Several weeks ago, the olive harvest concluded with a festival in the Nablus area village of Burin. Under the banner âour enemies are the settlements and our path is resistanceâ, the festival celebrated the end of the harvest with traditional dance and music from local groups and a number of speakers.
Both party representatives as well as grassroots activists attended the festival, where they praised farmers and their steadfastness (sumud) in the face of the ongoing assault by soldiers and settlers. The settlers near Burin are especially infamous, meaning the village is attacked frequently; last month 1,200 trees were burned or cut by settlers, and 3,000 faced the same fate the month before.
Speakers then turned to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), demanding that it take up its responsibility to protect and support the farmers. The PNA was also called upon to abandon fruitless talks and instead work to help build a unified resistance to the settlements, land confiscations and Wall.
As part of the festival, 4000 mature trees are to be planted in Burin. This will help in the struggle against the settlements and aid in reclaiming some 30 dunums near of Iraq Burin that have been confiscated by the settlements.
Also with the end of the olive harvest, Stop the Wall has published its yearly report recording the difficulties created by Occupation policy and the attacks carried out on Palestinian farmers in various districts during the month. Farmers across the West Bank experienced assaults on their person and property, in addition to facing the ongoing closure of their agricultural land. Those with land isolated beyond the Wall were often the worst affected, and the Occupation administration used the permit system to ensure that growing number farmers were unable to access their land.
Download the Olive Harvest 2009 report for details about the harvest