Olive harvesting can be a form of political resistance

The olive tree has always been a symbol of the Palestinian identity, culture and tradition. It is the source of livelihood for at least 100 000 Palestinians today who are olive oil producers. After Israeli’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967 olive cultivation has acquired additional connotations as well though; it has strong social and political aspects. Planting of olive orchards is often a desperate attempt to prevent the confiscation of land by Israel or settlers. Harvesting despite the numerous difficulties farmers experience in the form of settler’s violence and army regulations has made out of the olive tree a symbol of resistance as well.

Around 40% of the West Bank is not or accessible or the accessibility is restricted to Palestinians today, due to settlements, outposts, bypass roads, military bases, closed military areas and areas Israel has declared as being nature reservesa(according to OXFAM report: http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/the-road-to-olive-farming_0.pdf).

As the olive harvesting season is very near to its end this year I felt there were a lot of things worth going back to from our days immersed in the olive picking. Some of them I missed to convey in a written form up to this day while concentrated instead on different kind of actions. Other times the events of the day seemed insignificant to write about when singled out to their moment back then. We didn’t happen to witness any of the violent settler attacks that took place this year which sometimes made us feel like we were at the wrong place after hearing such had taken place indeed elsewhere. On the other hand, maybe it was the “wrong place” precisely because of our presence there; it does make you wonder... It takes time for some experiences to sink in for one to realize that it’s not only the settlers or army’s violence worth writing about. It’s exactly the many at first sight smaller indignities that constitute the daily reality of the Palestinian farmer in the oPt (occupied Palestinian territories) which when put together make their final product, the olive oil, appear as if it was made of tears indeed.

Burin – amidst the settlements

The olive harvest this year started in early October and timed perfectly with our team’s arrival in Huwwara. Neighboring Burin was the first village where both picking and our work as team started.

Because of its location between mountains topped by two Israeli settlements Yizhar(with Yitzar outpost) and Bracha, Burin falls completely into Area C of the West Bank and is under full Israeli control. Ytzhar is at the forefront of the so called "price tag" policy or campaign which calls for attacks against Palestinians in retaliation for actions of the Israeli government against West Bank settlements (for more information please visit:http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/yitzhar-extremists-all-settlers-must-fight-construction-freeze-1.287512)

Those amidst the village’s 4000 inhabitants who own olive grove land must receive “prior coordination” from the Israeli Civil Administration (a part of the military administration) in order to be able to tend to their land. Many Palestinians cannot prove land ownership as customary traditions saw land being passed down from one generation to the next without the necessity for formal land registration. Others refuse to apply for “permission”, or if it is given, will only pick on days without it. We accompanied a few families in Burin the first days of our work in the harvest that had chosen to pick without permission or the so called “prior coordination” with the Israeli army. The first day we picked a hundred meters away from the Bracha settlement. We saw the olive trees bordering the settlement that had been set on fire earlier this year, as well as some of the trees owned by the family. We still took the time to pick the few olives remaining on the branches the fire took mercy on.

Despite the proximity to the settlements from where we picked, these were obviously days devoid of fear. Farmers sang songs and joked around with internationals under the strong sun. This seemed as much of an act of resistance as their mere coming to their own land that day despite the lack of authority permission from the Occupying military force.

After a couple of days of picking with different families in Burin, we started to see familiar faces and on their turn villagers also started recognizing our presence there. While waiting at the village’s center for Rhassan, or the director of Burin’s Community center who would match us with a family in need for the day, we were the object of unexpected gestures of kindness. A man selling flowers once approached us and merely handed a flower without saying a word, then went back to his morning duties. The small falafel corner owner would send a kid carrying some tasty sandwich for what would be yet another breakfast of ours that morning. It felt good to be establishing connection to these incredibly nice people and receiving these small but deeply appreciated tokens of gratitude for our presence there.

In the words of the 2008 United Nations report “The Olive Harvest in the West Bank and Gaza,” “As a military occupying power, the [Israeli army] is obligated to ensure public order and life in the Occupied Territories and the Government of Israel has repeatedly committed to ensuring that Palestinian farmers have access to their fields. (http://unispal.un.org/pdfs/olive_harvest_fs08.pdf). “With or without the army’s presence, it’s all the same, we don’t feel protected by the army”, says Basima, whose family we pick with one of the days in Burin, while the mosque’s loudspeaker notifies us about the army presence in the village that day. This family’s house is singled out from the village and stands alone in proximity to the settlement. One night this May settlers came down and s set on fire the family’s car. The same family had their windows broken on a different occasion and overall faces frequent raids from neighboring settlers, especially on Sabbaths when the later are supposed to be devoted to worship instead. Nevertheless the family, who came back to their native village after years of labor in Jordan and Kuwait, chooses to stay. That day, on October 16, in a different spot from where we are in Burin settlers gathered to photograph and throw stones at farmers. As a result, soldiers arrested two Palestinian harvesters– one of them for allegedly pushing a settler’s camera away causing it to fall on the ground and the other one for unknown reasons. The price tag campaign yet another time seems to be not a phenomena belonging to the Ytzhar settlement but more of a pattern of punishing the indigenous people no matter who is to blame in the given situation.