by Dario Salvi

In the shadow of the conflict in Gaza (and with the Lebanese Hezbollah in the north) the Israelis are perpetrating a ‘policy’ of violence against farmers and land. A state ‘policy’ that combines pro-occupation movements and institutions. With Ben Gvir a real task force against foreign activists who support the Palestinians, by means of arrests and expulsions.

Milan (AsiaNews) - In October alone there were at least 80 incidents involving 42 Palestinian villages where the local population, with the support of international organisations, is engaged in one of the few activities that still provide economic support: the olive harvest.

This is documented by the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, which speaks of shootings, violent assaults, threats and expulsions of pickers, blockades of activities, theft of crops, equipment and forced uprooting of plants. In the shadow of the conflict in Gaza, and the escalation with the Lebanese Hezbollah in the northern front of this intricate regional puzzle, a ‘silent war’ launched by Israeli settlers and extremist groups against Palestinian civilians is taking place. A picture of abuses and violations carried out under the eyes of the police and security forces of the Jewish state, who are present in 85% of the cases: the agents in fact, leave the assailants a free field or they themselves fuel the violence.

‘A state policy’

The crescendo of combined violence by settlers and the army worries the United Nations: according to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Jewish State uses ‘war’ tactics in the West Bank that do not even spare the farmers, with an increase in casualties.

Between 8 and 14 October, nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, triggering widespread alarm among local communities and pro-human rights groups. ‘The increasing number of incidents and the cooperation between settlers and security force personnel,’ Yesh Din experts point out, ‘raise fears that the blockades on the olive harvest in the West Bank is a deliberate Israeli policy’.

One of the most notable incidents occurred when Hanan Abd Rahman Abu Salameh, a 59-year-old woman, was killed by an Israeli soldier while picking olives near Jenin, riddled with about ten bullets. Yesh Din has also documented 32 settler attacks on Palestinians and their property since the beginning of October, and some 600 valuable olive trees have been ‘destroyed, vandalised or taken away by settlers’ the report continues.

For Palestinian communities in the West Bank, the fruit represents the most important asset and is an integral part of local history and tradition, generating up to million a year for producers. Between 25% and 33% of the population is involved in various ways in the olive industry, from which the renowned oil and soap, among others, are made.

Moreover, the attacks and expropriations are compounded by the severe restrictions on access to land during the last harvests. This is denounced by the other Israeli NGO HaMoked, which supports farmers in the harvest: for ‘hundreds of thousands of Palestinians,’ they say, ‘it is the most important event of the year’ both on a ‘cultural’ level and as the ‘main source of livelihood’.

This year's harvest is ‘really in danger’ because in many areas the Israeli authorities have ‘closed’ access to the land beyond the dividing wall. These areas designated as Seam Zones by the army (IDF) make up almost 10% of the West Bank. About 150 Palestinian towns and villages have olive groves in these very fertile areas. While in the past the growers faced severe restrictions and bureaucratic constraints, as of 7 October 2023 the passage is all but barred and the gates closed, while the timeframe is getting tighter and tighter to avert the loss of the harvest.

Anti-activist task force

In recent weeks Israel has at the same time intensified its efforts to hinder the work of activists and international organisations operating in the West Bank, particularly those who support the olive harvest. Since the beginning of October, eight foreigners have been arrested and five of them subsequently expelled or forced to leave the country, while the other three have been barred from entering for varying periods of time.

The detentions represent an escalation of restrictions on international access to occupied territory, a policy facilitated by a special ‘task force’ created in April by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. A force that aims to control foreign activists and operates under the central Israeli police unit in Shai (West Bank), in coordination with the Population and Immigration Authority.

According to data from the Human Rights Defenders Fund, at least 15 foreign activists were arrested and then deported or forced to leave the country. The magazine +972 collected several testimonies concerning threats, intimidation and false accusations during interrogations by security agents. Many say they were branded as ‘terrorists’, ‘people who hate Israel’, ‘Hamas supporters’ and that they wanted to ‘attack Jews and soldiers’. In some cases, the police presented them with photographs revealing close and prolonged monitoring both in the field and through their social media.

In this regard, there are Americans, Germans, Canadians and Koreans among those who have come under the sights of this special police force whose aim, according to Ben-Gvir, is to counter the activities of ‘anarchists and terrorists’ by means of ‘arrests and expulsions’.

Netta Golan, one of the founders of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), underlines the police's extensive use of the accusation of ‘terrorism’.

‘They blame people who have no connection with the acts of violence, they lie and exaggerate,‘ she attacks, “to the level of ”support for terrorism’ and ‘incitement to violence’’. ‘When these accusations,’ he continues, ’are made against international citizens, [the police] do not have to prove them and people are detained and deported. ‘But when the same charges are brought against Palestinians, in the West Bank, they are sent to administrative detention [without charge or trial], tortured and risk starvation in prison. And in Gaza,' he concludes, “they are killed with their children and entire families”.

Settlers, a year of attacks

Finally, the attacks against Palestinian lands and farmers are part of a broader picture of violence perpetrated by Jewish settlers, with the endorsement of the Israeli government authorities - in some fringes linked to pro-occupation movements - who fuel an assault and expropriation. One of the latest incidents took place yesterday morning, when a group of settlers set several Palestinian cars and vehicles on fire, after targeting an industrial area near the West Bank town of Al-Bireh.

According to witnesses, at least 20 cars were set on fire by armed assailants, who did not hesitate to open fire on civil defence teams and ambulances that were on the scene, preventing them from reaching the burnt vehicles and rendering aid.

According to Palestinian figures, in the past year - following the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 that triggered the conflict in Gaza - Israeli settlers carried out some 16,663 raids against people, land and property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Estimates by the Israeli anti-occupation movement Peace Now show that there are at least half a million settlers - illegal under international law - scattered in 146 settlements and 224 outposts. Attacks that are linked to a general situation of strong tension throughout the Holy Land for a conflict that, in little more than a year, has caused the death of almost 43,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, especially women and children.

The spiral of violence, although focused on the Strip, has not even spared the West Bank where, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, there are at least 768 victims and another 6300 wounded in army operations or settler attacks. An escalation that has not stopped but escalated after a ruling by the International Court of Justice, which in July declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land ‘illegal’. The judges finally demanded - so far in vain - the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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