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The Palestinian olive harvest takes place in October and November each year. The harvest is a time for celebration and solidarity. Families and friends gather to go harvest olives together, and Israeli peace and justice groups, as well as international groups, often join farmers as they reap their harvest. This season, the American Friends Service Committee, Interfaith Peace-Builders and the Resource Center for Nonviolence are sponsoring a delegation of 23 participants to visit the region, learn about the harvest, and meet with locals working for peace and justice. The delegation will be taking place October 28 - November 10, 2007. The following reports are written by the delegation's participants, and are shared by AFSC for information and education. The views expressed in the reports may not be the positions of the American Friends Service Committee, but reflect delegate's experiences as they learn first-hand about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
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At Daher's Vineyard with Daoud Nasser. (Note the Israeli settlement on the hilltop in the backgroud). |
Mention Palestinian resistance in the US and the first image to come to mind is that of a suicide bomber -- for this is the only resistance acknowledged in US media and public discourse. Spending two weeks in Israel and Palestine revealed for me a wide array of resistance to the Israeli occupation. From helping children value themselves when the power structure around them demeans their person, to creating just economic structures, to putting one’s body on the line at roadblocks and separation walls – nonviolent active resistance is strong and growing in the Palestinian territories. 
When I teach my course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I tell students that, based upon comparative examples, there are four long-term outcomes, all of which are unlikely. The first is the status quo, which means the continued Jewish occupation of pre-1967 Palestinian land and the continued Israeli control of Palestinian lives. This is unlikely because it would require permanent warfare, permanent Israeli mobilization, and permanent US support. Societies are not known for handling protracted stress gracefully, so we could anticipate some extremist action at some point. What is happening now cannot continue.
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Child in Bil’in showing tear gas canister and bullets fired at the village’s non-violent protesters against the Separation Barrier. This youngster has been hit by rubber bullets three times. |
Many members of our delegation have had a long-standing interest in non-violent conflict resolution and wondered what we would find during our trip to Israel and the West Bank. Some of us had heard previously from Palestinians that although community organizing of non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation had been prominent during the first intifada, the opportunity had been lost after the second intifada. We also heard that the current circumstances of the occupation, with restricted travel, communication, and public gatherings, are so harsh that organization required for non-violent direct actions is extremely difficult.
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| Delegation members with host family in Jenin. |
As I walked up the path to the Olive Festival and saw the brightly colored lights on the Ferris wheel turning and I heard the happy screams of the children circling above, I knew I was in a land that still had hope. This was one night for all Palestinian families: fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, and friends, to come together to forget their pain and suffering and celebrate their land and their beloved olive trees and their olive harvest.
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| The separation wall in the Palestinian neighborhood of Abudis. Photo: Adam Horowitz |
In our first full day here we learned and experienced a great deal about a complicated situation. Looking at many maps in two presentations, from both the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and the United Nations Office on Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), we saw the geography: the land controlled by Israel, and that of the Palestinians; the security barrier, 450 miles of cement wall and electric fence, separating people from jobs and fields; the Israeli settlements, more than 300 in the West Bank alone; the access roads linking these settlements and the major cities, mostly forbidden to Palestinians to drive on; the checkpoints, 100 in the West Bank, through which Palestinians must pass to get to work, school, fields. Facts on the ground, unarguable.
and discuss the Palestinian olive harvest
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