the occupiers have absolutely no right to be there.
Israel should remove them back to whence they came and begin, belatedly, to comply with international law, including removing those parts of that damned wall that encroach on Palestinian land in the West Bank, as well as protecting the indigenous people who's land they occupy (as international law requires).

[Justtellthetruth]

Settler/terrorists attack the local Palestinian farmers on their own lands (that DO NOT lie within the illegal settlements). They beat them, stone them, and ruin the trees. The police often simply watch the violence and do nothing.

[admiralj]

This is real easy. If you are in a settlement that is outside of the Green Line, then you will be living in what will become a Palestinian country. There should be no fudging of the boarder to include rogue settlements. Israelis are going to have live in the West Bank under Palestinian governments just like those Arabs living in Israel do now.

[mommamia526]

No, it is not that easy. You are off topic.

[stardust835]

Again read the article. The occupation and its "settlers" is the problem. The occupation is the topic.

[StCuthbert]

I don't have any objection to that. But I don't think the Palestinians like having Jews as neighbors. Look what happened in the Gaza Strip.

[CigarGod]

A Palestinian is my neighbor and he beats me at tennis all the time.

[lbsaltzman]

The particular Jews who were neighbors of the Palestinians in Gaza had stolen the land they lived on from the Palestinians. The Jewish squatters were very fundamentalist and engaged in many acts of harassement and violence against the Palestinians aside from stealing their land. So it is no wonder the Palestinians didn't like having them around.

[alysheba 3]

Funny how there is no mention here of the Palestinian violence that so many use to condone the attacks by Israel, only the attacks by Israelis. And who are these Israelis attacking? Not the terrorists they claim all Palestinians are, but farmers attempting to harvest their crops, and provide a living for their families.

Who are the terrorists here?

[mommamia526]

There are NO terrorists here. No one is attacking anyone..yet. The police is going to protect the Palestinians during harvest. The police are Israeli police. There are no attacks either. Attemps are being made to prevent any attacks.

[CigarGod]

Sorry.
Attacks have been happening:

1. Olive harvest in Burin continues with more harassment from army and
settlers
2. Settlers and army disrupted olive harvest in Jamma’in village
3. Settler attacks farmers during Qaryut olive harvest.

But, Palestine will never give up:
Iraq Burin: Local farmers and international volunteers plant 45
olive trees on land reclaimed from a nearby settlement.

www.palsolidarity.org

[stardust835]

From the article:
"In an act of vandalism before the harvest, settlers recently burned about 200 trees near the fence bordering the settlement of Itamar, near Nablus, and along the main road of the neighboring Palestinian village of Awarta, according to the town's Deputy Mayor Hani Darousha."

If a person's trees and crops are burned, it is an attack and a theft.

[TheLonelyGod]

Less than 1% of the settler population has ever committed an act of violence against a Palestinian.

Please stop generalizing.

[CigarGod]

Love to see that cite......

[Fireslayer]

The fact of settlement, predicated on land theft, is itself an act of violence and war, being a violation of the Geneva Conventions. This would make them all complicitly violent as a matter of law.

[alysheba 3]

What percentage of Palestinians have ever attacked Israel? And yet you generalize, as do so many others on this board.

[mazzetta]

so you'd find pretty normal if 3 milions of Americans had committed an act of violence against -so to say- Latinos?

[Tony Andrews]

If the illegal occupants were where they are supposed to be (in Israel) that number could be reduced to 0%.

[lbsaltzman]

The rightwing fundamentalists settlers have clearly engaged in serial acts of terrorism for years. I am utterly skeptical that the Israeli police or army will protect the Palestinians in a consistant manner.

[Fireslayer]

Let us actually give Israel a little credit here for at least paying lip service to protecting Palestinian farmers. It is a test of their morality and courage to see if they indeed stand up to the settler ethnic cleansers on this one. I for one will loudly congratulate Israel if they stand up for human rights and basic decency on this one.

Now if the IDF would prosecute the elements of their forces that mowed down the groves in Gaza then that would really be some progress.

[RaWash]

Israel is who legitimised settlers in the first place..go figure!

[RaWash]

..and this, ladies and gentlemen, how Israel came to be.

[mommamia526]

Protection of Palestinian olive pickers? What are you talking about?

[lightningbolt]

Go back to school and learn some history.

[CigarGod]

Hasbara training centers are not schools.

[alysheba 3]

Perhaps you should study the history of Israel. It seems they will not allow me post links to the terrorism in Palestine in the early 1900's, but I'm sure you are capable of doing it.

And before you tell me there was no Palestine then, you should know that Ben-Gurion admitted there was a country named Palestine in the title of an article in 1918:

"In an article published by Ben-Gurion in 1918, titled "The Rights of the Jews and others in Palestine," he conceded that the Palestinian Arabs have the same rights as Jews."
(from: http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story638.html)

Let's see if this gets published.

[TonyMbutu]

Ah, our wonderful "ally"