Analysis: In the West Bank, olive branches don't represent peace

The army set dates for the harvesting in each problematic area where the groves are situated close to Jewish settlements.

By DAN IZENBERG
hebron 298.88 (photo credit: ahmad gharabli [file])
hebron 298.88
(photo credit: ahmad gharabli [file])
The Palestinian olive harvest in the West Bank has been marred in the past few days by several violent incidents in locations as varied as Tel Rumeida in Hebron and Kfar Kadum, north of the Kedumim settlement in Samaria. According to Rabbi Arik Ascherman, head of Rabbis for Human Rights, who has been deeply involved in safeguarding the rights of Palestinian olive growers over the past years, the IDF had been doing a good job up until now of protecting them from settler attacks. However, "in the last couple of days, there have been situations where settlers attacked the harvesters and the army stood by or was not around at the right time," Ascherman told The Jerusalem Post. Some of the problems are not necessarily, or entirely, the fault of the soldiers in the field. With regard to both Hebron and Kfar Kadum, Palestinians farmers did not wait for their "turn" according to a harvesting schedule prepared by the army. According to a system devised a few years ago in response to a petition to the High Court of Justice demanding military protection, the army set dates for the harvesting in each problematic area where the groves are situated close to Jewish settlements. Except for those dates, the farmers are prohibited from entering their olive groves altogether, even if they are willing to risk attack. According to Ynet, Muhamad Shatiwi, head of the Kfar Kadum local authority, said the farmers could not wait until their turn because it came at the end of the harvesting season. Last year, by the time they were allowed to enter their orchards, the olives had disappeared, likely stolen by the settlers, he alleged. Apparently there is a question about how sensitive the army is to the needs of the farmers and the degree of dialogue between the two sides in determining the harvesting schedule. However, there is another problem this year: the dramatic increase in violence against Palestinians and soldiers by militant settlers in the territories. According to a report published by Ha'aretz in June, based on a closed police meeting, there were 429 disturbances of the peace involving settlers and Palestinians between January 1 and June 30 of this year. In all of 2007, the number of such incidents was 551. The increase this year should not surprise anyone who reads the newspapers regularly. Indeed, since June, there have been an uncharacteristically large number of sensational incidents that have captured headlines in all the newspapers, including those who do not usually pay much attention to what is happening in the West Bank. On June 15, for example, the human rights organization B'Tselem published photos of four masked men carrying clubs attacking a family of Palestinian shepherds near the settlement of Sussiya in the south Hebron Hills. In August, a 19-year-old from Yitzhar was indicted for throwing a rock at a Palestinian car, causing moderate injuries to a mother and her seven-year-old child. The Palestinian village of Burin has suffered a spate of attacks, apparently from settlers, for several months. The assailants burned fields, killed livestock, stoned houses and burned cars. Matters reached new heights in September, when a dog, urged on by settlers, bit a soldier's hand, while a deputy battalion commander broke his hand in a confrontation with 90 settlers near the settlement of Horesh-Yaron. The most serious attack came on September 13, when a mob of settlers from Yitzhar attacked Asira el-Kibliyeh after a Palestinian infiltrated the settlement, set fire to a mobile home and stabbed a boy. A few hours later, dozens of settlers, some armed with guns, broke into the village, smashed windows, threw stones and opened fire. Eight Palestinians were hurt in the melee. B'Tselem charged that soldiers did nothing to stop the rioters and no arrests were made. According to sources within the police and the army, the mounting violence is not coincidental but part of a coherent plan on the part of extremists aimed at intimidating the army and police. The plan was born out of the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip and developed as a result of the violent confrontation between the police and settlers protesting the demolition of permanent housing in the illegal outpost of Amona. In an organized way, settlers attack Palestinians in response to the demolition of illegal housing in the outposts and other acts that they interpret as threats to Jewish control over the West Bank, the sources said. By the same token, there have been reports that security forces have been trying to avoid confrontations with settlers, to prevent another violent showdown like the one in Amona.