Aletho News

This year’s olive harvest in Walaja may be the last

By Nigel O’Connor | The Palestine Monitor | October 17, 2011

This week, the olive harvest began across the West Bank, with people returning to villages from city jobs to assist with the picking.

Many farmers face restrictions, imposed by the Israeli Defence Forces, on when and where they can harvest due to the proliferation of Israeli settlements and outposts.

For villagers in al-Walaja, a village near Bethlehem, the harvest is overshadowed by the fact that next year they will be separated from their land when Israel completes the construction of the Seperation Wall. The route of the Wall will completely encircle the village, save for one access road.

On 23 August, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition against the proposed route of the Wall, that effectively annexes nearly 5,000 dunums, or 1,250 acres, of the village’s agricultural land.

On Friday, in a show of support, Palestinians and internationals assisted farmers in gathering the olives from trees that lie beyond the planned path of the wall.

The solidarity action was organized through the International Solidarity Initiative, an organization founded by former Palestinian presidential candidate, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi.

Dr. Barghouthi attended the harvest and thanked volunteers for the strong turnout.

“We are here because the Israeli wall will prevent the people from harvesting here,” he said.  “The wall is surrounding the village and completely isolating the villagers from their community.”

On Saturday morning, Israeli soldiers had gathered close to the harvest site and it was expected farmers would be told to leave the land.

Dr. Barghouthi believed the strong international presence prevented them from taking any action. “This was a very important act of solidarity,” he said.

Speaking to The Palestine Monitor in September, al-Walaja resident Sheerin al-Araj said her village represented a microcosm of Palestine’s recent history.

“Originally our village owned 18,000 dunams of land,” she said, while protesting the construction of the Separation Wall. “Israel’s War of Independence in 1948 took 11,000 dunams.” The Wall will reduce the village’s land mass further.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries were expanded to take more land. The settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo were established.

“After 1967 we have two settlements, a road and a train line. With the Wall being built we will be left with only 2,200 dunams,” Sheerin said.

Since the Second Intifada and the subsequent crippling of the West Bank’s economy, many Palestinian have a greater dependence on the harvest reaped from their family farms.

In the lead up to the olive harvest, Israeli settlers often target adjacent villages by uprooting, destroying or burning trees. For al-Walaja, it is the IDF, with the complicity of Israel’s Supreme Court, that will cut the villagers off from their trees and land.

October 18, 2011 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism