B’Tselem-the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories - November 24, 2002 - Back to Resources Page

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In the beginning of October, the annual olive harvest began in the West Bank. This year’s harvest, which is particularly plentiful, comes at a time of unprecedented socioeconomic hardship among the Palestinians. The survival of tens of thousands of Palestinian families is more dependent than ever on their ability to harvest their olives and market the oil they yield.

The olive harvest has been continually disrupted by violent and systematic attacks by groups of armed settlers. A month into the olive harvest, in early November, the Israeli security forces fi nally begin to take significant measures to prevent the settler violence. These efforts reduced the level of violence in some locations; in other areas, however, the attacks continued.

Deliberate attacks by settlers against Palestinians during the olive harvest is an annual phenomenon, though the frequency and severity of the attacks vary from year to year. In general, these attacks are committed by residents of a specific handful of settlements. In recent years, dozens of Palestinians have been shot and beaten while harvesting their olives. Since 1998, three Palestinians have been shot and killed in such attacks, all carried out by settlers from Itamar: Ahmad Suleiman Hatataba, 68, from Bet Furiq, in October 1998; Farid Nasasra, 29, also from Bet Furiq in October 2000; and Hani Bani Manya, 22, from ‘Aqqraba in October 2002. In the first case, the person responsible was convicted of murder, but in the other two, the perpetrators have not been apprehended.

The attacks on Palestinians discussed in this report have taken place against the backdrop of the Israeli security forces’ ongoing policy of non-enforcement of the law on violent settlers. This policy is illustrated at all the relevant stages: inadequate preparations for such attacks, even when they are completely predictable; refraining from halting the attacks even when security forces are present at the site, and refusal to thoroughly prosecute the perpetrators. The Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon, recently admitted to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that, “I am also unhappy about the level of law enforcement over the years. Why is there no enforcement? That is a complex question.”

This report describes violent attacks carried out by settlers against Palestinian olive harvesters this year. The report examines the preparation of the security forces to protect the olive harvest, and the manner in which they intervened during the events.This report is the latest in a series of reports issued by B’Tselem relating to settler violence and the failure of the law enforcement authorities to act against settlers since the beginning of the current intifada.

To download the full report please click below:

Attachment	Size
200211_Olive_Harvest_Eng.pdf	283.18 KB

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B’Tselem-the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories - November 24, 2002 - Back to Resources Page