Olive harvesters watch Israeli soldiers after being told to stop picking olives in Burin. (All Photos: International Solidarity Movement)
As this year’s olive harvest sends Palestinian families across all of historic Palestine out to their olive trees, a new nonviolent resistance group called Refusing to Die In Silence is patrolling the West Bank, protecting harvesters from increased settler violence.
A woman picking olives in Qaryut.
The 2011 olive harvest, which began in early October, has seen a troubling rise in settler attacks. On October 20, OXFAM reported that Israeli settlers have already cost West Bank Palestinian farmers $500,000 this year in destroyed olive trees. In September alone, 2,500 olive trees were destroyed, out of 7,500 destroyed so far this year (and a conservative estimate of 800,000 destroyed since Israel’s annexation of the West Bank in 1967). This is particularly damaging because this year’s olive harvest is expected to yield only half the oil of last year’s harvest, making each tree all the more valuable more farmers.
An interactive map released by the human rights organization Al-Haq illustrates the “alarming increase in violent attacks” throughout the West Bank in September. In response, Refusing to Die in Silence, launched on September 19 in anticipation of increased violence during the UN vote, has organized daily patrols in the regions between Ramallah and Nablus to protect farmers during the olive harvest. Incorporating Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, armed with cameras and guided by a commitment to nonviolent resistance, the group uses a coordinated system of car patrols, directed from a control room in Ramallah, to respond to settler attacks as they occur.
Israeli soldiers and olive harvesters in Qaryut.
Says Haifam Katib, a coordinator of Refusing to Die In Silence who has been integral to the group since its inception, “we made the group because the settlers attack the villages in Palestine, especially during the month of the harvest. Last year there were many problems and so we decided to protect our people and to help our people pick olives, and to make what is going on well known...to help them, to push them to continue, to not be scared about settlers, to save their land- this is our plan.”
Like September, the month of October has been rife with settler attacks. On October 1, armed settlers uprooted dozens of olive trees in the village of Madama south of Nablus, and settlers from Yitzhar burnt many olive trees in the Einabous and Huwwara villages, south of Nablus. The same day, olive trees were also uprooted and set afire by settlers in the villages of Nabi Saleh and Dier Nidham, in the Ramallah district, and as the trees burned, Israeli soldiers prevented farmers from extinguishing the blaze and salvaging their sole sources of income.
Israeli soldiers checking ID in Qaryut.
Refusing to Die In Silence maintains contact with West Bank Palestinian villages close to Israeli settlements, so that, in case of a settler attack, help is only a phone call away. “We went around to all of the major villages, and we gave our phone number to the local committees and to the popular committees, and to the people close to the settlements who want to pick olives. They have our number, and if they have problems they call us. We go there quickly to see what happened, and all our guys are journalists, they are filming. It’s their job, and they know how to do it.”
On October 6, settlers uprooted 200 olive trees just after midnight in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, hours before their owners were to reap their fruit. Katib explains, “in Qusra we arrived in the morning, and saw that settlers had come in the night and cut the trees. The land is very important to the Palestinians, and especially the olive trees grow very slowly, and they take care of the trees many years, to take olives after they grow. So it’s very hard [when settlers cut the trees].”
On October 9, dozens of settlers armed with sticks and stones attacked Palestinians from the village of Awarta, east of Nablus, as they attempted to harvest olives close to the boundary of the Itamar settlement. Two days later, on October 11, settlers from the settlement Elon Moreh attacked olive harvesters near the village of Azmoot, east of Nablus, in a fistfight which occurred after a verbal standoff. The same day, settlers set fire to olive trees in the Palestinian villages of Ras Karkar, Beitillu and Deir Ammar, villages west of Ramallah.
Trees partially burnt by Israeli settlers in Burin.
“Always I see the same thing everywhere,” laments Haifam. “The settlers try to cut the trees, to burn the trees, to burn all the area, to stop the contact between the farmers and the land. And after, they can take the land. This is what the settlers do, this is their policy, to build more and more settlements.”
