27th, October 2006
Moving to the field
The group participating in this year's Olive Tree Campaign, made up of internationals from all over Europe, America and a few from Japan, as well as Palestinian staff of the East Jerusalem YMCA and ATG, today visited an olive field in Tekoa, a village in the West Bank just south of Bethlehem.
They were there to show solidarity with the Palestinian farmers, who find it impossible to access their olive fields as a result of the occupation and the continued presence of volatile Israeli settlers. Accompanying the local Palestinians to the fields is intended to ensure a safe environment for the families who own the land and allows them to harvest their olives in peace.
Arrival and welcoming
Upon arrival at the village at nine in the morning, the group was welcomed by the land owners and other local people and the party made their way down and up the rocky valley to the fields overlooked by an improvised (but ominously permanent) Israeli settlement.
Israel soldiers' blockage
It was not long before several Israeli soldiers emerged form the olive trees and stood guard as the volunteers and locals (in total numbering around sixty people) prepared to pick the olives that should have been burdening the trees. Sadly, it soon became clear that the trees in this field had suffered badly during the years that they had been left untended, as a consequence of the farmers being unable to reach them. The trees in this field were barren, the direct victims of an unjust occupation.
Shouting was heard in one corner of the field, prompting the whole group, including the soldiers, to hurry over to the area where a loud argument was in full swing between an aggressive settler and an indignant farmer. The situation was quickly mollified, thanks to a mixture of the sudden presence of several dozen cameras wielded by internationals, and the soldiers forming a barrier to prevent the settler from becoming too violent. It later emerged that during the shouting, a young Palestinian man who was part of the group, had been attacked by two female settlers. The young man had been hit by a large rock and was cut very badly over the eye.
There followed a long standoff between the local Palestinians (accompanied by the volunteers) and several Israeli settlers. The farmers wished to press their just claim to visit their land and so they stayed in the field in protest, despite the lack of olives – this also meant that families picking olives in the fields behind were left un-troubled by the settlers and soldiers.
The aged settler responsible for the earlier shouting entered into a dialogue with several young international volunteers. All the time surrounded by soldiers the old man, who limped on crutches and was accompanied by a dog, spoke in harsh terms to the internationals; he labeled the entire group Nazis and ignored their claims on behalf of the Palestinians.
Demonstration
Over the next few hours the situation settled into the form of a non-violent demonstration, as the group waited amongst the tragically fruit-less trees, the Muslims amongst them who wished to pray performed their Friday prayers. It was an act which could be seen as a kind of reclamation of the land which they had been excluded from for so long.
The day did not pass however without an olive being picked. Perhaps due to most attention being diverted to the scene of the stand-off, it was possible for small groups of Palestinians supported by the international volunteers, to move down the valley into fertile fields where the olives were growing fat. Watched closely by soldiers, the small groups were able to pick several buckets of olives.
Discussion
In the afternoon back at the Y.M.C.A. the group compared their experiences and discussed the events of the day. It was a vivid introduction to the realities of the occupation and a useful insight to take with them when they meet their host families this evening.
