29th, October 2008
See more photos of the group day
Today we went to pick olives in Husan. The fields are located inside an Israeli settlement, and the farmer has experienced a lot of problems because of this. We waited a long time to be able to come into the settlement. The soldiers at the settlement checkpoint told the bus-driver to go back and wait, and so we did. We waited quite a long time before anything happened. Finally they told us that we were not allowed to enter the settlement. Because of this we decided to go to the fields located outside the settlement and pick olives there instead. The soldiers found this quite problematic, and asked us to wait. They took Baha's identity card and let us wait for a long time.
Still people did not loose the spirit. They danced and sang and played music, while some where also discussing why this was happening!
"Why are they doing these things? We just want to go and pick olives", said Kristin from Norway. "I guess they just want to make life hard for Palestinians", said Live also from Norway
Finally after much back and forward they let us go to the fields outside the settlement to pick olives. However it was strictly forbidden to take pictures of the settlement. After much time waiting, the participants were eager to start the olive picking. We did not care about the rain and the cold, but continued to pick olives with a smile on our face.
As we could not continue to pick olives at the farmers fields in the settlement we moved on to a field close by. The whole family of the farmer was there, and the participants enjoyed a lot to talk and co-operate with them. Even though it was muddy and cold at the 
field people were laughing and working in teams. We picked olives for about an hour and a half, then we were served lunch by the farmers family. They were really nice to us, and the farmer himself was extremely thankful for our help.
He told us that not so long ago settlers had destroyed his car while he was looking after his olive trees in a field located close to a settlement. As he was depending on this car to be able to move around and look after his trees it was a great loss for him. Seeing us there today gave him hope.
After lunch we drove to Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem - ARIJ. Here we were given a detailed presentation about land confiscation. We were shown maps of the West Bank to be able to get a clear picture on how serious the situation is for Palestinians as more and more land is taken away from them. During the past few days there has been a lot of talking about the wall, about the green line and other geographically related things, and for most of the participants the presentation gave a better idea of Palestinian land issues. People were impressed, and some asked questions both during and after the presentation.
When talking about the wall many got quite upset from what they saw. They could not believe how it is possible that Israel can continue to build the wall when it is illegal according to the UN, and if Palestinians try to destroy it or throw stones at it they will be called terrorists, and will maybe be punished by Israeli soldiers one way or another.
