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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-settlers-attack-olive-harvest-most-dangerous-years">middleeasteye.net</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Settler attacks on Palestinian olive harvest 'most dangerous in years'</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Shatha Hammad in Nablus, occupied Palestine - November 11, 2021<br></div>
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<div><p>In the space of less than 10 days, Musleh Badawi and his family
have been attacked three separate times by settlers while working on
their land and picking olives.</p>
<p>This year's harvest season, which runs between October and
November, has been the hardest in recent memory for Badawi's family, and
other Palestinian families subjected to similar attacks. </p>
<p>The olive harvest is a lifeline for some <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/2020-olive-harvest-season-low-yield-amidst-access-restrictions-and-settler-violence" target="_blank">80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families </a>in the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">occupied West Bank</a>. </p>
<p>“We were preparing for the olive harvest season as if it were a big
celebration. But today’s events cast a dark shadow on the occasion, due
to the settler attacks. If that wasn’t enough, we were also prevented
from reaching our fields by the Israeli army,” Musleh Badawi told Middle
East Eye on Sunday.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'We were preparing for the olive harvest season as if it were a big
celebration. But today’s events cast a dark shadow on the occasion, due
to settler attacks'</p>
<p><em>- Musleh Badawi, Palestinian farmer</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Badawi mentions that during the first attack, on 29 October, the
culprits were from the adjacent Esh Kodesh settlement. They came to the
farmers' lands and stole their harvesting equipment and four large sacks
of olives that were estimated to contain 5000 shekels ($1,600) worth of
olives. “We informed the Israeli police and the Israeli Coordination
and Liaison Office, but they ignored our complaints when they confirmed
that the settlers were the perpetrators of the theft.”</p>
<p>Badawi, 71, is a father of eight and a grandfather to 18, and his
family depends on the olive trees as a primary source of income. Despite
the repeated attacks they face, they haven’t left their land, and
remain there constantly.</p>
<p>“On 5 November, we went to our other tract of land near the Elieh
settlement, which has 50 olive trees,” he said. “We were surprised to
see that the settlers had beat us to the land, and had already picked
the trees. The Israeli army then arrived and kicked us out.”</p>
<p>Two days later, the family suffered a third attack while they were on
their land, a tract of 10 dunams (one hectare) near the Hayovel
outpost.</p>
<p>“Even though the area is considered Area B, the Israeli army still
came and kicked us out, but only after we put up a fight - until they
were able to make us leave by force,” Badawi said. He added that the
repeated attacks on his family put them in constant fear of losing their
land to colonisation, and being completely prevented from reaching
their land in the coming years.</p>
<p>Area B, according to the Oslo Accords, is administered by both Israel
and the Palestinian Authority, and has no Israeli settlements.</p>
<h3>Imposing 'a new status quo'</h3>
<p>The Badawi family’s experience is familiar to scores of other Palestinian families during the olive harvest.</p>
<p>The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in its latest <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/poc/5-18-october-2021" target="_blank">report</a> covering
the period 5-18 October, documented settlers’ actions, which included
damaging over 1,600 trees (most of them olive trees) or stealing
Palestinians' harvest. These attacks took place in villages neighbouring
the cities of Nablus, Hebron, Salfit, Ramallah and Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Bashar Qaryouti, an anti-settlement activist, told MEE that the
Israeli Civil Administration has issued new maps that plan for the
confiscation of more lands and prevent dozens of Palestinian families
from reaching their lands - estimated to comprise thousands of dunams.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'What we’ve faced this year has been the most dangerous wave of attacks in years'</p>
<p><em>- Bashar Qaryouti, activist</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>“What we’ve faced this year has been the most dangerous wave of
attacks in years,” says Qaryouti. “It imposes a new status quo,
especially in the middle region of the West Bank and Hebron.”</p>
<p>He added that the settler attacks escalated during the olive harvest
season against villages south of Nablus specifically, including the
theft of olives and equipment, attacks against families, the obstruction
of Palestinians accessing their fields, and the uprooting of hundreds
of olive trees. He told MEE that settlers have even planted sharp
