Protect the Olive Harvest, Enforce the Law on Violent Settlers

B'Tselem today submitted an urgent request to the OC Central Commander, Moshe Kaplinsky, and Shai District (Samaria and Judea) Police Commander, Shahar Ayalon, calling on them to take all steps necessary to ensure that the olive harvest in the Occupied Territories is carried out without disruption. Such steps are more urgent now than ever, as the harvest is critical source of income for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents, who are already suffering from very difficult economic conditions.

Following are highlights of the letter:

Lack of law enforcement on violent settlers

Over the past week, the security forces have not taken sufficient steps to enforce the law on settlers who used violence to prevent Palestinian farmers from harvesting their olives. Settlers have also harvested olives that belong to Palestinians and stolen the crop. Soldiers and police officers have not taken measures to prevent incidents in locations where disturbances should have been anticipated, and have not intervened when such disturbances occurred. The lack of law enforcement creates an atmosphere of disregard for the lives and property of Palestinians, and encourages the continuation of such phenomena.

Today's killing of Hani Bani Maniyah by a settler, near the village of Aqraba, is the direct result of the lack of law enforcement on settlers.

Restrictions on freedom of movement

Physical obstacles, curfews, and the designation of fields belonging to Palestinians as "closed military zones" make it difficult, and sometimes impossible, for Palestinians to harvest their olives and produce marketable goods from them.

For thousands of Palestinian families, olives and their by-products are their sole source of income. Given the severe poverty and unemployment in the Occupied Territories, disruption of the olive harvest will be a harsh blow for these families.