In the West Bank, the Israeli army has banned Palestinian farmers from reaching their land and groups of settlers are burning farmers’ crops. Jacobin spoke to olive growers about Israel’s draconian moves to destroy their livelihoods.
O | n October 30, farmer Omar Ghoneym drove from al-Khader to his lands in the southern area of Bethlehem. On his way there, he received unfathomable news: most of his property (mainly olive trees) had been uprooted and destroyed by settlers. What he saw when he arrived broke him. Not only had he lost all of his harvest, but even the centuries-old dar ( دار — traditional rural house), which used to overlook the hill, had been torn apart stone by stone by Israeli bulldozers.
Mahmoud Abdullah, another farmer, has acres of grape vines just next to Omar’s trees. He hadn’t been allowed to pick the fruits since October 7. But on the morning of October 30, nothing was left to harvest because his vines had been crushed into the soil. Settlers vandalized everything on the Palestinian hills surrounding their colony, Efrat.
Palestinian farmers know their land by the square-millimeter. To them, there is no such thing as “wild plants”: each sprout on their land is an expression of Palestinian life, as indigenous flora. They harvest the crops, take care of their trees, and walk along their vines with the same love and responsibility with which they protect their loved ones. Their families have been caretakers of these trees for generations; the olive trees have been feeding and protecting their caretakers for just as long.
This war is not only taking place in Gaza. After the attacks on October 7, the West Bank has experienced the deadliest weeks since the Second Intifada. As of this Tuesday, over 140 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed, 2,040 people have been arrested, and villages and cities have been placed under a blockade, which has prevented residents from traveling outside their towns.
Palestinian farmers have been especially struggling, as most have land, crops, and harvest in so-called Area C. This is the largest of three zones that the West Bank has been divided into since the Oslo agreements of the 1990s, which stipulated that the Palestinian Authority is meant to administer Areas A and B, while Area C is meant to be “progressively handed back to Palestinians.” In reality, Area C, comprising nearly 70 percent of West Bank territory, remained under the complete military control of the Israeli army (Israel Defence Forces, IDF), and Israeli settlements have continually expanded there over the last three decades.
Farmers haven’t been allowed to reach these territories at all over the last month, and the IDF has informed them that if they attempt to reach their olive groves, they will be killed. Some farmers have shared photos of leaflets that settlers left on their groves, which read: “You have reached the border! Entry is forbidden and dangerous, and anyone who approaches will see burning trees.”
When asked what he has been doing, given the prohibition to tend to his grape vines, Mahmoud says he has been spending his days only watching the news and praying for the people of Gaza.” At this point, the harvest has already all gone to waste. All we can do is hope the war ends. How can we deal with our own problems here while Gaza is burning?”
Attacks against farmers reached a peak on October 28, when Bilal Saleh, a farmer from southern Nablus, was shot by an off-duty Israeli soldier in front of his four children, dying instantly. The soldier has been arrested, but as the record shows in previous cases of settler and/or soldier attacks on Palestinian civilians, the Israeli perpetrators have been prematurely released — protected by impunity.
Other farmers, such as Na’em Abu Eram and his family from southern Hebron, have been assaulted and severely injured by beatings. While Na’em’s father, aged seventy-two was herding his sheep, he was attacked by settlers and later hospitalized. One of Na’em’s siblings has been recording on camera all the attacks they’ve undergone in the past fifteen years and shares the videos with human rights NGOs such as B’Tselem. Two weeks ago, a settler confiscated his phone and broke his fingers while doing so.
Abdullah Salem Abu Aram is sixty-two years old and, after his retirement as a school teacher, decided to dedicate all his life to cultivating his lands in the village of Qawawis, South Hebron Hills. They’ve belonged to his family since 1958, and in 1981, his father planted hundreds of olive trees across the nearly thirty acres of land they own.
“The Occupation has prevented us from plowing, pruning, and reaping our fruits by expelling us from the land before and after the war. The settlers have always beaten us and threatened to kill us. They call in the army, which expels us from our land under false pretexts.” He continues: “Now we cannot return to harvest the crop because we fear for our lives and don’t know what to do. The crop will be destroyed as we won’t be able to pick it. It constitutes 80 percent of my family’s income, but I am not even thinking about this right now, as what is happening in Gaza occupies all our thoughts.”
Most Palestinian civilians — especially farmers — don’t own weapons. On the other hand, settlers — who all have military training and equipment — recently received thousands of guns and rifles distributed by Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir himself.
We wrote to the IDF spokesperson’s unit and asked them to comment on the recent surge in settler and soldier violence in the West Bank, requesting they specifically take into consideration Bilal Saleh’s murder and the attacks affecting farmers. In their reply, they failed to mention either subject, but underlined that their mission in the territory of “Judea and Samaria” — a Biblical name for the West Bank — is to ensure the security of its residents and prevent any terrorist attack.
As part of the counterterrorism operations, they say they have been conducting nightly arrests to apprehend suspects and installed “dynamic checkpoints” to ensure security across the territory. Needless to mention, the residents to be protected are only Israelis, as all Palestinians fall under the category of potential terrorists.
Their comment simply does not reflect reality: the nightly arrests have resulted in the detention of thousands of peace activists or of ordinary Palestinians who have been accused of collaboration with terrorism simply for liking Facebook posts. On the other hand, the “dynamic checkpoints” in question are, in fact, rather rigid cement blocks, iron gates, and earth mounds, which have entirely restricted movement for Palestinians inside and outside their towns. This has further isolated many communities that are already underserved and lack access to health facilities or water resources due to the occupation.
