Last night settlers from the Bat Ayn settlement set fire to 70 olive trees in the Saffa region of Beit Ommar. The trees belonged to the Thalji Aady family, who have been subject to frequent settler violence and military harassment. The fire was lit around 9:30 pm, and burned for 3 hours before fire trucks from the village were able to extinguish the flames. At 11:00 pm 3 military jeeps arrived and attempted to prevent villagers from extinguishing the fire, arresting 3 Palestinian youth in the process.
Settlers from the Bat Ayn settlement frequently destroy trees belonging to Palestinian farmers in Saffa, and several farmers have been violently attack. A series of settler attacks in 2009 left several farmers wounded and hundreds of trees destroyed. The Israeli army regularly denies the farmers access to their land, which they claim is Israeli state land despite the fact that all of the farmers have ownership documents.
For the past two weeks solidarity activists have been arrested accompanying farmers to their land in Saffa, and tear gas was shot at a larger group of supporters that joined the farmers last Saturday. Farmers who went to their land in Saffa without international accompaniment on Tuesday were detained in their land for five hours and threatened with arrest if they returned.
11 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement
At a time of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to participate in the 2011 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities.
The olive harvest started across the West Bank last week. ISM is working with villages that are close to Israeli settlements to monitor and prevent attacks by settlers, which have been commonplace in previous harvests.
We are currently working in Burin and Qaryut villages. The villages of Qusra will start to pick olives this Friday. So far there have been few settler attacks, although some olive trees were burnt in Qusra this week. However, it is expected that attacks by settlers will escalate over the next few weeks as more villages begin to harvest olives. In previous years settlers have physically attacked Palestinian villagers during the harvest and have burnt and uprooted trees. The army is often reluctant to intervene to protect Palestinians from attacks and has also prevented access and denied permits to farmers to pick olives on their own land.
Olives are a vital part of the Palestinian economy and culture. Farmers should be free to pick olives on their own land without fear of attack by settlers or hindrance from the Israeli government.
International volunteers are needed to help monitor and document any problems in villages that are harvesting olives and are vulnerable to settler attacks. The harvest will continue in some villages until mid November.
Join the 2011 Olive Harvest Campaign
The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by Israeli settlers and the military – (over half a million olive and fruit trees have been destroyed since September 2000) – harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance.
The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities remain steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest
International and Israeli volunteers join Palestinians each year to harvest olives, and this makes a big difference. It has proven in the past to help limit and decrease the number and severity of attacks and harassment. The presence of activists can reduce the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers and the Israeli army and supports Palestinians’ assertion of their right to earn their livelihood. International solidarity activists engage in non-violent intervention and documentation and this practical support enables many families to pick their olives. In addition The Olive Harvest Campaign also provides a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Palestinian families in their olive groves and homes.
The campaign will begin early October and run for approximately 6-8 weeks, depending on the size of the harvest. We request a minimum 2 week commitment from volunteers.
Training
The ISM will be holding mandatory two day training sessions which will be run every week. Please contact palreports@gmail.com for further information.
Ongoing campaigns
In addition to the olive harvest, there will also be other opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine.
Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to adequately convey the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.
At a time of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to participate in the 2010 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities.
Join the 2010 Olive Harvest Campaign
The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by Israeli settlers and the military – (over half a million olive and fruit trees have been destroyed since September 2000) – harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance.
The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities remain steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest
International and Israeli volunteers join Palestinians each year to harvest olives, and this makes a big difference. It has proven in the past to help limit and decrease the number and severity of attacks and harassment. The presence of activists can reduce the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers and the Israeli army and supports Palestinians’ assertion of their right to earn their livelihood. International solidarity activists engage in non-violent intervention and documentation and this practical support enables many families to pick their olives. In addition The Olive Harvest Campaign also provides a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Palestinian families in their olive groves and homes.
The campaign will begin on the 8th or 9th of October and run for approximately 6-8 weeks, depending on the size of the harvest. We request a minimum 2 week commitment from volunteers.
Training
The ISM will be holding mandatory two day training sessions which will be run every week. Please contact palreports@gmail.com for further information.
Ongoing campaigns
In addition to the olive harvest, there will also be other opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine.
