As part of the activities marking the sixth week against the Apartheid Wall (November 9 â 16 2009), the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and its Popular Committees are coordinating collective efforts to safeguard the olive harvest and are calling on volunteers to stand in solidarity with Palestinian communities and join in the olive harvest, which will begin 15 October and end on 15 November.
This year we are focusing on 105 villages across the West Bank that have been subjected to ongoing attacks and land confiscations, with the aim of offering support and bringing attention to local grassroots resistance.
The 2008 olive harvest will begin with opening activities on October 16 in the Asira al-Qabliya (Nablus district). In the same villages will be held a festival to mark the final day of the harvest will be held on November 15, culminating the Week against the Apartheid Wall. âAsira al-Qibliya has faced continued settler attacks, including physical assaults and the burning of community land and crops. The festival will feature Palestinian cultural activities and exhibitions of olive related products. Stop the Wall will also publish a report detailing Occupation abuses against farmers in the various villages.
Olive Harvest dates:
16 October: Asira al-Qibliya, Madama, Burin, Nablus district
17 October: Jit, Qalqilya district; al-Ma’sra, Bethlehem district
18 October: Various villages, Tulkarm district
19 October: Various villages, Tulkarm district
24 October: ‘Asira al-Qibliya and Burin, Nablus district
26 October: Burin, Nablus district
27 October: Zububah, Jenin district
31 October: Nahlin and Hosan, Bethlehem district
1 November: Jabaâ, Jenin district
2 November: Wadi Ahad, Bethlehem district
9 November: Beita, Nablus district
15 November: âAsira al-Qibliya, Nablus district
Volunteers are encouraged to participate in the olive harvest itself and to join the opening and closing festivals. For information on local and national activities, harvesting locations or general queries, please contact the Stop the Wall offices. Housing can be arranged for volunteers wishing to stay and join in a particular villageâs harvest.
The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign:
Tel: +972-2-2971505
Email: global@stopthewall.org
The collective efforts during the olive harvest, a vital season for Palestinian farmers and villages, have become a symbol for Palestinian steadfastness and solidarity. The harvesting of the olives is becoming more difficult every year as farmers face an intensification of settler attacks, confiscation, isolation and destruction of their lands, and continued closure and permit restrictions, which have all led to the strangulation of Palestinian communities across the West Bank. Local farmers have refused to be forced off their land, and continue the harvest each year in the face of Occupation violence and repression.