News from the Region
Olive Harvest Delegation
Report #2:
“We have to invest our anger and frustration in something positive”
November 8, 2006
Picking Olives
By Judy Lee
From the highway leading to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, we turned onto the “highway” for the West Bank Palestinians: a narrow, dirt road with deep holes which slowed the bus to a crawl. Shortly this road was blocked by an enormous boulder that had been placed squarely in the middle of the road by Israeli soldiers. Leaving the bus, we gathered our bags and walked to the farm called “Daher’s Vineyard” and the “Tent of Nations.” Here siblings Daher, Daoud, and Amal Nassar live with their extended family. The family has farmed this land for many generations—and their modest farm is now surrounded by Israeli settlements on all sides.
 |
| Lois
Mastrangelo, Julie
Doyle
and Mary Ann Weston picking olives at Daher's Vineyard. |
In 2001, in the middle of the night, Israeli bulldozers arrived to cut a road through the land that the Nassars had inherited from their grandfather. Since then soldiers have come and hacked down 135 olive trees on the Nassar farm. Later Israeli settlers came and uprooted another 250 olive trees. In response to this destruction, Palestinian neighbors and Israeli supporters re-planted 300 olive trees! (Incidentally, the Nassars are Palestinian Christians; all their neighbors are Palestinian Muslims.)
There also have been protracted legal battles to retain their land. The Nassars hired a lawyer in Jerusalem for $10,000. Although invited, Daoud was not allowed to travel to Jerusalem to attend the proceedings about the land because he was not granted a permit by the Israelis to enter the city. A diplomat from the Swiss Consulate had to escort him into Jerusalem just to make the court date. In court he was told that the land survey he had just commissioned was insufficient; a new one was required which would cost $70,000! In addition, the new survey mandated by the court would require research on Ottoman land records in Istanbul.
Despite the challenges, Daher, Daoud, and Amal are totally dedicated to staying on their family’s land. They decided to channel their frustration into a constructive purpose and now use the farm to create a space of peace, by planning work camps, hosting international delegations such as ours, and organizing summer camps for the neighboring children from refugee camps and Bethlehem. We saw a theatre that has been built near an ancient wine press. Last summer the local young people produced “Romeo and Juliet,” substituting an Israeli and Palestinian in the lead roles. The family hosts visitors from all over the world. Their hope is to provide an example of how to live in these dire circumstances with nonviolence, thereby showing the world that they truly want peace in their country.
Arriving mid-morning, we began helping harvest the olives. The trees are laden with a good year’s crop. Some delegates climbed ladders for the high branches; some knelt on the ground to pick up the olives that dropped. Those of us with “creaky bones” picked the ones in the middle. At lunch we were treated to bread plucked off the hot coals as well as dishes of rice, vegetable stew and salad.
It’s dark and cold now; the 4 kilowatt generator is busy providing a bit of light; bodies huddle around the fire. I intend to join them.
^ Top of page |
Email this page