A Simple Kind Of Courage: Jayyous Farmers To Pick Olives Near Israeli Settlement on October 8th

Beginning this week, farmers from the small West Bank village of Jayyous join dozens of other communities across Palestine in the annual olive harvest. This year, plagued by the confiscation of land by Israeli settlers and the construction of a "Separation Wall" running right through the village, farmers in Jayyous fear they may be unable to harvest olives from their own trees.

[Jayyous, West Bank]
(PRWEB) October 6 2003--Beginning this week, farmers from the small West Bank village of Jayyous join dozens of other communities across Palestine in the annual olive harvest. This year, plagued by the confiscation of land by Israeli settlers and the construction of a "Separation Wall" running right through the village, farmers in Jayyous fear they may be unable to harvest olives from their own trees.

On October 8th, the farmers of Jayyous will pick olives from trees within and around nearby Zufim, an Israeli settlement built in 1984 on land belonging to Palestinian families. Farmers have been harassed and threatened by settlers and Israeli military during past harvests, making even the work of picking olives from their own trees an act of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli Occupation.

That morning at 6:30 am, farmers will meet at the mosque in the center of Jayyous and begin a procession to the west gate in the "Separation Wall", and then travel to the Zufim settlement, where they will remain all day harvesting olives from trees belonging to twelve Palestinian families. The farmers of Jayyous request the presence of local and international activists, students and media to participate in this action and join in the harvest.

The "Separation Wall", also known locally as the "Apartheid Wall", has separated dozens of villages across Palestine from their farmland. In Jayyous alone, the Wall limits daily access of farmers to 9,000 dunams (over 2,000 acres) of land including 120 greenhouses, 15,000 olive trees, 50,000 citrus trees, 6 groundwater wells and livestock pasture. Following the completion of the Wall, 87% (480 out of 550 families) of the people in the village will be without work or income due to the land remaining isolated behind the wall.

One farmer has said: "Cages are for animals, not for people. Olive trees are important to our culture and economy. This Wall has created many problems for us and we are afraid that this year we will not be able to harvest our olives. What will we do if this happens?"

Local Press Contacts:

Allam Saleem - 066 391 832 (Arabic)
Mohammed Mustafa - 055 760 350 (Hebrew)
Michelle Hudson - 065 203 543 (English)

Due to the difficulty of travel within the West Bank we recommend arriving the evening of the 7th; accommodations in Jayyous for all press and participants will be available.

For more information about the Olive Harvest Campaign, contact:

ISM Media Office - 022 776 402

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