De Israelische Terreur 1098

Report: 14000 Palestinian olive trees subjected to Israeli aggression in 2009
Middle East Monitor


December 4, 2009

A Palestinian research centre, specialised in monitoring Israeli violations, revealed that the Israeli occupation authorities destroyed 14000 olive trees in the Palestinian territories during 2009. Such assaults included the uprooting of thousands of olive trees, for the sake of expanding the Israeli settlements, and the burning and cutting of thousands more by settlers.

In a report issued following the completion of the olive harvest in the occupied West Bank, the Land Research Centre said that the occupation authorities burned and uprooted about 1455 olive trees during the harvest season this year, and washed away around 7000 trees since the beginning of the year for the sake of settlement expansion, while settlers attacked more than 5500 other trees.

Israeli attacks were concentrated in the provinces in the north of the West Bank. In Nablus, the occupation attacked about 6000 olive trees; in Salfit nearly 5720 trees were uprooted; in Qalqilya around 400 trees were burned or uprooted; in Hebron, nearly 1600 trees were attacked; and in Bethlehem, the occupation pulled out about 30 trees.

The centre said that the occupation authorities and settlers not only attacked the Blessed Tree, but they also prevented Palestinian farmers, who are the land's owners, from accessing the trees to harvest the olives, as the occupation authorities closed the gates; built the apartheid wall to prevent farmers from reaching their land that is located behind the wall; and physically abuses Palestinian farmers.

The centre also mentioned that, in the beginning of the olive harvest season in 2009, leaflets were distributed in a number of West Bank settlements calling for ruining the harvest of olives in the lands near settlements, and to be ready to prevent Palestinians from harvesting the olives. The leaflets also called for confronting foreign peace activists and preventing them from helping Palestinians as well as from taking photos; the leaflets encouraged Israelis to steal peace activists' cameras and to steal olives before Palestinian farmers could reap them.

The centre clarified that the settlers' behaviour is based on the Zionist literature that is behind this destructive war. Rabbi Murdakhai Elyaho sanctioned Israelis to steal Palestinian olives. He said, "It is permissible to harvest olives off Palestinian farms, because they grow these olives on our land." He added that Rabbi Yusef Melmid, who is a senior religious authority, gave a fatwa legalising the seize of Palestinian crops on the grounds that Jews are permitted to seize Palestinian properties.

The Land Research Centre considered the Israeli settlers' aggression on Palestinian olive trees to be part of the Israeli ethnic-cleansing policies that seek to eradicate Palestinians and everything that has to do with them and their existence, including their trees.

And on his part, the head of the Land Research Centre in Hebron, Jamal Al Omla, said that this report exposes the Israeli violations and the lies of Benjamin Netanyahu and his government regarding the settlement freeze.

Al Omla added that the settlers' presence in the occupied territories is, in and of itself, an ongoing violation, the magnitude and the negative effect of which is proof that Israel adopts a de facto policy to expel Palestinians from their land and replace them with Israeli settlers.

He called on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel to force it to abide by international resolutions. He also said that the cosmetic US and European support to the cause of establishing an independent Palestinian state is no more than a way to give Israelis more time to impose facts on the ground in their favour.


Lees verder: http://www.uruknet.de/index.php?p=m60780&hd=&size=1&l=e



Uprooting Olive Trees in Palestine

By, Atyaf Alwazir

November 2002.

ICE Case Number: 110

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CASE BACKGROUND
ENVIRONMENT ASPECT
CONFLICT ASPECT
ENVIRONMENT OVERLAP CONFLICT ASPECT
RELATED INFORMATION



©Luke Powell, 1997



I.Case Background

A. Abstract

The olive tree, a universal symbol of peace has been the object of conflict in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The uprooting of the ancient olive trees, as a by product of war, has had tremendous affects on the Palestinian agriculture, economy, and identity. In Palestine, the olive tree is prized for its historical presence, its beauty, its symbolic significance, and most importantly for its economic significance. Olive trees are a major commercial crop for Palestine, and many families depend on it for their livelihood.
Many products are extracted from the olive tree, these include, olives, olive oil, olive wood, and olive based soap. In fact, olive oil is the second major export item in Palestine; and Olive production contributes to about 38.2% of the fruit trees production income.

