Rabbis For Human Rights

We are in the midst of the 2003 olive harvest season.  With the reservations outlined below, we continue to see serious improvement in the functioning of the Israeli security forces in terms of protecting harvest activities next to settlements. We also see great differences from region to region.  We see no solution on the horizon for the hundreds of Palestinian families with lands between the Security Barrier and the Green Line.  This report is divided into three sections:

• Introduction
• Harvest calendar
• Evaluation and recommendations.

Rabbis For Human Rights (RHR)
has been involved in the olive harvest since 2000.  On November 16^th-17^th 2000 RHR organized the first major Israeli-Palestinian activity since the outbreak of the second intifada.Israeli and international activists helped the residents of Hares village to harvest their trees adjacent to the settlement of Revava.  Even before the intifada olive harvest time was a period of friction between settlers and Palestinians.  The harvest is always accompanied by violence and there has been a murder every few years. 

Rabbis For Human Rights
more intensive involvement with the harvest began last year when we were informed in the beginning of October, well before the opening of the harvest season, that for three days Israelis had been entering the olive groves of Yassuf Village unimpeded and stealing the olives.  They shot in the direction of Angie Zeltzer, an British volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service.  The security forces didn’t do anything more than send jeeps to drive by from time to time.  We organized a harvest group for the next day.  Initially soldiers stood between us and the settlers from the nearby outpost.  However, they demanded that we leave when they began to feel that they could not control the armed settlers with dogs.  Despite a declared policy of protecting harvesters, for the first two weeks of the intifada security forces didn’t show up, came late or stood by as Palestinians and those of us protecting them were beaten, stoned and shot at, and olives were stolen.  Again last year there was a murder.  We saw a drastic change in mid-October.  Security forces began to do their job.  The change was due to pressure that we were able from:  

• Internal Israeli pressure on the Defense Minister
• Threat of a high court appeal by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel.
• International pressure.

We particularly saw a change in the Shai district after we initiated a meeting with the Ariel police.  We found willingness on the part of the police to protect Palestinians and us, including when we were working where the army had neither permitted nor forbidden us to harvest

This year the coordination between Israeli organizations and the Israeli security forces continued from the point that they left off.  The army even constructed a timetable for protecting the harvest before the season began.  In some cases this was done in coordination with the representatives of various villages.  In come cases they constructed it themselves.  This year there has been even more willingness on the part of elements within the police to help with the coordination with the army.  Among Israeli activists a “Harvest Coalition” has been formed which includes

• Ta’ayush
• Gush Shalom
• The Women’s Coalition for a Just Peace
• and the
• The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

HARVEST DIARY

This diary deals only with harvest activities that RHR organized, unless otherwise indicated.

October 7^th, 2003
Maskha
The Security Barrier is currently being completed between Maskha and Elkana.  At the beginning of October it was sometimes possible for families who crossed very early in the morning to get to their olive groves.  On other days soldiers chased them away after they arrived in the groves.  On the 7^th, families harvested opposite the entrance to the Sha’arei Tikvah” settlement without any interference.

October 8^th, 2003
Jayous
RHR sent an Israeli group to participate in an ISM organized major event.  Near Jayous the Separation Barrier runs some 6 kilometers East of the Green Line.  The residents of Jayous are cut of from water resources, greenhouses and Olive groves.  Access in difficult in the best of times.  For Yom Kippur all gates along the barrier were locked from October 4^th-October 7^th.  In the wake of the Haifa terror attack and many additional hot warnings, the army declared that the gates would remain locked for an additional 10 days.  On the 8^th, a large number of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals waited at the locked gate at 7:00 AM.    Palestinians were worried not only about their olive trees but their greenhouses in which everything was dying for lack of water and the fact that the fuel would run out for the water pumps.   Eventually one person broke the lock on the gate in a fit of anger.  Many Palestinians and others went through the gate before the army arrived.  Some Israelis and internationals chose not to cross through the gate, but to drive around and rejoin the group from the Israeli side.  After some tense moments, it was agreed that the farmers who went through to  harvest would be allowed to harvest to the end of the day and return home unimpeded in return for a withdrawal from the gate area on the part of all those remaining there.Israel artificially and unnecessarily created a conflict between the Israeli right to security and the Palestinian right to access their land. 

