22nd October 2005
Starting Olive Picking in Al-Khas village
International volunteers, organizing institutions' staff and local schoolchildren from Beit Jala, through the EEC, went to a field near Beit Sahour to show solidarity with the Palestinian farmers, who are suffering hugely from the brutal Israeli occupation.
For many of the participants, this was their first trip to Palestine, and many of them were still taking in the breathtaking surroundings, and getting used to being in Palestine. Others, on the other hand, were very experienced olive pickers, who come regularly to Palestine to show their solidarity. The field was alive and buzzing with conversations about the occupation, including the horrific situation for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the checkpoints, what can be done to end the occupation and how to help open the collective eyes of the world to the oppression and injustice taking place in Palestine.
The farmer
The farmer who owns the field that olives were picked in today owns 13 Dunums (1 Dunum is 1 Km2) of land, 6 of which will be on the other side of the wall, when it is completed, and he has lost the land and olive trees.
Nidal Hizebe, the farmer, from Al-Khas village was determined to show a volunteer the land he will lose, and they walked through a hole in the fence that Israel has created through his land, only to find soldiers hiding in the field, as they had heard that international olive pickers were coming. They took the ID cards of the Palestinian men, who in all likelihood would have been detained if it was not for the international volunteer with them.
On previous occasions Nidal has suffered both harassment and physical abuse from the Israeli Occupation Army because he allowed international volunteers to help him pick olives. His bravery and defiance at insisting on continuing with the international olive harvest this year is an inspiration to us all. He also showed us the remains of a plaque, which had been at the side of a well, dedicating the well to Rachel Corrie, an American activist murdered in Gaza by an Israeli bulldozer driver. When the IDF saw the plaque, they destroyed it, he now only has a few fragments left.
At the end of the morning of olive picking, Nidal, a father of six, expressed how grateful he was for the solidarity shown by the volunteers, and he hoped that they would spread the truth about what was happening in Palestine upon their return home. He told the pickers that Israel was destroying Palestinian history, land and homes and the future of all Palestinian children.
Presentation on settlements and the Wall
After a lunch of falafel in the field, the group went to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ), where the Director – Jad Isaac gave a presentation to the participants about the situation in Palestine, the history of Palestine, the settlements, the various “generous� peace offers that various Israeli governments have given and he showed how the Israelis have consistently reneged on their promises to the Palestinians, and have broken all of the “peace� deals they did signed. The group then discussed in detail ideas surrounding a boycott of Israeli products, as a means to help end the occupation of Palestine and achieve peace with justice in the Holy Land, before returning to their hotel after a busy first day of the programme.
