PH Quickie: olive harvest is a Catch-22 for Palestinian farmers

by Kathryn Shihadah

In the occupied Palestinian territories, the olive harvest each October is a treacherous, even life-threatening endeavor; this year has been particularly brutal.

Every year right about now, Palestinian farmers in the West Bank face gangs of masked, armed Israeli settlers, armed Israeli soldiers, and discriminatory Israeli policies, in hope of harvesting the crops they depend on for sustenance.

To be clear, the Palestinians own their farmland; the very presence of the settlers is, according to international law, illegal – their violence is just an added layer of criminality; the police serve and protect the illegal, violent settlers.

As has been chronicled again and again, settlers shoot, throw stones, steal olive harvests, destroy olive trees, and terrify Palestinian families – often under the watchful eye of the Israeli police, and often with their assistance. If, during the course of an encounter, violence occurs, the Palestinians will be arrested and charged, in spite of video evidence of their innocence (every year, international and Israeli volunteers document olive harvest confrontations).

Since the Israeli occupation began in 1967, over 800,000 trees have been destroyed – and along with them, the lives, livelihood, and culture of countless families.

During the rest of the year, Israel regularly forbids Palestinian farmers from accessing their land to tend their crops, thus reducing their yield and often even causing a loss of income. But if they abandon their farms for too many months, under Israeli policy the land reverts to Israel.

Given this background, Palestinian farmers face a dilemma at harvest time. Every option is risky.

If they go to the orchard to collect their olives, they may be hurt or even killed; they may do the work only to have their olives stolen. Even if they make it home safely with their paltry harvest, their profit won’t be much.

If they stay home, they will get nothing but will live to “farm” another season – with almost no access to their land – unless of course their occupier decides to take the land away permanently.

And we wonder why a Palestinian occasionally loses control and kills an Israeli? What’s remarkable is that it doesn’t happen more often.