Olive harvest in the West Bank embodies the steadfastness of the Palestinians in confronting the occupation

Occupied al-Quds, (ST) – “The Israeli occupation forces beat us and terrorize us by firing poison gas bombs to prevent us from reaching our lands and picking olives and cultivating our land, and there are hundreds of dunums planted with olives that we cannot reach, but despite the death journey that we live in every season, we are steadfast in our land,” said  Abdel Nasser Badawi  the Palestinian from the village of Qaryut, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, describing the suffering of Palestinian farmers due to the Israeli occupation.

Badawi tells SANA that the occupation forces have seized 70 percent of the lands of Qaryut village, which is estimated at an area of about 4,000 dunums, planted with olives, assaulting farmers and preventing them from access to olive picking. There are only 1,000 dunums left of the village, and farmers have been deprived of their legitimate rights to harvest their crops.

Badawi explained that the Israeli occupation forces are opening fire and poison gas bombs on any Palestinian farmer trying to reach his land to harvest the fruits of olives and arresting many farmers, stressing that despite this, however, the Palestinians are steadfast and clinging to their land challenging the oppressive occupation measures.

Farmer Ali Mahmoud said in a similar statement that in addition to the daily attacks of the occupation of the oppression and bulldozing of land there are other chapters of the suffering of the crimes of settlers from cutting olive trees and burning and stealing their fruits, pointing out that the occupation and its settlers are trying to steal the land, but we confront them by harvesting olives and planting Our land even after they burn it.

The official of the settlement file in the northern West Bank Ghassan Daghlas explained that the olive harvest in all Palestinian cities and villages has become a suffering of varying seasons, the occupation around most of the land surrounding the settlements, mostly planted with olives to closed areas, pointing out that the occupation is destroying Palestinian crops in order to annex those lands to settlements but the Palestinians are determined to reach their land despite arresting, beatings and seizing.

Aref Daraghmeh, a specialist in settlement affairs, pointed out that preventing Palestinian farmers from accessing their land is part of the Judaic occupation plans to displace them from their land and establish settlements there, stressing that the aggressive occupation practices against Palestinians are contrary to international laws and the Geneva Conventions that emphasize the protection of peoples under occupation.

Raghda Sawas