The list continues- on October 12, settlers from the settlement Havat Gilad attacked farmers from the village of Jit as well as Refusing to Die in Silence team members, injuring one; on October 21, settlers gathered to photograph and throw stones at farmers in Burin, as soldiers arrested two harvesters; on October 26, Yitzhar settlers blocked Palestinians from harvesting near the village of Huwwara.
In the midst of this flurry of assaults, the Palestinian Authority released a statement on the 24th condemning Israeli inaction, expressing that "Israeli violations against Palestinians and their property and livelihood continue to increase with little or no action by the Israeli authorities to hold people to account under the rule of law." The next day, the Israeli human rights NGO Yesh Din released a new data sheet accusing the IDF of a “general failure to enforce the law” in failing to protect Palestinian olive trees from settler violence, noting that of the 127 cases under Israeli investigation over the last six years, only one has led to an indictment.
The most serious attack so far this year occurred on October 21, when masked settlers from the settlement Esh Kodesh, armed with metal poles and firearms, descended upon villagers harvesting olives in Jaloud near Nablus, injuring four, including a 12-year-old boy and an Israeli activist. Katib explains that the presence of cameras in Jaloud helped de-escalate a situation that could have turned lethal. “In Jaloud, one international group went to help the farmers to pick olives. When the settlers saw the farmers coming to pick olives they came with guns. But since there was a group that came with cameras, the soldiers came and tried to speak to the settlers, and the soldiers were very nice this time. But be sure, when we do not have cameras, we do not have a good day with settlers.”
By fixing an international eye on the actions of the settlers, the presence of the camera can halt their aggression and de-fuse their violent intentions. “I feel the camera can stop the violence,” says Katib, “because the camera is always a witness in the place...I think the settlers know now that if they want to come and do this, they will be filmed. Maybe they are starting to be scared by the camera, it is good. ” The camera can also force soldiers to actually adhere to their stated policy of protecting farmers from settler attacks. In the village of Jeet near Nablus, for example, Refusing to Die in Silence accompanied the farmers to their fields “because they were scared to pick olives. Some soldiers were protecting the area, we saw them but we did not care about it, and we started to pick olives. After half an hour the settlers came with covered faces, and they started to throw stones, they started to scare the farmers, and the soldiers did nothing. But when the group of settlers saw the cameras, in this moment they were surprised, and the soldiers and the police, when they saw the cameras, came very quickly and kicked the settlers out. This was because of the cameras.”
Thom, a British activist working with Refusing to Die in Silence, concurs that the camera can effectively counter settler violence as it occurs. “The idea [of Refusing to Die in Silence] came from there being a lack of media as settler violence is taking place. There are numerous reports of settler violence, you can find alot of media covering violence after it happens and reporting about it, but there seemed to be little or no media trying to cover the violence as it was going on. So we came to try and fill that gap, and also not just to have an observer role but also to use the international solidarity here in Palestine to try to deter the violence.”
The presence of internationals in the organization is crucial. Says Katib, “always we have internationals and Israeli activists to be with us, and it is very important. Nobody can believe Palestinians. Nobody, except sometimes the media here. When the media comes from outside, from CNN and the like, they do not believe the news when we speak about settlers killing two or three or four, and it takes time. But when we have an Israeli activist and international activists speaking about this and showing and writing about this, nobody can tell them it is a lie. This is a very important thing. If they see this from their own yes, they are a witness in Palestine and they can speak to their own country about this.”
The presence of internationals on the scene, however, can not always save the day for Palestinian olive harvesters. In what has unfortunately become a yearly ritual for the conflict-ridden area, Palestinian harvesters in Hebron’s illegal settlement Tel Rumeida could not harvest their 3000-year old olive trees on October 22 without constant harassment from extremist settlers- who taunted them by standing on the Palestinian flag- and Israeli soldiers- who joined in the harassment and blocked the path of international activists, present at the scene to protest the occupation and stand in solidarity with the farmers.
