OLIVE & LET DIE

The Brightonians who went to the West Bank to engage in a spot of international solidarity - and olive harvesting (see SchNEWS 652) - have been getting stuck in with the realities of occupied life. Whilst accompanying the villagers of Al Masra, one of their number was attacked by an Israeli settler.

The delegates had been asked by the village to accompany them to their olive groves, as the Palestinians in Al Masra have had to face regular violence and intimidation at the hands of settlers, especially when they try to enter their own lands (which border the Israeli’s illegal settlement).

Before they’d even got to look at any olives, the internationals saw a group of settlers circling a woman in her seventies, punching her and spitting on her.

When they tried to film the scene, one of the settlers attacked, injuring one of them. It turns out that the attacker is a particularly nasty piece of work by the name of Moshe Benben Ishti. This was the same settler who murdered a child on a demo last year (he escaped conviction despite several eyewitnesses to the killing - a depressingly typical result for the Israeli legal system). IDF soldiers then ‘intervened’ letting the settlers go with smiles and pats on the back.

In the event, the Palestinian-Brightonian group didn’t get to pick any olives. When they arrived at the farmers’ groves most of the olives had already been stolen off the trees by the same settlers - losing them a whole year’s income. The soldiers wouldn’t let internationals accompany them to their other olive trees and, with the real threats to life and limb from the settlers, they decided not to go alone.

It’s still olive season in the West Bank for another 4-5 weeks and there’s an urgent need for an international presence to help reduce the violence that Palestinians face during harvest.

Visit www.palsolidarity.org and www.brightonpalestine.org