Israeli Genocide of Palestinian Olive trees
By Dr. Elias Akleh
Extreme hatred of everything non-Jewish seems to be ingrained in the blood of Zionist Israeli Jews. This hatred is expressed by their warmongering politicians, their terrorist army, their fundamentalist rabbis, and their extremist civilians starting from their children up to their elderly of both sexes. They spew out this hatred against everything Palestinian; people, homes, and fields. Last few years they have developed what could be called a yearly terrorist harvest ritual where they target Palestinian harvest products particularly the olive trees.
Palestine has been very well known for citrus products on its coastal line and vine and olives on its hills. Palestinians are mainly farmers, who depend on agriculture with olive production comprising about 25% of income for almost 100,000 families. Olive trees, many as old as 5,000 years, are spread all over Palestine and keep yielding plenty of olives year after year. Nearly 48% of the agricultural land of occupied Palestine is planted with 10 million olive trees; the vast majority is in the West Bank. The yearly economic revenue of the olive harvest used to total $100 million. The olive oil industry, alone, makes up to 14% of the agricultural income for Palestinians, and supports the livelihood of almost 80,000 families. For Palestinians olive tree is a national symbol of resilience, steadfastness, and attachment to the land. For the whole world an olive branch is a symbol of peace.
Yet this symbol of peace has become the main target for destruction by every Israeli especially the religiously extremist armed squatters, who forcefully occupy Palestinian land, mainly hill tops, and build their illegal colonies/settlements. During every harvest those colonizers attack Palestinian farmers, prevent them from cultivating their land and harvesting their own crops. The Israeli military has the practice of preventing Palestinian farmers from accessing their field claiming them as military areas. While denying access to the Palestinian farmers, Israeli colonizers descend on the area, and under the protection of the army they steal the Palestinian olive crops. When done, many times, they cut the trees with gas-chain saws down to the bare trunks, spray chemicals on the trees, set the whole field ablaze, and uproot the trees with their own bulldozers.
Settlers Torch Olive Orchard In Hebron while the Israeli army did not attempt to intervene or stop them.
Settlers Torch Olive Orchard In Hebron while the Israeli army did not attempt to intervene or stop them.
Young Jewish thug colonizers/settlers have developed the game of torching Palestinian fruit trees especially olive trees. They would set ablaze one small field initially to get Palestinian farmers and the fire department busy in that area, then they target a larger area far away on the other side. By the time the fire engines get to the second fire, hundreds of olive trees would have burnt.
When in some areas Palestinian farmers, with the help of ISM (International Solidarity Movement) volunteers gain access to the fields and start picking up their olives, armed thugs from the nearby illegally Israeli colonies attack them causing some injuries and at times shooting dead anyone who tries to stop them. This happens under the watchful eyes of Israeli soldiers, who stand by ready to protect the assailant Israeli thugs. Many Palestinian farmers had complained to, and requested protection from the Palestinian Authority and from the Israeli police. Yet the Palestinian Authority is miserably helpless and can barely protect itself, while the Israeli police ignore most of these complaints and protect the Israeli thugs rather than Palestinian farmers. At least 90% of Palestinian complaints against settler’s thugs have been closed without any indictment or even simple investigation. Such an act promotes a culture of impunity that encourages and contributes to settlers’ continued attack.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had reported in 2011 that the number of settlers attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage has increased by 32% in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 144% compared to 2009. The report states that during 2011 the settlers had damaged or destroyed about 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees, primarily olive trees, which significantly undermined the livelihoods of hundreds of Palestinian families. In 2012 OCHA reported that 7,500 olive trees belonging to Palestinians were damaged or destroyed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank between January and mid October 2012. In Gaza Strip the Israeli military operations had leveled 7,300 dunums of land that were previously planted with olive trees. In 2013 OCHA has recorded the damage or destruction of over than 9,400 olive trees, so far, compared to 8,500 in all of 2012. Many other settlers’ attacks go unreported.
The Israeli army had also adopted a policy of destroying Palestinian agricultural assets along with the destruction of Palestinian homes and the cold blood murder of their children. The army would select an agricultural area; mainly hill tops planted with olive trees. Then they will declare it as a military area prohibited for Palestinian farmers. The soldiers would build a barbed wire fence to prohibit the farmers from
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