‘James’, from Britain, was one of these international activists. “We were there to support and show solidarity with the farmers,” he said, “because they are under siege, they are very beleaguered in that area. They are surrounded by four settlements, and they want outside support. It’s really important to them, so that internationals know what’s happening there.”
Haifam Katib, and the other coordinators and participants of Refusing to Die In Silence, are optimistic about the project’s present and future role in developing a coordinated response network, across the West Bank, to challenge and counter settler aggression as it occurs. “In Hebron they have popular committees also doing the same thing. We have many people in Palestine, doing this everywhere, in Jerusalem, in Bil’in, in Al Masara. Also B’tselem is doing the same thing, giving out cameras and going around to document.
“It is the beginning,” he says, “and we hope to continue and to collect more people, and to have cars all around the West Bank, but its really hard. We have some students, some people have another job, so some people can come today but they cannot come tomorrow, and other people continue, its like this. Hopefully we will continue a long time, and we will grow stronger, and continue to make a difference.”
Ben Lorber is an activist with the International Solidarity Movement in Nablus. He is also a journalist with the Alternative Information Center in Bethlehem. He blogs at freepaly.wordpress.com.
sound familiar, these settlers reaching ever deeper into native territory
protected by their army of occupation
like what happened in the far west during the 19th century
south africa, same century
australia, same century
settlers uber natives each freaking time
palestinian nonviolent resistance to settler violence during the olive harvest
& occupy america’s nonviolent resistance to police violence in oakland
shades of the freedom fighters nonviolent resistance to police violence in birmingham
& is there a person who doesn’t know the ultimate outcome of that one?
A Palestinian American friend today told me about the latest attack on her uncle’s olive grove.
The uncle is from occupied East Jerusalem, and works as a neurologist at Hadasa hospital.
Colonists from a nearby settlement raided the family’s olive grove, uprooted a few olive trees and set the rest on fire. In total, they destroyed more than 20 trees.
And as has become the norm, the colonists left behind their signature “Price Tag” sign.
RE: “Palestinians resist settler violence during the olive
harvest” ~ by Ben Lorber
FROM SEVERAL YEARS AGO: “Jews protect Palestinians in harvest of hate” – By Donald Macintyre in Awarta, West Bank, The Independent (U.K.), 10/10/08
Israelis cross religious divide to shelter olive farmers from settlers’ attacks
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to independent.co.uk
the jug was full of shit?
who are these people?
humans?
but they don’t behave like humans
at least not like civilized ones
for taking the humanity out of a person?
nothing like being a settler in someone elses homeland
What is really incredible, is the Israeli soldier saying, ‘Look, one of them is coming down with a jug of water for you’. That soldier knew very well what was in the jug, and he knew exactly what the settler was going to do with it. Instead of warning the poor woman, he decided to get in on the “fun” (get in on the sickness, actually).
Ha, ha, ha! The Israeli soldiers and their pranks!
FROM HAARETZ, 11/13/08:
SOURCE - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037217.html
VIDEO CLIP – link to news.bbc.co.uk
expect an israel-firster to come up with something like “are there any films or other documentation to prove that thus self-hating british lady didn’t make up this story just to make the settlers appear to be monsters?”
RE: “expect an israel-firster to come up with something like ‘are there any films or other documentation to prove that thus self-hating british lady didn’t make up this story…’ ” ~ yourstruly
A FEW DEFENSE MECHANISMS:
• Denial is the refusal to accept reality and to act as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic of very early childhood development.
• Repression is the blocking of unacceptable impulses from consciousness.
• Projection is the attribution of one’s undesired impulses onto another. Thus, an angry spouse accuses their partner of hostility.
• Rationalization is the cognitive reframing of ones perceptions to protect the ego in the face of changing realities. Thus, the promotion one wished fervently for and didn’t get becomes “a dead end job for brown nosers and yes men”.
ALSO SEE: COGNITIVE DISSONANCE & DEFENSE MECHANISMS – link to mondoweiss.net
I think term “settlers” is much too nice for them.
