Olive Harvest 2014 – Kufr Qalil

7th October 2014

Settlers attacked Palestinian farmer family while picking.

Around seven settlers from the outpost of the Brakha settlement attacked a farmer family by throwing stones at them. The field of olive trees is approximately 500 metres far from the outpost of the settlement next to the Huwwara Junction. Every year the farmers are attacked by settlers. Sometimes the attacks are massive fights with 200 settlers against the farmers and sometimes they come in smaller groups.

Two days ago they arrived to attack the farmers. The farmer was able to defend himself by running toward the hill where the assaulters had gathered and waving his stick. The settlers retreated immediately. IWPS started to provide protection in this area directly the next day and continues to do this in co-ordination with ISM.This disturbing history in this area has been going on for a long time. The Brakha settlement and its outpost are responsible for yearly attacks during the olive harvest including trying to burn the trees, steal the land around the spring and doing massive land-grabs to enlarge the settlement.

9th October 2014

The farmer has 100 trees to pick and has co-ordination for three days.

The IWPS and ISM team joined the farmer and his family and walked up the path to his land. An army jeep was parked in the road going to the settlement the farmer was summoned by the soldiers and he was told that he could only pick on the land away from the settlement. He was further intimidated about an hour later when the jeep drove up to where the team was picking and the soldiers told him that we should leave in 15 minutes. The farmer decided to stay and after 15 mins the soldiers left.

10th October 2014

The army continues to harass the farmer in spite of the fact he has permission to pick his olives:

The ISM team informed us that the farmer was asked to leave his land by the army at 4pm. He decided to leave but came back later the evening and was forced to pick in the dark. The treatment of this farmer by the army impacts his livelihood as it is impossible to harvest all of his olives in the three day period and also is an example of how the Palestinians are continually humiliated by military control. At the same time the Israeli residents of the illegal settlements are ‘supported’ by the army and the occupation is sustained.


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