In occupied East Jerusalem, ISM activists have been staying in Sheikh Jarrah, where the Hanoun and Ghawe families, evicted from their houses by Israeli police and settlers, maintain a presence, and the Al-Kurd family endure constant harassment from settlers who have occupied part of their home . We will continue to support the initiatives of families who face evictions or demolitions in all Palestinian neighborhoods in order to resist the ongoing ethnic cleansing of occupied East Jerusalem.
ISM volunteers harvesting olives.
ISM maintains a presence in Hebron and is making regular visits to the nearby village of Al Buwayra where settlers have terrorized villagers in recent weeks with regular attacks, including the unprovoked assault of two ISM activists. Lately the Israeli army has used brutal violence to suppress the regular demonstration for the opening of Shuhada street. They have shut down local shops and made numerous arrests of Palestinians and international activists in attempts to thwart the demo, sometimes also fabricating crimes and prosecuting activists leading to fines, bans and spells in jail.
We also have an apartment in Nablus from where we work on a number of projects including resisting demolitions in the village of Izbet Tabib, documenting the rioting and olive tree-burning of settlers and attending the weekly demonstration in Iraq Burin where the military have been illegally firing tear gas canisters directly at protesters.
Other regular demonstrations ISM participate in include those in the village of Bil’in where rubber bullets have been used to disperse unarmed protestors and a campaign of legal persecution has been waged against key protest organizers in an attempt to repress the grassroots nonviolent resistance movement.
ISM activists have also been attending weekly demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall, the annexation of Palestinian land and the construction of illegal settlements in Al Ma’sara, Ni’lin, An Nabi Saleh, Al Walaja and Beit Ummar.
Come! Bear witness to the suffering, courage and generosity of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.
Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to adequately convey the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.
Aqraba residents and internationals gather to plant the olive trees
Residents of the village of Aqraba, near Nablus, planted forty young olive trees on their land on Thursday (29 July 2010) to send a message to settlers who have been plowing the area in an attempted land-grab.
The Palestinian villagers were accompanied by many international volunteers – around thirty people from an American group called the Holy Land Trust and about eight ISM activists.
The group gathered at ten in the morning and the forty olive trees were planted by soon after midday.
Three Israeli army jeeps drove down to observe what the large group of people were doing. They then entered the village for some time.
Aqraba is surrounded on all sides by illegal Israeli settlements, including Jaffa An Nun, Yanun, Migdalim and Itamar. To the east it is bordered by the illegal Israeli settlement of Gittit and an area which Israel designates a ‘closed military zone’.
Planting the olive trees was intended to assert the Palestinians' rightful ownership of the land in defiance of colonising settlers
In recent weeks settlers from Itamar had begun plowing the land belonging to Palestinians, prompting fears that they were trying to steal the land for their on use.
Palestinian and internationals help plant olive trees in Bilin to replace those destroyed by Israeli troops and settlers.
At 9:30am residents of Bil’in village, Palestinian political representatives, and International activists gathered in Bil’in to plant olive trees and almond seeds for 20 farmers who own land besides Israel’s Apartheid Wall. Approximately 200 trees were planted as part of the ongoing popular resistance to the Israeli apartheid wall and settlements. Bil’in has organized weekly and sometimes daily actions against the wall for the past five years, gaining international attention for the struggle and becoming a symbol for nonviolent, creative, popular struggle around the West Bank of Palestine.
An hour into the planting, an Israeli soldier appeared on the other side of the wall and gave a warning shot. He stated that planting next to the Wall is forbidden and that people were to stay 10 metres away from the wall. A jeep with four soldiers arrived and stood guard as the people continued planting slightly farther from the wall.
Two years ago the Israeli Supreme Court had deemed the path of the Wall, which cuts through Bil’in’s agricultural land to be illegal. Construction work to reroute the Wall in Bil’in began on February 11th, 2010. Israel has twice been found to be in contempt of court for not implementing the decision sooner. Residents of the village have had permission to access their land on the other side of the wall even before the courts ruling two years ago. Today, farmers planted 80 trees on the other side of the wall.
Palestinian and internationals help plant olive trees in Bil’in to replace those destroyed by Israeli troops and settlers.
Israeli soldier just after firing at Palestinians and internationals as they planted olive trees on Palestinian land.
