Olive harvest 2013: 27 cases of abuse of harvesters and property-damage indicate military’s preparat
During the most recent olive harvest, B’Tselem’s field researchers documented 27 incidents of settler violence towards Palestinians and of damage to property. In six of the incidents, settlers attacked harvesters with stones, threatening them with weapons, or physically assaulted them. The most severe instance was an attack on B’Tselem volunteer Yasser Na’asan and his uncle, Ghatib Na’asan, while they were harvesting their olives. The other 21 incidents involve property damage. Settlers chopped down, burned and poisoned olives trees; they sawed off and broke branches; and stole olives and agricultural equipment.
The olive harvest season officially began on 10 October 2013 and lasted approximately forty days. However, as in previous years, settler vandalism of Palestinian-owned olive groves began even before the season. Consequently, this review begins on 30 September 2013. It should be noted that because most farmers may not go to their land without prior coordination with the military, which allows them access for only several days for harvest and plowing. Hence, the farmers discovered the damage to their groves only when they arrived to pick the olives, but it may have occurred earlier.
Eight of the 21 cases of vandalism to trees this harvest season took place in areas to which the military denies Palestinian access for most of the year, as the land lies near or within areas defined as part of settlements, including in Special Security Areas surrounding settlements. In order to pick their olives, the farmers must coordinate going to their groves with the military via the DCO and arrange to have a military escort for several days during the harvest. In seven of the eight cases, the owners discovered the damage only once they came to harvest them. In the eighth case, the landowner learned of the vandalism through the media. The suffering of farmers whose crops are vandalized by settlers is twofold. First, as the farmers are denied access to their land for most of the year, their neglected olive trees produce a significantly poorer yield. Second, on the few days a year on which they can enter their groves, they discover vandalized trees, sometimes so damaged that there are no olives to pick.
Ibrahim Salah of the village of Far’ata cannot access to his olive grove without prior coordination with the military. In his testimony to B’Tselem field researcher ‘Atef Abu a-Rub on 13 October 2013, he described the damage caused to his trees:
http://www.btselem.org/settler_violence/20131225_olive_harvest
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