Nonviolent direct agriculture -Nov 15, 2004

By Nicholas Klassen

Now is the season for picking olives. And while the olive harvest should be an innocuous exercise, in Palestine it is often an act of resistance.

Harvesting olives may result in a beating, an arrest, or general harassment. And so whether they intend to or not, farmers become political actors engaged in nonviolent direct action.

On November 1, Dianne Janzen and I picked olives with Palestinians and other internationals in the shadow of Otni'el settlement. We were immediately stopped by soldiers who insisted the group was too close to a military installation and did not have permission to be there. The Palestinians required authorization from a foreign government to glean olives on land
they have cultivated for generations.

When questioned about their inflexibility, the soldiers offered a response so familiar to CPTers that it comes across like a recording. It goes something like this: "This area is closed for security reasons. We must protect against terrorists. Even if we recognize that not all Arabs are terrorists, we can't know which ones are. So we have to assume they all are." Regarding the specifics of harvesting olives outside the camp, the soldiers claimed that the pickers could look into the camp and plot an attack against it. (Later, we found that we could not look into the camp even when we were picking from trees adjacent to the fence that surrounds the camp.) I could not gauge whether the soldiers believed what they were
saying, or if they found reciting the party line from prepared notes is easier than looking critically at their role in subjugating an entire people.

While the soldiers stood fast, Musa Muhamry of the Hebron Land Defense Committee negotiated with Israeli officials. After an hour, they gave the green light, and the soldiers stepped back. The olive pickers flooded the grove, hindered only by the need to avoid the empty beer bottles and other detritus soldiers lob into the olive grove.

On this day, the Palestinian farmers were able to gather their olives, but the incident provides a glimpse into some of the hurdles they face in harvesting all manner of agricultural goods. In other circumstances, Israeli settlers harass and attack farmers, and burn and tear up trees and crops.

Meanwhile, settlements, army posts, and the separation wall consume more and more farmland throughout the West Bank. And the military restrictions that prevent or delay delivery of produce diminish the value of the Palestinian harvest.

The olive harvest continues until the middle of November.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.

Article reproduced with the kind permission of Christian Peacemaker Teams