Picking olives, a millennia old way of gaining sustenance, considering the trees as holy and as children of one’s own family, is now widely threatened in Palestine.
Why?
Israeli settlers, colonizing over 200 sectors of the West Bank of Palestine, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, feel threatened by attacks by Palestinian militants. To minimize the risk, settlers often prohibit Palestinian farmers and their allies—Israeli peace and justice groups like Rabbis for Human Rights and international supporters like Ecumenical Accompaniers—from harvesting.
Ecumenical Accompaniers, a project of the World Council of Churches, places volunteers in various locations. Among those, Jayyous, a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank. There I photographed for two days as Ian Connon and Frantz Frantzen monitored gates in the Separation Wall and helped harvest. Abu Maz, AKA Sharif Khalad, is a voluble, articulate farmer often at various World Social Forums and other venues to advocate for the restoration of primary human rights to Palestinians.
Learn more:
Action needed now (December 18, 2004) to save Jayyous olive orchards
“Letter From Jayyous” by David Bloom in The Nation, February 18, 2004
“Danger: Olive harvest, settlers on the prowl” by Atef Saad in Palestine Report October 13, 2004