Olive Harvest 2010 report

Thanks to Maggie, Noirin and the rest of the team for this report on their picking trip this year – pictures will be uploaded very soon…

IWPS/ Zaytoun Olive Harvest 2010 Report from the Friends of Madama & Burin

The year’s harvest was a mix of extremes. Among the highs was the delicious taste of new harvest oil, oil so fresh the olives had only been picked the day before. It was bright green and bursting with flavour. We poured it over our hummus and enjoyed it under the trees during our morning break. But there were also the lows; predominantly the frequent settler activity, well coordinated, efficient and vicious.

Our team was stationed in Madama at the old house we rented last year. It is very basic but it does have a terrace where our visitors can come to talk and drink tea in the evening. Those of us first to arrive in Madama had the pleasure of watching a village wedding. The bridegroom, gorgeously attired, rode through the streets on a white horse accompanied by musicians and dancers. There were crowds out on the street and many of the people recognised us. They seemed very pleased to see us and in their reserved manner, greeted us warmly. We were very touched.

We harvested in an area south west of Nablus, around the villages of Burin, Madama and Asira al Quibliya. These villages are overlooked by the settlements of Har Bracha, and Yitzhar as well as nine outposts. The settlements were established in 1982/83 respectively over 20 km from the Green Line. Regardless of where we accompanied the farmers, or where we went in the villages, the noise and sight of caterpillar bulldozers working on the expansion of the settlement of Yitzhar was painfully obvious. The rush to build and expand continues. The residents are religious Zionists, many affiliated with the Gush Emunim (block of the faithful), who hope to force all Palestinians of their lands. Human Rights organisations believe that the Yitzhar settlers are responsible for 80% of the attacks and vandalism.¹ These villages have suffered continually from settler attacks. During our stay, 1^st to 22^nd October there were several attacks, details of which are outlined below … and the intimidation continues. On 1st November the army entered the village of Madama, searched houses, imposed a 13 hour curfew and erected a flying checkpoint at the entrance of the village restricting the movement of an estimated population of 1,800 people.

On 4th October, settlers sent leaflets in Hebrew and Arabic to the village of Burin saying they would not tolerate a mosque on ‘Jewish land’ and threatened to destroy it. They were referring to the nearly completed new mosque in Burin. This mosque is also under threat from the army. They claim it is built in area C, does not have the required permit and will be bulldozed. That afternoon villagers congregated around the mosque keeping watch at the various entry points. The settlers started to congregate on the slopes below Yitzhar. At around 4:30 there were about 150 on each side with several army jeeps between. We stayed in these positions for some hours and then soon after sunset the settlers left and the villagers went home. There was a general atmosphere of unease and concern in the village.

Later that week we visited the Boys’ and Girls’ School in Madama. We had made contact with the headmaster at the Boys’ School the previous year and were able to raise money for a few necessities including a LCD screen and OHP. We were warmly greeted and heard that construction was about to start on the new classrooms, also part of our fundraising drive.

We continued on to the Girls’ School. It includes infant boys who do their first two years at this school before joining the older boys. The headmistress, the English teacher who worked as our interpreter, and the history teacher were a joy to meet – so full of enthusiasm and, in spite of all their problems, so positive. We gave them two laptops and hope to help them in other ways in the future. The school is situated right next to the settler road and the teachers mentioned problems of harassment both from soldiers and settlers. They expressed their fear of the Army, but most of all their fear of the settlers and their aggressive behaviour. In fact one of their requests was for money to help them increase the height of the wall behind the school for greater protection!
We picked on some very steep and rocky terrain during the harvest and many days were really tough work. The harvest was thought to be much better than the previous year. There was an excellent yield in most areas although it was sparse in some of the very hilly and parched areas. Many groves had not been tended during the year as a result of the restrictions imposed by the army making accesses to the groves impossible.

On, 7th October we accompanied a farmer to his groves on the hills under Yitzar. It is difficult to erase the memory of the horrific sight which greeted us … fifteen trees had been vandalized, the branches hacked at random, some of the branches laden with olives lay on the ground.

On 8th October, as we were working in the same area, six settlers approached an isolated house situated nearby that has been subjected to repeated attacks from settlers.  Sometime later a group of settlers appeared on the hilltop and started to descend to our area, Palestinians and Internationals rushed up the hill to confront them and they backed off.  About a half hour later the Army arrived.

That afternoon we also had our first rain. The settlers had just been chased away when the heavens opened. We sheltered under a tarpaulin but in moments the rain was just pouring through. We resigned ourselves to getting wet through but soon dried off when the sun came out again. With no more picking that day, we were invited back to the farmer’s home for a delicious chicken and rice meal and a chance to meet the rest of the family.

One of the 15 trees vandalised by Yitzah settlers
It is on occasions like this that you find out so much about how Palestinian society manages to survive these impossible times. We tried to get our heads around how people live on next to no money while losing more land each year. The family lost about 20 trees last year and had another 15 were hacked down this year, just when the olives were ripening. A good tree will yield about 10-11 kilos of oil and the price at the moment is 25-30 NIS a kilo. This farmer is one of the lucky ones with a permit to work in Israel where he can earn 2,000 NIS for 20 days work. But it means being away from his family in these dangerous times. Some people risk the dangerous and expensive trip with traffickers over the border to work illegally in Israel. They would generally stay away for a week at a time because of the prohibitive cost of the journey. Illegal workers live in constant fear of arrest but have little option with no work in the village and a family to feed.

On 9th October, some of us went down to Jerusalem to meet the remaining three in our party. We enjoyed a good meal at Amigo Emile’s and a bit of sightseeing before travelling back on Sunday. On the weekend settlers had been reported entering the village of Burin where they tried to set fire to a bulldozer used for street repairs. The thought of settlers attacking a bulldozer has a certain irony!

On 11th October, some of our group went to Asira Al Qibliya, which has a history of attacks. We were supposed to meet our contact at the mosque and duly made telephone contact on arrival. As we waited by the mosque two women approached us and asked if we were there to pick olives. We said ‘yes’, and set off with them. Moments later a call came asking where we were. We had been kidnapped by a family who thought they could get an extra few pairs of willing hands! Making hasty goodbyes we returned to the correct family and were piled onto a tractor to enjoyed one of those daring rides on impossible road. We spent a thankfully undisturbed day picking trees adjoining the settler road – and had an even more daring return journey on three tyres after a blow out. Palestinians are amazingly resourceful at motor repairs.

On 12 October, we were back on Burin land under the Yitzhar settlement when there was a more serious incursion. About 21 settlers armed with rocks, clubs and crowbars, some wearing prayer shawls and many with faces covered appeared on the hilltop. They attacked the family nearest the summit and stole several bags of olives. They were confronted by Palestinians and after a short battle, the settlers retreated. Representatives of B’tselem and Yesh Din, two Human Rights organisations arrived and took a report and when it was over the army and police turned up. A few people had been hit by stones but the day had been badly disrupted and every day is important when the settlers are always on the lookout to steal the fruit. We were very lucky to have Shiffi with us. She is an excellent photographer and has a very good long range camera. She was able to get photographs good enough to identify the perpetrators. However it is very doubtful whether any action will be taken against these settlers. Yesh Din’s recent study reported that there was not a single case where Israeli authorities had taken action to bring settlers involved in violence to court.

On 13^th October, we accompanied a farmer to his groves on the hills near Madama, directly under the Yitzhar Settlement. The land which had ancient olive trees, figs and dates, had not been harvested or even tended for 10 years as the villagers faced constant settler attacks. The land surrounded a spring which was the village’s only source of water. However it was vandalised by settlers in 2004 who poured concrete into it, damaged the connecting pipes and dropped hazardous waste into it. The village now relies on rainwater. While we were picking the farmer and his family constantly checked the hill and were anxious to finish harvesting as soon as possible.

On Friday 15^th October, we were requested to accompany a family to groves which borders the Yitzhar settler road. On arrival, we were stopped by the Army, who informed the family that whilst they could work on their groves, the area was closed to ‘foreign passport holders and Israelis. The army showed us a letter in Hebrew and Arabic to this effect and informed us that if we did not leave the area he would call the police and have us arrested. The army obviously distinguishes between Israeli and Israeli Settler as the latter seem free to enter that same area and burn and vandalize olive trees. The farmer proceeded to his groves to witness more devastation… he was left with a mere seven trees to harvest.

On 16th settlers from Har Bracha descended towards families harvesting close to the village of Burin, an alert was sent out, the army arrived and stationed themselves on the road between the settlers on the hill and the harvesting families.

On 19^th October, approximately 30 settlers took the liberty of running to and fro in the groves at the other end of Burin and near the settlement of Har Bracha, this lasted approximately 5 minutes, after frightening the people and the animals, they disappeared in the direction from which they had come.

Despite our presence and that of other human rights monitors as well as the media, the settlers seem free to roam at will, causing confusion, fear and damage to individuals and to property.   It was only when the Israeli Army came that they would return to their settlement, the army did not appear to call settler security, nor the police to question or arrest them. Villagers are dependent on income from the olive harvest therefore having even one olive tree vandalized is a tragedy for a family.

The above outlines our experience in these small impoverished villages during October, however, similar reports abound on the West Bank. A UN report dated 27 October/2 November states, ’17 farmers from the Kafr Qaddum reported that when they accessed their olive groves located next to the Qeddumin settlement, for the first time in several months, most of the trees were already harvested, while the branches of 250 trees were found damaged.’

Since the beginning of October, OCHA recorded a weekly average of nine incidents in the context of the olive harvest resulting in injuries and severe damage to property, including the uprooting and burning of thousands of trees

After three weeks, we bid farewell to the people whom we met and accompanied to the groves. We left with a sense of fear as to what might happen to them and to their villages during the coming year, we also left with memories of incredible hospitality, laughter, great conversations and the sense that we have learnt a lot about our hosts and about ourselves. And one last word from the villagers… ‘we do not want aid, we want jobs and freedom’.

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