In the town of Kifl Hares north of Salfit the owners of the land are forbidden from entering their land during the olive season. In the current season which begins several days later farmer Ahmed Buzia wanted to enter his land near the settlement of Ariel with a group of volunteers yet their efforts were in vain.
Killing the joy of olive season
Farmer Bouzia says: “Despite the joy of the arrival of the olive season the occupation didn’t allow us to feel its beauty we are not even allowed to enter our land which we used to enter whenever we liked.”
“We wait hours in front of the settlement of Ariel to no avail and sometimes according to the mood of the soldier or the officer we are allowed to enter but without a tractor they search us and insult us” he told the PIC reporter.
Prevention and arrest
Two days ago the Israeli occupation authorities prevented farmers from Kifl Hares from entering their agricultural land near the settlement of Ariel north of Salfit. Farmer Abdel Karim Mahmud Yousef was arrested from the town while trying to enter his land adjacent to the settlement.
According to farmers from Kifl Hares Israeli soldiers demand permission to allow entry into the olive fields adjacent to the settlement. The West Bank farmers generally suffer every season from not being allowed to cultivate their land near the settlements and behind the wall except for a few times.
Season of harvest
According to the Agriculture Director in Salfit Ibrahim Al-Hamad the Israeli occupation’s restrictions harm the farmers of Salfit villages and towns every season including the town of Kifl Hares stressing that the date of harvesting olives this year is on Friday 12 October 2018 and that it is not right to pick it up early but it is alright to delay it.
Assaults
Ghassan Daghlas the head of the West Bank settlements profile warned of the escalation of settler attacks as the preparations for the olive harvest begins including attacking Palestinian property and farmland as date for olive harvest on 12 October approaches calling on farmers to beware of attacks.
Researcher Khaled Maali pointed out that the Israeli army and settlers deliberately disturb farmers’ joy during the season in many ways such as: preventing them from accessing their land cutting trees and branches pouring incendiary materials on trees beating farmers shooting at them stealing the fruits of olive trees prohibition of picking fruits from fields near settlements or behind the wall bulldozing trees for the benefit of settlement expansion uprooting olive trees and re-planting them in the settlements and many more.