objects on the agricultural roads, damaging many Palestinian vehicles,
to prevent them from reaching their lands.</p>
<p>“Most settler attacks were carried out under the watchful eye of the
Israeli Civil Administration and the Israeli army, who were content to
sit back and watch, or even to provide protection to the
settlers,” Qaryouti added.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/obstacles-palestinian-farmers-face-harvest-their-olives#autoplay" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/video_thumbnails/l44Ksn-PbqE.jpg?itok=HsmTpQ9S" alt="" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p>The obstacles Palestinian farmers face to harvest their olives</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/obstacles-palestinian-farmers-face-harvest-their-olives#autoplay" target="_blank">Read More »</a>
</p></div>
<p>Shaher Muhammad Azem, 53, confirms the above, having been the victim
of an attack on his land four years ago by a known settler. Shaher
lodged several complaints against the settler, to no avail.</p>
<p>Shaher is from the village of Qaryout. The Elieh settlement surrounds
his 11 dunams (1.1 hectares) of land, and the Israeli army prevents him
from reaching it without prior permission. “When I arrived at my land,
the settler [going by the name of] Koron told me in front of the army
and the Civil Administration that he had picked all of my olive trees,
and that nothing was left for me,” he said. His land houses 60 olive
trees, and all have been illegally harvested through theft.</p>
<p>Shaher told MEE that the attacks come not only during the olive
harvest: every time he goes to till his land, settlers plant sharp
objects on the nearby roads, resulting in damage to his tractor.</p>
<p>Shaher’s family of 11 has not been spared the ramifications. “These
attacks have destroyed me and my family,” he said. “We rely on the olive
harvest, and we had big hopes for this season… but because of these
attacks, I am unable to pay for my daughter’s university tuition, and
she’s now halted her studies. We used to sell olives and olive oil, but
today we buy it, and the settlers steal from our trees right in front of
our eyes.</p>
<p>“Last year,” he continued, “the settlers stole our harvest, and only a
single branch was left unpicked. The settler told me that he left this
one olive branch for me, so that I could get a good look at how great
those olives were, 'So that you’ll get a heart attack and die.'” The
settler, Koron, threatens him regularly, telling him, “I’m way above the
police. You won’t be able to reach me with your complaints.” </p>
<h3>Spike in settler attacks</h3>
<p>Moayyad Besharat, Programs and Project Manager at the Union of
Agricultural Work Committees, told MEE that on 13 October the union
launched its annual campaign to assist Palestinian villagers whose lands
are located in endangered areas, through the presence of international
groups and volunteers during the harvest.</p>
<p>During the second half of October, he says, 95 settler attacks have
been recorded in the villages of southern Nablus. “Settler attacks
escalate throughout the olive picking season, with the objective of
emptying the land of any Palestinian presence. Settlers were further
provoked by the presence of dozens of Palestinians this year who came to
assist the farmers and affirm their commitment to the land, which the
settlers reject.”</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-olive-harvest-settlers-attacks" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/olive-attack.jpg?itok=8d_u21Cf" alt="" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p>'I cry for my trees': Israeli settler attacks wreck Palestinian olive harvest</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-olive-harvest-settlers-attacks" target="_blank">Read More »</a>
</p></div>
<p>He added: “Despite our presence in large numbers in order to provide
protection to the farmers, the settlers still launched widespread
attacks, cutting trees, stealing harvests and tools, and harassing the
villagers within eyeshot of the army and the Israeli Civil
Administration. They paid no heed to the international organisations
that were present.”</p>
<p>Moayyad affirmed that the settler attacks and army harassment have
increased in general recently, and what was clear this time is that the
attacks were in much larger numbers than before. The settlers were also
accompanied by army escorts and they expelled dozens of families from
their lands, despite the fact those families had obtained permits to be
there from the Israeli Civil Administration.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/olive_harvest_fs08.pdf" target="_blank">UN data</a>,
almost half of Palestinian agricultural lands are planted with an
estimated 10 million olive trees in the West Bank and besieged Gaza
Strip. </p>
<p>The International Committee of the Red Cross said that more than <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/2021-olive-harvest-season-west-bank-amidst-triple-challenge" target="_blank">9,300 olive trees</a> belonging to Palestinian farmers were damaged, cut or uprooted by Israeli settlers between August 2020 and August 2021.</p>
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