Several Palestinian farmers on Sunday morning rallied near the Israeli separation wall north of Tulkarem province in the occupied West Bank in protest at not allowing them to access their fields.
According to a Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reporter farmers from the towns of Deir al-Ghusun Attil and al-Jarushiya gathered in front of the wall’s military gate leading to their lands to protest Israeli access restrictions.
The farmers protested daily Israeli movement restrictions imposed on them at the gate and the Israeli army’s refusal to give dozens of them entry permits to work or harvest their lands which are isolated by the separation wall.
A 70-year-old farmer told the PIC that he owns a 40-dunum olive grove but the Israeli army gave him only one access permit and refused to allow others from his family to help him work his land.
“I stay months to do alone the work that only needs a few days to finish and this leads to a decrease in land productivity” the farmer explained.
He noted that over 400 farmers from the area used to obtain Israeli permits to access the fields behind the wall but now only 30 of them get such passes.
