In two days 96 people are coming to Beit Sahour to take part in the Olive Picking Program, arranged by Joint Advocacy Initiative, where I work, and Alternative Tourism Group. The hope is that the participation of foreigners will make it easier for Palestinian farmers to harvest their olives.
Why is that difficult? One of the reasons is that farmers are being attacked by Israeli settlers as they try to work on their field. Often Israeli soldiers passively stand by as this happens, even though they are obliged by law to intervene, and at other times soldiers expel Palestinians from their own land. Another reason is that some Palestinians simply cannot reach their land. Sometimes it is unreachable because of the separation barrier, other times access to land surrounding settlements is made impossible by for instance patrol roads or barbed wire.
In some cases land is being closed off by Israeli authorities. They sometimes give the reason that this is to protect settlers from Palestinian attacks. However, settlers do not stay away from this area, but steal the crops that grow there or even live on and grow the land themselves. In other cases land is closed off by settlers on their private initiative. The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem estimates that settlers have blocked Palestinian entry to tens of thousands of dunums (one dunum is 1000 square metres). Farmers who try to gain access to closed off land face a complex and little forthcoming buraucracy.
Agriculture is the main sector of the Palestinian economy.
An olive tree in Beit Sahour. If you want to read more about the situation of Palestinian farmers, try these two reports from B'Tselem: Access and settler violence
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