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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/most-dangerous-olive-harvest-west-bank-settler-attacks-double">electronicintifada.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">"Most dangerous" olive harvest in West Bank as settler attacks double</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Avishay Mohar</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">November 5, 2024<br></div>
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<img src="https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2024-11/2024-11-01_at_5.22.46_pmoliver_harvest_3.jpg?itok=TUk423lH×tamp=1730770621" width="394" height="263" alt="" title="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">
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<p>Palestinians harvest olives in Duma, in the north of the occupied
West Bank on the first day of the olive harvest, with help from
solidarity activists, on 10 October 2024.</p><small>
<span>ActiveStills</span></small>
<p>Israeli forces and Jewish settlers are making this “the most
dangerous olive harvest season ever” for Palestinian farmers in the
occupied West Bank.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/israel-must-stop-violent-settler-attacks-palestinian-farmers-threaten-their">warning</a>
came from a dozen UN human rights experts, including Francesca
Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>During October, at least 270 settler-related attacks on Palestinians and their property were <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-234-west-bank">documented</a> by UN monitoring group OCHA – across 110 communities in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Armed settlers and Israeli soldiers attack, harass and prevent
farmers from accessing their land, and at times injure or kill them.</p>
<p>Israelis burned, cut and vandalized more than 1,000 trees during
October, mostly olives. They also stole crops and harvesting tools from
Palestinians.
</p>
Settlers even <a href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/economy/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%B9%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A3%D8%B4%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B6%D9%8D-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A7-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7?utm_source=alaraby.co.uk&utm_medium=edgs.co">plowed</a> Palestinian-owned land and planted trees on it in the Ein al-Baida village, in the Jordan Valley.
<p>Israel blocks Palestinians from entering their land with physical
barriers, limiting the times they are allowed to be on their land and
even placing arbitrary restrictions on the ages and number of farmers
permitted to access the land.</p>
<p>For example, Israeli occupation authorities are limiting access to
land near the Israeli settlement of Mevo Dotan “to about 50 farmers,
aged 40 years or older,” according to OCHA.</p>
<p>This seriously hampers access to nearly 5,000 acres of land belonging to multiple families in the Jenin governorate.</p>
<p>Palestinian farmers are able to access their own lands in certain
areas only with “prior coordination” permits granted by Israeli
authorities.</p>
<p>Attacks on farmers are “expected to worsen as Israeli authorities
have increasingly revoked or failed” to issue them, the UN experts said.</p>
<p>Israeli authorities partially lifted restrictions on access to olive groves within 200 meters of Israeli settlement boundaries.</p>
<p>But that is never a guarantee for the safety of Palestinians harvesting their olives.</p>
<p>On 17 October, a 59-year-old Palestinian woman was fatally shot by
Israeli fire while she was harvesting olives about 200 meters from the
apartheid wall in the village of Fuqaa, near Jenin in the northern
occupied West Bank.</p>
<p>But that area required no permits from the Israeli military.</p>
<p>“A man dressed in military uniform arrived and fired approximately 10 shots in her direction,” Tel Aviv daily <em>Haaretz</em> <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-10-17/ty-article/.premium/palestinian-woman-killed-by-idf-while-picking-olives-near-west-bank-separation-barrier/00000192-9a28-d751-a99f-de6d44fe0000">reported</a>.</p>
<p>She was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mohps/posts/pfbid0rz7Bjk2ZhgtSGVmwLVKDHoDGcGr9fZbi9WVimR2dXxzxc8Juyu4fjk3ywEjLZs2al?__cft__[0]=AZVNZvQYRtwDga7qSIvTQiNtcEm7O3GML_YkjGX8MfQW7gIQuvAy-MI_HBfo9CjacUx9LgAqM8pRN0pCNQY2q249yLDTBwPI5g586u_OhvDbFjqny6-leGm10TXCfhnJ-PaT12FExYYNmowMDZxhnnTtYvnV1-wzVvJH9-ELyaTCX7n-lik0UxSfJBMvTVHujkI&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R">identified</a> as Hanan Abd al-Rahman Abu Salama by the Palestinian Authority health ministry.</p>
<p>“A security source stated that according to an initial inquiry, Abu
Salama was shot in an area where Palestinians are not required to
coordinate olive harvesting with Israeli authorities, although they are
advised to notify them before approaching the barrier,” <em>Haaretz</em> reported.</p>
<p>A member of the village council told the newspaper that the
Palestinian Authority liaison office had informed the council that olive
harvesting was permitted with coordination with Israeli occupation
authorities. Munir Barakat, the council member, said residents were then
informed they could access their olive groves near the apartheid wall,
as Abu Salama was doing.</p>
<h2>Attacks doubled</h2>
<p>Settler attacks are a regular part of the olive harvest season year
after year, and a serious threat to Palestinian lives and livelihoods.</p>
<p>But since Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, Jewish
extremists have been emboldened to escalate their sometimes lethal
attacks on Palestinians, with complete impunity and habitual protection
of the Israeli military.</p>
<p>Since 7 October 2023, more than 14,000 trees – mostly olive – have been uprooted, destroyed or damaged, the publication <em>Arab 48</em> <a href="https://www.arab48.com/%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-2023/2024/10/30/%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%85-14280-%D8%B4%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B0-%D8%B7%D9%88%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%89">reported</a>, citing figures documented by Palestinians.</p>
<p>The documented settler attacks on Palestinians related to the olive
harvest so far this year are at least double the 60 settler attacks
recorded during last year’s harvest. The UN monitoring group OCHA said
there were 59 incidents in 2022 and 36 in 2021.</p>
<p>During last year’s season, Israeli occupation forces canceled nearly all approvals for Palestinians to access their lands.</p>
<p>Palestinians could not access their privately owned land located
within the boundaries of Jewish-only settlements or along roads used by
settlers.</p>
<p>They remain “completely off-limits” to Palestinian farmers this year as well, UN OCHA said.</p>
<p>As a result, Palestinians were unable to harvest more than 23,700
acres of olive-cultivated land and lost 1,200 metric tons of olive oil –
worth an estimated $10 million.</p>
<p>When Israel’s genocide in Gaza started in October 2023, Palestinians
in the occupied West Bank faced the highest levels of violence and
movement restrictions by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in many
years.</p>
<h2>Significance</h2>
<p>The autumn olive harvest is vital to Palestinian economy and olives
and olive oil are a deeply rooted part of Palestinian diet and culture.</p>
<p>A decade ago, UN figures <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2014/10/481652">indicated</a> that the olive oil industry accounted for 25 percent of the agricultural income in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Typically beginning after the first rainfall at the beginning of
fall, the harvest continues through October and into November.
Palestinians of all ages gather to pick olives in their groves, sharing
folk songs and sorting their crops.</p>
<p>This video shows a Palestinian man extracting oil from olive fruit in
the Kafr al-Labad village in Tulkarem, in the northeastern occupied
West Bank:
</p>
Israel’s attack on the centuries-old celebration of heritage is one more
assault on Palestinian self-determination, UN experts added.
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