Help the Palestinians harvest their olives!
Since early October, the olive harvest has been underway in the West Bank.
Work is progressing very slowly, however, due to the closures and siege,
while in some places, soldiers are keeping Palestinian farmers away from
their own orchards. To add to this, groups of Israeli settlers have been
attacking the villagers as they attempt to harvest. Numerous shooting
incidents were reported, with many injured and one dead, in addition to
beatings with rifle butts and rocks.
Tens of thousands of olive-planted dunam are in jeopardy, as they lie near
Israeli settlements. If the harvest is not complete by mid-November,
thousands of families will have lost their meager livelihood, and a critical food commodity for all West Bank residents will perish.
Several groups of Israelis have joined the olive harvest in recent days, serving as human shields against attacks by settlers and soldiers. These effective actions enabled some farmers to harvest their produce.
We invite you to join a large group of peace activists this Saturday, October 19th, to help harvest olives in several villages in the West Bank.
We want to make it possible for Palestinians to harvest their olives in
safety, and also to stir public opinion to push the government and army
into allowing this harvest to take place unimpeded.
This action is the initiative of Israelis from many peace movements in
cooperation with Palestinian friends. We have been endorsed by several
peace organizations, and we expect the blessing of the entire movement.
This is a non-violent action.
Participation is from age 18.