October, 13^th, 2003
Jamain
We were informed that on the 12^th Settlers attacked Palestinians and an international.  Jamain residents had also been in touch with RHR over the summer because settlers had been making it difficult for them to tend their trees.  On the 12^th, a sleeping bag and some equipment was found in the olive groves. On the 13^th the security forces first demanded that Israeli activists stay North of Route 5.  Finally it was agreed that Israelis could be on the South side of Rte. 5 as long as we did not enter the uppermost areas where residents of the Tapuakh might see us, thereby creating a provocation.  A few Jewish youth were spotted, but the day passed quietly. 

October 14^th, 2003
Jamain
A quite day

October 15^th, 2003
Dir Istiya
A quiet day.  There were few families because before our arrival the army sent families home (As happened on the previous days as well.)  There was an additional challenge that, basing themselves on the recent prohibition of Palestinian vehicular traffic on all roads,  the army was not allowing residents to drive tractors across the road.  This made it difficult to bring olives back to the village. 

October 16^th, 2003
Marda/Dir Istiya
In Dir Istiya everything was uneventful.  Residents still did not get permits to bring tractors, but we were informally advised to simply do so discreetly.  In Marda we were told that recently Palestinians working close to Ariel’s fence had been driven away by shots fired in the air.  On the 16^th the army spotted our group and demanded that the group distance itself from the Arielfence.  We understood that some families were able to continue harvesting discreetly

October 17^th, 2003
South Hebron hills
RHR discovered what appeared to be olive theft in Gaweis (Between the settlement of Susya and the Magen David outpost) and below the Avigail outpost.  Below Avigail we also found a structure built by settlers built in the olive grove.  There were also signs that branches had been cut.  The owner of the grove claims that a week earlier he saw settlers taking branches for skhakh (The traditional covering for the temporary structures which Jews build for the holiday of Sukkot (Tabernacles).  In Wadi Suweid (adjacent to Gaweis) there were signs that somebody had been plowing next to the grove and the residents said this had been settlers.  While we were at Avigail the residents said that a settler came and plowed on land belonging to Gaweis.  We helped arrange for the residents of these three areas to make official complaints and the police have made site visits.  Nobody has as of yet been arrested and we are following the cases.

October 20^th, 2003
Awarta
There was a great deal of tension at first because the soldiers in the field and even the DCO said that they didn’t know we were coming, even though we had set the date up with the operations officer of the brigade (katzin agam).  Before we arrived we received calls from internationals who were being told by the commanding officer that the area was a closed military area and that he was threatening to arrest them and Palestinians in the area.  We asked them to move back a bit and avoid aggravating the situation until we arrived.  Upon arrival, we understood that the office didn’t know that we were coming and saw our presence as a provocation.On the army schedule this was listed as the protected picking day on another side of the Itamar settlement.  More senior DCO officer arrived and the upset officer moved away.  We were allowed to begin work at the point we were located, at least 200 meters from the fence of Itamar.  After some discussion the DCO determined that forces could be moved to where we were located and that we could move closer to the fence.  After.determining that there were not many families picking on the other side, we agreed.  For the remainder of the day there was constant low level tension with soldiers, each of whom wanted to add one contdition or another, requiring us to be constantly calling more senior officers.  We sent the mayor and others back to bring back the families that had given up, but this was difficult.  They trickled back.  One of the ongoing tensions was how close we could be to the fence (Two rows of trees or two terraces.)  The official decision was 50 meters, interpreted as two rows.Eventually soldiers agreed that Israelis could work on the first two rows.  Some farmers said that they succeeded in harvesting in areas where they had not succeeded for 10 years.  Others found that the Itamar fence, expanded a year ago, now included within the settlement trees of theirs which used to be beyond the perimiter.

October 21^st, 2003
Soldiers did not allow Israelis to continue harvesting the two rows closest to the fence.

October 22^nd, 2003
Beit Furik
The day was fairly quiet, but we were told that settlers next to the Itamar fence on the southern side of the village had chased away Palestinians before we arrived by firing into the air.  Residents claimed that the normal pattern was for soldiers and settlers together to make rounds at approximately 11:00 – 12:00, confiscating the olives already picked and chasing people away.  They had begun to send each filled sack immediately back to the village in order to minimize losses.  Many families were afraid to pick.

