Michael Jansen
Illegal Israeli settlers have mounted more than 160 assaults against West Bank Palestinian farmers gathering their olives as the harvest season began this month. While more than 140 attacks have been carried out by settlers at least 17 were carried out by the Israeli army making them official policy. These incidents involved assaults, arrests, restrictions on movement, denial of access, harassment, shootings and the destruction of nearly 800 olive trees.
According to the Palestinians, Israeli settlers have carried out 7,154 attacks against Palestinians and their property across the West Bank since the attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The long-lived olive tree is a symbol of belonging and identity for Palestinians who, like olive trees, are deeply rooted in their land. Israeli settlers know this full well. Therefore, interfering in the olive harvest and burning, damaging and uprooting olive trees is a means of indirectly harming Palestinians while avoiding condemnation by the international community as long as few Palestinians are killed or wounded in the process.
Olives and olive oil are irreplaceable foods consumed by Palestinians and olive oil is a major source of revenue. In 2023, $10.9 million worth of virgin olive oil was sold abroad, making it Palestine’s third most exported item and making Palestine the 23rd largest exporter out of the world’s 160.
Olive groves cover nearly 45 per cent of cultivated land in Palestine and olives are the single largest crop in Palestine’s mainly agricultural economy, which amounts to 25 per cent of GDP. In good years, olives can contribute 15-19 per cent of total agricultural output. The UN estimates that 80,000-100,000 rural families depend partly on the olive harvest for livelihoods.
In Gaza, nearly three-quarters of the land was cultivated before Israel’s latest devas-tating campaign. Oranges were the chief crop and for decades were exported to Europe and elsewhere with Israel’s permission. Wheat and olives were also cultivated for local consumption. Agricultural produce amounted to more than 50 per cent of the territory’s total exports.
The United Nations Satellite Centre and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported in July that 86 per cent of Gaza’s agricultural land had been damaged during Israel’s military offensive. The situation is critical n the north and around Gaza City where 90 per cent has been ravaged. Most of Gaza’s greenhouses have also been flattened. Consequently, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reported that strip been denied its capacity to produce vegetables, fruit, wheat and rear livestock. Domestic production of food has been virtually wiped out, and Gaza has lost 55 per cent of its export earnings. “As a result, prices of commercially imported food supplies have skyrocketed, adding to the population’s now near-complete dependence on food assistance,” IFPRI stated.
IFPRI concluded, “Gaza’s massive losses of life and human capital, along with the widespread damage to agricultural lands, trees, greenhouses, and other basic production infrastructure, will mean a long and arduous recovery. An essential first step is an immediate truce ending hostilities and allowing a large flow of food and other relief supplies to alleviate the unfolding catastrophe.”
Disruption of the olive harvest in the West Bank is just one aspect of Israel’s policies harmful to Palestinians whose population of seven million plus equals that of Israel in the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Israel’s aim is either to export Palestinians or force them to end resistance to occupation and accept apartheid and subservience.
Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza has led the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory to conclude that Israel has perpetrated genocide in Gaza over the last two years by committing four of five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the crime of genocide. These are killing, causing bodily or mental harm, intentionally inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians as a whole or in part, and seeking to prevent births.
The Commission focused on Israeli military operations in Gaza which involved “killing and seriously harming unprecedented numbers of Palestinians; imposing a total siege, including blocking humanitarian aid leading to starvation; systematically destroying the healthcare and education systems; committing systematic acts of sexual and gender based violence; directly targeting children; carrying out systematic and widespread attacks on religious and cultural sites; and disregarding the orders of the International Court of Justice” to end the offensive.
Dining and Cooking