Barbarians, savages, brutes, vandals are better.
For some strange reason, the scene from “the Lord of the Rings” movie popped into my head. The one in which angry Trees take revenge on the Saurons’ army soldiers, Orcs, who were destroying them.
I wish those burnt, uprooted, destroyed olive trees could do it as well.
I found even a short clip from it on the you tube.
link to youtube.com
Remember this. Don’t be dissuaded in the future when these young Israeli stormtroopers or their successors meet their fate. Yes, it will be very ugly, but much deserved. Their mothers, sisters, fathers and friends will meet the same sad fate. I would encourage their victims while taking revenge to not give it a second thought. Just even the score, it has come to that.
Hej!
3-rd picture – A blond/blue eyed fair skin Jew from Volga plains blocking a genuine Semites an access to their olive orchard – It makes my blood boil, my ancestors used to live for 150 years on their soil rulled by occupiers ,…
This very painful to witness. There is nothing we can do to stop what is happening. The settlers have the backing of the state of Israel and the state of Israel has the backing of the world’s only super power, the US. We are reduced to be witnesses to a major act of ethnic cleansings. We can be witnesses but we cannot stop what is happening. That is the current reality.
I realize that many people here think that because this outcome is so horrible that it cannot happen then it cannot happen. I do not agree. The Zionist have been very successful for the last 60 years because they know how to manipulate the politics inside the US and Europe. I believe that the Palestinians will suffer greatly of at least the next few decades.
Look on the bright side. This is what Israeli soldiers spend their days doing. It breeds complacency. They couldn’t beat Hizbollah in a real war. And they are not getting any better.
If we didn’t back this,there would be a peace treaty in a week,and justice for all.But of course our miseducated leaders are captives of propaganda,or they are just evil twits.800,000 olive trees huh?I guess when they attack the Palestinians income tools they make them more malleable to Israeli pressure.
A nightmare that is unending.
For there to be a group called “Refusing to Die in Silence” anywhere on this planet is itself an outrage; we should all be ashamed that this is the current reality.
The truly sad thing is what is inherent in the groups name – they are dying.
We(the rest of us) need to refuse to live in silence
Destroying olive trees, the very symbol of peace, is a relentless ongoing part of the zionist conspiracy to usurp Palestine.
I call the deliberate destruction of olive groves & fruit orchards ARBOROCIDE. I would invite any & all who read this comment to use this descriptive word as relentlessly as the colonists & IOF destroy these living, breathing gifts of God.
It is painful to read that 3,000 year old trees have been destroyed. Perhaps these are the very olive trees that Jesus Christ (PBUH) prayed and sweated blood under.
It is a monstrous crime to uproot, hack at, burn and even steal these trees that produce the fruit that so many families income is derived from. Over this last 9 month season over 7,500 trees, valued at $500,000 were destroyed with deliberate abandon.
Every perversion & obscenity that these colonists come up with and enact laws to cause making a living a crime can be boiled down (imho) to ethnic cleansing.
Hollywood & other media have made a fortune out of telling the stories of the WWII holocaust but are queerly silent when the former Jewish victims morphed into a gang of well educated, monied & influential sadistic tyrants.
This world is indeed in a sad state when people who claim the holocaust experience not only become the torturers but add extra flourishes and are pleased with their might and ability to persecute the very people whose land they’ve coveted and stolen.
If the use of Arborocide catches on we could start another branch of attack against the zionist racism, it is time we start to use the tools that the zionists have shown us to be effective. Tnx. ruby22
Very sad video showing the brutal attack of IDF ‘s banditen on olive tree farm. The pain of the family is hard to watch.
The banditen take not only their main source of income.
They take something that was in the families for generations.
Something that they loved, cared, were attached to it on every level .
But banditen do not care. They are just fullfiling their “Masters” orders.
That is the role of “Useful Idiots”. To carry out orders of their “Masters”. No matter how stupid or cruel they are.
link to youtube.com