October 23^rd, 2003
Beit Furik/Maskha/Yanoun
We met Maskha residents at the Elkana checkpoint.  Soldiers originally wanted to send them to an agricultural gate much further away, but after discussions with the police they were allowed to proceed directly to two designated points.  The goal for the day was to harvest areas which Palestinians had been expelled from the previous week.  Israelis, Palestinians and internationals were again expelled from a point between Shaarei Tikva and Elkana where a Jewish man claims he bought.  There was some progress insofar as this time the sides were asked to come to the DCO in Kedumin and present their proofs of ownership.  We are waiting for results.  A number of Palestinians had their ID cards confiscated.  We made telephone calls and the cards were eventually returned.  In Yanoun, where we were not scheduled to be, there was some disagreement on how close to the fence Palestinians were allowed to pick.  Foreign journalists photographed the argument and were attacked by settlers who did not wish to be pphtographed.  A video cassette was taken.  The soldiers observing did nothing.  We made an unplanned stop in Yanoun.. The soldiers were very angered and claimed that the Palestinian farmers were being deliberately provocative, given the fact that almost all of the trees in the area next to the fence had already been harvested.  They said that it was a mistake that Palestinians had been allowed to harvest there the previous day. . After we intervened, things settled down.  The army delineated the areas further from the Itamar fence where picking was permitted. Before our arrival at Beit Furik, we received calls saying that soldiers had chased away the farmers harvesting close to the fence on the southern side and dumped their olives. Our volunteers managed to gather some of the olives.

October 24^th, 2003
South Hebron Hills
We arrived to pick next to Otniel, but the army claimed they had no knowledge that we were coming, despite the fact that all had been arranged in advance. After calls were made to our contacts in the police, it was agreed that we could pick, but not from trees close to the settlement. It is not clear where the miscommunication took place.  Was there internal miscommunication  between the police, DCO and army, and  they really didn’t know we had arranged to pick in this area, or they were just claiming that they did not know.

October 27^th, 2003
Ein Abbus
We were aware that security forces were protecting harvestors in other areas, and that they were not able to provide protection in Ein Abbus. In agreement with the police and after checking with the army, we were informed by the police that were allowed to go out into the field, but not to the areas considered the most dangerous. The residents of Ein Abbus were afraid to go onto the hills and harvest without substantial numbers of volunteers and security forces present. We went out into the field to document trees that had reportedly been cut down in Ein Abbus and Isawiya the previous week.  After our arrival we contacted the police to come and see first hand the damage some 250 trees that had been cut down. We were again told that they could not arrive as they were involved in protecting farmers in other areas. We agreed to pass on the pictures of the damage to the police. A few moments later, a few young settlers, some of whom had covered their faces, descended from hill 725 and Mitzpeh Yitzhar.  They attacked us and the Palestinians present, until the police arrived. After the incident the area was declared a closed military zone. A full report on the incident is available.

October 29^th, 2003
Yanoun
Soldiers and officers in the field pressured us not to attempt to reach the farthest isolated trees. They told us that there would be no further days of work in Yanoun. We received reports that olives from 900 trees had been stolen from the residents of Yanoun. The residents suspected that the theft had been carried out by residents of Akraba, but the possibility also existed that the residents of Itamar had been responsible for the theft of these olives.

October 30^th, 2003
Yanoun

October 31^st, 2003
Tourkamia
We arranged ahead of time to enter the settlement and pick olives from trees which were originally outside the settlement’s fence, but now were inside the fence which had been moved this past year. The army again claimed that they had not been informed that we were coming  (Our police contact says that they had been.)  It was agreed that 15 Palestinians and 5 others would be allowed in to harvest.  However,, Yossi Edri, a regional security person, stood in the gate and did not permit the agreement to be carried out.  Eventually he allowed 7 landowners to enter. In the end, the brigade commander arrived and declared that this was the home of the settlers and that they are not obligated to let in anyone whom they did not want in their home.

November 2^nd, 2003
Ein Abbus
We arrived with army and police protection to harvest the remaining olives.  We discovere that another 600 trees had been cut down in an area which could not be seen from the village.. The army declared the area a closed military zone and did not wish to permit us to photograph the damage. Things only calmed down, once the police arrived and took an initial complaint from one of the owners of the trees. Many families did not come to harvest due to fear, even in areas where picking was permitted.

November 3^rd, 2003. Ein Abbus, Hawara and Isawiya
The harvest was quiet in Ein Abbus and din Hawara, but many families were fearful of going out to pick. In Isawiya, local security tried to stop the harvest. It was finally agreed that we were allowed to pick only below the security road that the residents of Eli had recently built. We saw the 300 trees that were cut down in Isawiya. It was difficult to estimate how many trees were cut down in Hawara as residents informed us that they had not had access for 4 years.During this period trees were constantly being burned or cut down.  They estimate that 600 trees were cut down this past year.

