Palestinian farmer harvesting his olives near Israeli settlement.

Every year during October the olive harvest begins in Palestine. But this year, many farmers are unable to reap the rewards of their labors. In the first place, olive groves have been destroyed. In the last two years an estimated 200,000 trees have been uprooted by the Israeli army who claims that the trees pose a “security threat” to nearby settlements (Jewish colonies on Palestinian land). The proposed “Wall of Separation” that aims to put a fence between Israel and Palestine will accelerate this process of the destruction.  Secondly, the policy of military curfew (24 hour house arrest) has meant that farmers in many West Bank villages have been unable to get to their fields to pick their olives. The Nablus area, as an example, has been under continuous curfew for over three months. A third obstacle the farmers face is violent opposition from Jewish settlers. On October 10 Hani Beni Maniyeh, 24, was killed when settlers opened fire on him as he worked his olive grove in the West Bank village of Akrabeh, near the settlement of Itamar. There have also been incidents where armed settlers have picked olives belonging to Palestinians while the Palestinian farmers were forced to watch helplessly. Several groups of international and Israeli peace activists have joined the olive harvest in recent days serving as human shields against attacks by settlers. Even these groups have been attacked. Israeli Knesset member Tsali Reshef has charged that the police are deliberately failing to take action against the settlers.
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v Support an end to the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

v Educate yourself by checking web-sites and updates of events.

vWrite to your elected officials and protest the Israeli government’s violation of international law and the 4^th Geneva Convention.

The righteous will see and fear,
They will laugh at him, saying,
“Here now is the man
Who did not make God his stronghold
But trusted in his great wealth
And grew strong by destroying others.”
But I am like an olive tree
Flourishing in the house of God,
I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever.
Psalm 52; 6-8 NIV

This insert is brought to you by Sabeel-Jerusalem, a grassroots ecumenical Christian organization that works for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. For more information see our website: www.sabeel.org