Moreover, to put into perspective the IDF’s “counterterrorism” agenda, we should keep in mind that data before October 7 shows that settlers in the West Bank were already the residents with the highest gun ownership in all of Israel and Palestine, and that the use of firearms to perpetrate attacks against Palestinians has been exponentially growing in recent years.
With this in mind, the claim to self-defense as a justification for the violence unleashed against Palestinians is hugely disproportionate — and makes no sense when the victims of this violence are unarmed farmers.
read more: https://jacobin.com/2023/11/west-bank-israeli-settlers-palestinian-olive-trees-violence-occupation/
Apparently if I don’t blame Hamas for this I’m antisemitic.
But do you condemn Hamas? Everyone knows that olive trees are Hamas.
You have been reported to the anti-defamation league for your antisemitism…
It’s strange how the right to self defense doesn’t extend to the Palestinians of the West Bank.
How can Hamas do this
Watch someone tells you this is somehow because Hamas uses human shields.
More seriously it’s interesting how the Zionists are all silent when it comes to the West Bank. I wonder how they justify that.
Ohh they will just say West Bank also have radical and they keep attempting terrorism so they have to be suppressed…
…by driving them out of their home and take away their land and burn their source of income…
But hey, they’re the good guy, the victim of Nazi so it’s all good 👌
this is somehow because Hamas uses human shields.
There’s a woman shielding this tree; Hamas uses human shilds; ergo, this tree must be Hamas. Simple!
Dude it’s in their right, it’s their homeland. If I moved away from someplace, my great great great great great great great grandchildren surely have the right to evict people living on that place and live there /s
Gotta add about a hundred more greats, but you got the spirit.
They are not “settlers” but expansionist racist murderers, let’s stop using misleading diminutives.
What’s the difference?
Theoretically, “settlers” can describe behaviours ranging from strictly non violent all the way to military expansionists, I assume.
I think that’s usually only an issue if someone doesn’t know the history of settler movements worldwide which are almost always violent and genocidal. Granted in post colonial countries that history gets pretty severely white washed.
Hence the impression of “settling” as covering a range of violent and non-violent activities, probably? I thought that there was a range too, until that thought just got the spotlight now lol. Thanks.
What the fuck do you think settlers are?!??!! Do you think they just set up shop on someone else’s land and suddenly they’re the sole owners?!?!
The settler colonists have so little love for thousand year old indigenous trees the metaphor almost writes itself. They will grow imported pine trees after they’re done.
Those olives were probably feeding Hamas. They obviously had to destroy the enemies supply lines.
It’s surely because Palestinian olives are highly sought after for their “creamy” taste as I understand it. Essentially they’re trying to burn them out economically since those trees are over a hundred years old and can only be propagated by splicing like a fruit tree.
Sorry, I’m neurodivergent. Is this sarcastic?
Apologies if it’s not entirely obvious mate. But yeah, I was being sarcastic.
But it’s honestly not that far removed from what I’ve heard some people say with a completely straight face.
Yes, and it accurately reflects
Lacoud’s (sp?)Likud talking pointsLikud
I’m neurodivergent too and whenever I read statements like this I just assume they are being sarcastic since it makes me feel better about humanity in general.
Yeah, but I know that that lack of clarity is where neonazis breed. So, why not get the OP to clarify to make it unsafe for gross people? It’s also why I advocate for the /s tag usage.
Yeah couldn’t agree more.
On a completely different tangent: Is it just me or are the discussion here (on Lemmy that is) just more sane and civilized than Reddit? Being a Reddit refugee I’m just not used to the rationality and civility here. I find it quite refreshing. It’s like there are adults here or something. 🤣
Likud.
Call it what it is: terrorist attacks.
Fascist pogroms. They’re trying to drive the Palestinians away so they can take the land.
Fuck Israel
What disgusting people those ‘settelers’ are.
Yeah I’m a bit out of the loop on this. Is this just more kids gloves and we aren’t calling them invaders?
Well, kind of. Settlers have been a thing since the 70s and it’s always been like this. It likely did start as kids gloves (or rather because the poor Israelis are holocaust victims and can do no wrong), but for everyone in the loop settler means “genocidal Zionist maniac stealing Palestinian homes”.
Settlers aren’t people. People are civilized, settlers aren’t.
Israel, continuing to demolish its own international reputation while ensuring a whole new generation is even more angry and more willing to fight.
What does this have to do with Hamas?
This just sounds like Israel being a dick.
This is what would have happened in Gaza if there were no Hamas. They initially tried to settle Gaza just like the West Bank, but were driven out by ‘terrorists’
Yep
There’s a hamas base under those trees. Source: trust us
Everyone wondering how ‘ordinary people’ can become sadists, no need for Milgram or Stanford, look right here.
The olive trees are Hamas.
A bunch of these assholes are American born.
Ok people, listen. This might sound horrific and reading about it might raise a passionate hate inside you, but you need to stop and…
Think of the Holocaust! Israeli are the victims and thus they can’t, ever, be blamed for anything, no matter how atrocious it might be.
Always think of the Holocaust and accept.
They are also going in the night and pouring oil in and on the trees killing them and the ground around them. These are 100+ year old trees and the devastation of this will be felt for decades