Israeli Settlers Set Fire to Olive Grove Near Ramallah

Photo: Al Jazeera

Israeli settlers have set fire to olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers in the village of Burqa, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Local residents said the settlers lit the trees one by one to make sure each one burned right through, while people in the village called on the authorities to step in and help put the fire out.

The attack came in the middle of the olive harvest, the season that keeps whole villages going. For many families in the West Bank, the yearly olive crop is not a side income. It is the main one. Between 80,000 and 100,000 Palestinian families depend on the harvest for their living, and every tree that burns takes years to replace.

The United Nations says this harvest season has been the worst on record for settler attacks. Since September, it has counted 377 attacks that caused casualties or damage to Palestinian property during the harvest, the highest number since its records began in 2006. One Palestinian has been killed by a settler, more than 200 people have been hurt, and over 3,850 olive trees and saplings have been damaged or wrecked.

The fire in Burqa was not the only move against Palestinian land on Thursday. Israel also put out tenders for 91 new settlement homes in Oranit, a settlement built on Palestinian land, and changed the bidding dates for part of the E1 project east of occupied Jerusalem. The UN condemned the takeover of Palestinian homes near Jericho by settlers on the same day. Hamas condemned the attacks on the olive harvesters, calling them organised violence carried out under the protection of Israeli forces. It all comes as the wider region stays on edge, with five tankers hit in the Strait of Hormuz and a Houthi missile fired towards Medina this week, while the toll on civilians keeps growing, including the 1,134 Gaza children who lost limbs and cannot get treatment abroad.

The pattern is now a grim routine of the harvest season. In October, dozens of masked settlers attacked farmers picking olives near Abu Falah, also close to Ramallah, burning trees and cars and leaving several people hurt, including an American photojournalist. Local officials have reported attacks in village after village across the northern West Bank, where most of the olive groves stand.

Palestinian officials say at least four Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 hurt since the olive harvest began, with thousands of trees damaged. For the families of Burqa, the loss is counted not just in trees but in the year of work that went into them, and the years it will take for new ones to bear fruit.

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian olive grove near Ramallah
• Palestine Chronicle: Israel pushes E1 settlement project as UN condemns settler seizure of Palestinian homes
• Ahram Online: Israeli settlers assault Palestinian olive harvesters

Next, the harvest goes on under guard in village after village, with the UN watching the toll climb.

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