November 4^th, 2003
Kaffin.
It was reported that only 15% of families have managed to cross the Separation Barrier and get to their land for even one day during the harvest season. About 6000 dunams of land are owned by Palestinians between the Barrier and the Green Line. In the village of Zeita, we learned that one gate is totally closed to passage and that at the second gate, only those who have permits to work in Israel are allowed to cross, not landowners. We have been informed that many villages are in the same situation.

November 5^th, 2003
Kaffin.
Our volunteers and landowners found many bare trees.  The owners said that olives had been stolen from their trees.

November 6^th, 2003
Yanoun
Harvest went without incident.

November 7^th, 2003
South Hebron Hills
Despite many attempts to arrange security ahead of our arrival, including conversations with the  the responsible police and DCO officers that morning before the bus departed from Jerusalem, the army again claimed when we arrived at Otniel that they were not expecting us and that no prior security arrangements had been made. Again, we were not able to pick .

November 9^th, 2003
Isawiya
At sunrise, settlers from Eli overpowered elderly women who had been picking in the area, and stole their olives. They delayed further picking in the area.  After police intervention, we were able to harvest.  Again, we were not allowed to pick in the area above the new security road.  It was suggested that on a future date non-Palestinians harvest in that area.  We have discussed this with our contacts in Isawiya.  They have agreed that we do this.

November 10^th, 2003
Hawara
We arrived in Hawara, but were told that no security arrangements had been made to pick olives and had to return.

In our final report, we will document many other incidents in areas where we were not present, such as the burning of trees at the Tapuach junction, and a Yassouf resident who was attacked with an iron bar which resulted in the breaking of his arm and the theft of his donkey and three sacks of olives. 

November 12^th, 2003
Kaffin
Upon arrival we discovered that the settlement of Hermesh was in the process of building a new security fence expanding the perimeter of the settlement by some 200 meters.  Apparently this began after a terror attack a year ago.  Villagers had already harvested most of the trees outside the new fence, although they pointed out some trees which they claimed that somebody else had harvested.The army prevented us from entering the area after claiming that it was forbidden to enter the area between the fences.  Eventually an officer and one of our delegation entered the area to find that most of the trees had already been harvested.  After a more thorough check was made with a DCO officer we were given permission to pick in an area where there was still fruit on the trees.

November 13^th, 2003
Kaffin
Day went without incident

November 14^th, 2003. 
RHR cancelled a rather large group because we can’t send another group to possibly be turned back in the South Hebron Hills until insuring that there will not be a repeat.We didn’t receive permits for Friday in other areas close enough to return by Shabbat. 

Analysis And Recommendations

In general we believe that there has been a genuine effort made on the part of the security forces, particularly the police in the Shai region, to ensure that Palestinians have been able to harvest on their land.They are doing as much as can be expected given the fact that the location of settlements in the midst of Palestinian olive groves have created a situation in which Palestinians can’t get to their own land without permits and protection, and where there are violent and lawless elements among the settlers.  (There are areas where Palestinians quietly harvest in sensitive areas without coordination.)  As long as this basic situation continues there will continue to be constant tension not only around the olive harvest, but the grape, plum and other harvests, care of agricultural land between harvests, etc.  The olive harvest simply attracts the most attention.

The following additional problems been encountered:

• A lack of coordination between army units and different branches of the security forces. The first assumption of the security forces is that it is an intentional provocation on the part of the Palestinians when they arrive to harvest their olives, even though they may genuinely believe that they have are there in coordination with security forces.

• The lack of coordination is also evident when we have communicated with high officers in the police, but when soldiers in the field are often resentful of the fact that they are being asked to do this task

• The timetable set up has often been unrealistic, with the army not realizing how much time it takes to harvest a specific area. The days set for each village were not always done in consultation with various branches of the police and army.  Palestinian farmers are often pressured to finish harvesting even if they had not reached all their trees.  Where extra time has beenrequested, the army has generally complained, but granted it.

• Regulations don’t often allow Palestinians to harvest in areas closest to fences and certainly not inside settlements.

• While most of the harvest has gone well adjacent to settlements, one of the greatest problems is that hundreds of families can’t access their land which lies between the separation barrier and the green line. An immediate solution must be found without the Palestinians having to sign anything that would renounce the ownership of their land.

• While settler violence seems to be down and there seemed to be less olive theft at the outset of the season, we are now dealing with much more reported theft and many incidents of trees cut down. Perhaps this is response on the part of settlers to the security forces’ protection of harvesters. A way must also be found for the State of Israel to compensate Palestinians for olives stolen and trees which were cut down. We call on the IDF to prosecute those involved in theft of olives, destruction of trees and violence.