Traditionally in Palestine, harvesting the olive trees was a joyous time. However, over the past two years restrictions by the Israeli army and harassment by the settlers have made harvesting almost impossible. Today the Arab Israeli conflict has affected not only innocent human beings but also the environment. The olive tree, a universal symbol of peace has become the unfortunate casualty of war.

B. Description

Importance of the trees to Palestine:

In Palestine, the olea europaea, or the Olive tree is prized for its historical presence, its beauty, its symbolism and most importantly economic significance.

Historical Importance

The Middle East, the Fertile Crescent, North Africa, and the Mediterranean all share the presence of the beautiful olive tree. “Wherever you go there are olive trees-rows and patches of them-on farms, around our homes, even in the streets and on the pavements” (Asmar).
Olives have been a significant part of the region since ancient times. "The Greeks believe it was Athena, goddess of wisdom and war who gave mankind the divine fruit. The Romans also coveted the precious crop, and later the Venetians shipped it around the Mediterranean from Palestine to Morocco and Spain." (Moseley)

Olive trees grows at a rate of 1-2 feet each year, reaching a height of 20 – 40 feet after about 40 years. They generally live for about 400 years, but many are known to be 700 or 1000 years old (Wildlife and Plants of the World)

Historians date the first olive trees in Palestine to 4,000 years before Christ. A Palestinian farmer may look outside his window on the hillside to view olive trees that were planted 1,000 years ago that still produce olives. Another farmer may point to trees that were planted by his/her farmer 100 years ago (MacAskill).

Cultural Importance

The olive tree has great importance for the Palestinian culture and identity. One man states, “the olive tree is part of our culture, heritage and identity. It has existed since time immemorial and has come to speak of a boundless entity that has stayed with us since the dawn of history.” (Asmar.) For many Palestinians, the olive tree resembles them, “it is a symbol of their nation. It is seen as embodying the qualities of rootedness and durability, attributes Palestinians say they believe have preserved them during years of struggle with Israel" (Lynfield.)

The olive tree is a major part of the Palestinian identity. Palestinians say “to seize an ancient olive tree is like a confiscation of memory” to describe their injured land (Rooted To the land). “for centuries the ubiquitous tree, with its characteristically gnarled trunk and stately branches, had given muted and predictable color scheme to Palestine’s terraced highlands. Today it had moved from the countryside to grace paintings, book covers, university logos and even websites” (rooted to the land). The uprooting of trees therefore hurts Palestinians in a number of ways.
Religious Importance

“According to Muslim tradition, the olive tree is blessed by God,” (Lynfield.) Nadi Farraj, an agricultural engineer from Bir Zeit University, said “The olive is mentioned 16 times in the Bible and 12 times in the Koran” (Devi, Sharmila)
The irony here, as the Morning Star explained, Olive trees supply the traditional oil which light the lamps over the birthplace of Christ in the Church of the Nativity. (Morning Star)
Olives and their oil have a spiritual significance throughout the Middle East, the oil mentioned in the bible 140 times, the Qur’an and Torah also recording it as symbol of peace, life and fertility.
Symbolic Importance

The olive tree is known around the world for it's symbolism of peace and tranquility. The expression "to hold out an olive branch" means to seek harmony and peace. The fact that the Arab-Israeli conflict has caused tremendous damage to this peace symbol shows the extent of the conflict in the region.

