(Phone: 410-435-5000)
Address: P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087
[$10
for one year. $1 for sample]
Disclaimer: The views expressed are not necessarily shared by the
editors.
Critical responses up to 250 words are accepted.
----------------------
SYMBOL OF ZIONIST TYRANNY: STOPPING THE PICKING OF OLIVES
[Sent by Dr. Ismail Zayid, Canada.]
Palestinians forbidden from picking olives
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
The Israeli army today issued a new directive forbidding Palestinians
from picking olives in the West Bank. October and November are the
main months for olive harvesting.
The Israeli newspaper Ha'eretz reported that the Israeli army issued the
prohibition on gathering olive harvests, claiming that Israeli troops
could not protect pickers from
Jewish
settlers. Yediot Ahronot, another
Israeli
newspaper, further noted that Israel's army could not protect
Palestinians because they were fortifying positions in Palestinian
cities.
According to information gathered by LAW, Israeli forces were
implementing this order from the early hours today. This morning Israeli
forces prevented olive pickers from the 'Ayoun al-Haramiyyeh area, west
of Ramallah from picking olives. The forces took away the ID cards of 25
farmers for two hours, and ordered them to return home, threatening to
shoot them if they returned.
In light of this new directive preventing Palestinians from gathering
their harvests, LAW asserts the following:
This directive comes in a chain of punishing incidents undertaken, and
continues to be undertaken by illegal Israeli settlers against
Palestinians picking their olives. During this month, Israeli settlers
have carried out a number of attacks on Palestinian farmers and their
lands, this being Palestine's olive season.
On Thursday, October 10, Settlers killed Hani Bani Murra (26),
from 'Aqraba village near Nablus. Due to continuous settler fire, his
companions were only able to take him to the local health center after
two hours. He died shortly before reaching the center after severe
bleeding. It appears that the same settler group was responsible for
killing Farid Nasasrah (28) on October 17, 2000, when they opened fire at
a group of Palestinian harvesters.
On Saturday October 12, settlers opened fire on Palestinian olive pickers
in Beit Forik, near Nablus. When Israeli troops arrived to the area they
arrested 6 Palestinian farmers and prevented others from harvesting their
olive trees. Settlers also carried out similar attacks on Palestinians
farmers in Orif, Kfar Kalil, Deir al-Hatab, and Salem in the district of
Nablus on the same day. Also on Saturday October 12, Israeli settlers set
fire to olive groves in Silwad and al-Mizra'a al-Sharqiyya, east of
Ramallah. The fire destroyed approximately 2000 olive trees belonging to
Palestinian families.
It is clear to LAW that this directive serves to encourage illegal
Israeli settlers to undertake more race-hate crimes against Palestinians
and their lands. Moreover, this directive serves as a harsh blow to the
Palestinian economy, particularly its agricultural economy, with olives
and olive products, such as oil and soap, forming the main means of
livelihood for many Palestinians. Already suffering for more than two
years under severe economic depression and destruction. This directive
serves as a new attack on the Palestinian economy.
Finally, this directive comes after days following Israeli forces at
checkpoints distributing pamphlets against the Palestinian Authority,
directly threatening Palestinian farmers, who they described as offering
assistance to implement enemy operations against Israel, with preventing
them from harvesting their olives.
LAW notes that if Israel and its military is thus concerned about
protecting the lives of Palestinians against violent illegal Israeli
settlers acting with virtually sheer impunity, it would do well to heed
the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), and the Fourth Hague Convention
(1907), relevant to the practice of settlement in an Occupied Territory.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that "The Occupying
Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the
territory it occupies." Article 29 of the same Convention states
that "The Party to the conflict in whose hands protected persons [i.e.,
civilian Palestinians] .is responsible for the treatment according to
them by its agents, irrespective of any individual responsibility that
may be incurred."
Article 27 of the same Convention provides that, "Protected persons are
entitled in all circumstances, to respect for their persons.and shall be
protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof.."
This article also provides for the protection of property of protected
persons.
_______________________
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and
the Environment is a non-governmental organization dedicated to preserving
human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the
International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ),
the International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH),
and the World Organization Against Torture
(OMCT).
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and
the Environment, PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel. +972-2-5833530, fax.
+972-2-5833317,
law@lawsociety.org,
www.lawsociety.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002-10-23 Wed 05:25ct