Olive trees… Systematic destruction of Palestinian heritage and economy

Nour Alwan — Editor at Noon Post

With the beginning of October each year, the olive harvest season and olive oil extraction starts. This process is considered as an important economic, social and cultural event for different segments of the Palestinian society, whether individuals, families or farmers. At the same time, it is seen as a challenge to the Israeli occupier and its policies of sabotaging Palestinian agricultural nature and the arrangement, as the oil harvesting season often coincides with repeated violations and attacks by Israeli settlers.

The most recent of these attacks was hours earlier, when Israeli settlers attacked a group of Palestinian farmers while working near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and seized their crops and properties. Farmers expect this routine attack every time but with great anxiety and disappointment, especially since no one takes responsibility of punishing or prosecuting the perpetrators.

According to a report by Yesh Din organization, 96 % of complaints filed by Palestinians about settlers’ attacks on olive trees between 2005 and 2015 have not been dealt with seriously enough, and their files were closed without punishing the saboteurs. This means that the occupation police has no intention to restore Palestinians’ rights. Out of 246 crimes, including assault, vandalism, felling and burning of olive trees, only four files were investigated, and the rest were removed aside for “lack of sufficient evidence” or because “the perpetrator is unknown.”

The economic value of olive trees

Anadolu Agency reported quoting the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture that olives constitute about 45 % of the area of ​​cultivated lands in Palestine, estimated about two million acres (one acre equals 1,000 square meters). 850,000 acres are planted with about 11 million trees. More precisely, there are about 8.5 million fruitful trees and 2.5 million unfruitful trees, distributed between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Each tree requires 15 years of care to become productive, and its production is worth $ 150 to $ 280.

Last year, the Palestinian Authority documented 7,000 cases of olive trees cutting, while about 3,000 more cases were registered in the first half of this year. Overall, about 800,000 trees have been destroyed since 1976.

Olive and olive oil sales represent 14 % of the income of the agricultural sector and 1% of the Palestinian national income. About 100,000 Palestinian families depend on the olive season’s revenues as a main or secondary source of income. This sector provides employment opportunities for a large number of workers and over 15 % of working women. The value of the olive sector, including oil, table olives, pickled olives and soap, ranges from $ 160 million to $ 191 million in good years.

Unfortunately, with settlers’ sabotage, seizure and expulsion campaigns against Palestinian farmers and land owners, profits are always threatened by decline and loss. Estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicate that settlers destroyed more than 5,500 olive trees in 2017. Last year, the Palestinian Authority documented 7,000 cases of olive trees cutting, while about 3,000 more cases were registered in the first half of this year. Overall, about 800,000 trees have been destroyed since 1976.

According to the UN report, most of the violence and assault incidents occur in Bethlehem, particularly in the village of al-Khader, followed by Nablus governorate. Palestinian farmers found out that nearly 3,200 olive trees were stolen or cut, according to 2017 statistics. In the same context, the spokesperson of The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights B’Tselem, Sarit Michaeli, said in an earlier statement that “the organization registers about one incident every day and in some cases more than one incident against Palestinians and their olive trees since the beginning of the harvest season.”

Why does Israel target olive trees?

The violence acts that occur in the olive tree fields are not exceptional or random, but they are rather part of a strategic activity that the occupying entity allows and participates in it in order to benefit from its consequences and make it easier for it to seize more lands by displacing their residents and expanding its control over the occupied territories and the natural resources. When Israel obstructs Palestinians’ access to their fields and restricts their movements and activities by preventing the entrance of new plants, fertilizers and pesticides, cutting water, burning crops with fire or chemicals, or releasing wild pigs in their land and crops, it means that Israel is trying to create fear among Palestinian shepherds.

Voluntary youth campaigns and initiatives are organized to plant olive seedlings in lands threatened with confiscation, theft and vandalism, to compensate for uprooted and destroyed trees and to support Palestinian farmers

Yesh Din organization confirms this incident by monitoring the position of the Israeli government regarding the settlers’ violations against farmers, in a report entitled “Settlers Violence as a Tool to Seize Palestinian Lands under the Protection of the State and the Army,” saying:

“We are not talking about arbitrary and vulgar violence, but about an approach that constitutes another strategy in the range of used means to seize the Palestinian territories. This Israeli policy causes a grave violation of the Palestinians’ human rights, in particular the right to life and physical integrity, as well as the right of movement and ownership. It is trampling the daily routine of women, men and children, who are forced to reduce their living space and live in constant fear even in their houses. ”

Despite these obstacles, voluntary youth campaigns and initiatives are organized to plant olive seedlings in lands threatened with confiscation, theft and vandalism, especially on Land Day and in the northern Jordan Valley, east of the West Bank. This serves two purposes: the first is compensating for uprooted and destroyed trees and supporting Palestinian farmers in their battle against the settlers. The second is to emphasize the steadfastness of the Palestinian position in protecting the land and nature from the strange settler.

In the end, the terror of “Israel” against olive trees has not been its only way to the confiscation and seizure of Palestinian lands, but also the occupation’s violations have extended to all agricultural areas, as part of the collective and retaliatory sanctions it imposes on Palestinians, which mainly aims at destroying the basic pillar of the Palestinian economy in preparation for the full eradication of the Palestinian presence there.