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Olive Harvesting at Saffa, Palestine, Usual Military Harassment

by MC
On Tuesday, October 20, a couple of Israelis and one international joined Palestinian from Saffa (West Bank) for a day of olive harvesting. The action (and others like that), organized by the Palestinian Solidarity Project, is designed (other then helping with the olive harvesting) to protect the Palestinian from Settlers violence, who very often under the protection of the military attack the Palestinians and the trees in the area. It is also used to prresure the military to allow the Palestinians to work the fields. Usually with internationals and Israelis present the occupation forces allow the Palestinian to work, and don't evict them on first sight by declaring the area a "closed military zone'". The excuses given by the Israeli military for this are that the Palestinians working the fields are aggravating the settlers, although it has been documented for many years that its actually the settlers who attack and burn down the fields in the area. beside, how can one aggravate others by harvesting olives?
so, with this intro, we move to another day in occupied Palestine, where sometimes these day to day features are not reported for the simple fact that they are nothing new or out of the ordinary. For example, while we were in Saffa, in another part of Palestine more then 50 olive trees were cut down by settlers. obviously, no one was arrested, although the trees were located very close to a settlement, and this was not the first time that it happened in the area. in general, the settlers in Palestine more and more resemble to me the KKK movement in America during the first half of the 19 century. One the one hand protected by the state and its laws (and in many cases part of the state mechanism), and on the other hand violently attack and oppress.
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we start the day by driving down to the valley where the olive trees are located with members of the Sleby family who own the who own the land here.
§olive
by MC
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we arrive at the olive trees and the process of harvesting olives starts. The Palestinians spread a long kind of sheet and shake the tree or outright pick the olives (who are big and juicy at this time of year). The sheet with the olives are later taken to be made into olive oil.
§
by MC
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§police
by MC
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the military is already waiting and immediately upon our arrival two police officers come to question us, they are joined by two Israeli soldiers.
§
by MC
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§kids with guns
by MC
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Nir Mor, the soldier on the right hands us a "closed military zone" document, signed by his army commander, that declares the area closed for Israelis and internationals. Mor does not hide his annoyance with us (at first he did not want to give us his name) and the Palestinians. He yells and seemed to be very aggravated. Although some of the Palestinians working the olive trees double if not triple the age of Mor, it does not stop Mor of accusing them of "playing games" with the military along with a whole list of grievances.
And while Mor is walking around behaving violently, i drift away thinking of him in a couple of years ending his military service and joining many Israelis in their travel to the east. I think of Mor among other Israelis in India or Thailand "searching for himself", while unaware of the "self" right now that is holding a gun and oppressing daily a whole community.
I don't feel sorry for Mor being intellectually challenged and emotionally handicapped, on the contrary. Although being socialized in a Zionist atmosphere that holds that all Jews suppose to somehow feel belong to one another and the nation, i rather see in Mor a foreign object that hopefully will be cut from history to allow the body of humanity to survive.
§we are not lawyers
by MC
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Luckily for us (not that that would help) we have with us today Rabbi Erik Asherman, from Rabbis for Human Rights. He shows the police and soldiers a decision made by the legal adviser to the Israeli government that does not allow for the military to declare an area a close military zone constantly (something that the military does here almost every couple of days). This does not impress the police or the soldiers that answer that “we are not lawyers, so you should talk to someone else”. This can become the new slogan and ethical guideline of the Israeli military. War crimes? inhuman treatment? denying people the right to survive? "we are not lawyers, so you should talk to someone else".
§closed military zone
by MC
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this document is the "closed military zone" order. it signed for one day and seem to have been copied so many times while the only changes that are made are the dates. Another change in this document is that it restricts the area to only Israelis and internationals.
§map
by MC
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a map showing the closed military zone.
§away
by MC
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we walk away from the the olive trees to a place where we can observe whether the military or the settlers are harassing the Palestinians.
§end
by MC
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The hours move slowly, and this time the Palestinians were allowed to finish their work. while walking back we are surrounded by the burned bodies of trees, set on fire by the settlers near by.
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