Economic Importance

Olive trees are a major commercial crop for Palestine, and many families depend on it for their livelihood. This “humble olive tree has real practical worth as the tree of wealth, protection and security, of shelter and sustenance,” (Rooted to the land) because form it oil is extracted for lighting, soap is made for cleanliness, and olive are extracted for nutrients. Many products are extracted from the olive tree, these include, olives, olive oil, olive wood, and olive based soap. In fact, olive oil is the second major export item in Palestine; and Olive production contributes to about 38.2% of the fruit trees production income (Olive Press Overview.) Therefore, olive trees are important for the livelihood of the Palestinian farmers. Therefore, even if “a peasant has put a small piece of land, he will still plant five or ten olive trees. Much of Palestinian peasant culture centers on the cyclical rhythms of planting, pruning and harvesting of olives” (Rooted to the land). (talk more about culture here)
olive trees preserve almost 936 thousand dunums (a dunum is 1,000 square meters) or 51% of cultivated area, and 78.5% of fruit trees area in 1999/2000 agricultural year which has a tremendous contribution to the social and economic well being of Palestinians (Olive Press Overview).
Olive harvest account for about 15 – 20% of the total agricultural output in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, about 4.6% of the GDP. (Palestine Monitor, olive harvesting season)
Nutritional Value

Not only is the olive tree important for producing money, it has nutritional values. All olive oil contains some natural acid called oleic acid. Oleic acid is a type of fat, but unlike most other fats, "eating small amounts of olive oil is considered to be good for you." In fact, Oleic acis is believed to help "prevent the clogged arteries and heart attacks often caused by bad animal derived fat" (Wildlife and Plants of the World.)

What is happening to the olive trees?

Uprooting/bulldozer policy

The Arab-Israeli conflict encompasses more than human casualties, it has created environmental disasters. One of these tragedies is the uprooting of the historic olive trees. The Israeli Defense Force has historically uprooted olive trees to “build settlements, expand roads and lay infrastructure,” (End the Uprooting of trees) recently, or since the start of the Intifada the uprooting has occurred more frequently and has targeted many Palestinian villages. Centuries-old olive trees have been uprooted which has caused tremendous losses for the farmers in many ways.

The Israeli Defense Force has uprooted thousands of trees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In addition to the uprooting they have set these olive trees on fire, set up complete blockade of commercial movement between the Gaza Strip and each of the West Bank and Israel and vice versa. Exports from Gaza and the West Bank to the rest of the world were also blocked.

The bulldozer policy:
Olive groves along most of the road networks have been declared security zones, preventing farmers from tending their crops. Groves within 200 meters of the roads have been bulldozed in many areas to prevent them being sued as cover by Palestinian soldiers (Palestine monitor/BBC.)
On October 22 of 2002, the Israeli press reported that the Israeli army prohibits Palestinian farmers from harvesting their olive crops in the West Bank, claiming that they cannot protect the olive pickers from attacks by Israeli settlers. (Palestine Monitor, Urgent appeal).

Setting trees on fire, and chopping them down:

On October 23, 2002, the Washington Post reported that hundreds of olive trees in Palestine were set afire by Jewish settlers. In addition, down the road about 100 other trees were sawed to the ground. (Anderson).
Restrictions on Farmers

Restrictions to harvesting come in many forms, including:
Curfews

The curfew that has been placed in many cities caused tremendous destruction to the agricultural products as well as to the farmers’ economic well being. Since the curfew placed on many cities, the Israeli army has prohibited the farmers from cultivating their lands and from collecting the fruits.

Security Closures

The Israeli procedures, especially the closure policy and delaying the establishment of the safe passage for over four years, noticeably weekend Palestinian domestic trade. Security closure and economic siege, which the Palestinian economy had been subject to since 1988. the closure, which continued even after the singing of Oslo Accords in 1993.

Gaza International airport has been closed since February 2001 and the “safe passages” between Gaza Strip & West Bank closed since Oct. 2000. (Oslo Accords forbid its closure). There are frequent lengthy closures of the bridge to Jordan, the border with Egypt, and the entrance to Israel. (Palestine Monitor Fact Sheet).

Professor Hasan Abu-Libdeh, head of the PCBS told BBC News Online that “olives could not be harvested because the groves were declared security zones by the Israelis and farmers were being shot at by Jewish settlers.”

Bans

There are laws that ban Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza from entering Arab Jerusalem and also laws that ban West bank residents from entering Gaza and vice versa. These have caused tremendous damage to the Palestinian agricultural sector, and especially to the historic olive trees.

Attacks by settlers

Israeli police confirm that Jewish settlers repeatedly have harassed Palestinians gathering olives or interfered with their work since the start of the olive harvest season this year.

Lees verder: http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/olive-tree.htm