Tuesday, November 26, 2024: The Head of the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission, Minister Mo’ayyad Sha’ban, stated that the occupation army and the colonizers carried out a total of 407 assaults against olive pickers since the first week of the olive picking season until this moment. He added that the commission’s staff monitored 120 assaults carried out by the occupation army, 242 assaults carried out by the colonizers, and 45 assaults carried out by both of them. He explained that these assaults included violent physical assaults that resulted in the martyrdom of a Palestinian citizen at the hand of colonizers in the village of Sebastia in the Nablus Governorate, and the martyrdom of another female citizen by gun shots at the hands of the occupation army in the Town of Faqu’a in the Jenin Governorate. The assaults also included arrest campaigns, movement restrictions, denial of access, and intimidation in all its forms. These assaults were concentrated in the Nablus Governorate, with 160 assaults, followed by the Salfit Governorate, with 58 assaults, then the Hebron Governorate, with 54 assaults. Mr. Sha’ban added that in the current season, 44 cases of movement restriction and denial of access to farmers’ lands, 100 cases of intimidation with the goal of expelling farmers and preventing them from picking their olive trees, and 40 cases of beating and assaults against farmers were recorded.
Mr. Sha’ban added that the assaults this season have reached an unprecedented level, within the framework of the significant escalation compared to previous years, as the assaults recorded last season, 2023, amounted to 333 assaults, while the previous season in 2022, the assaults reached 108 assaults.
Mr. Sha’ban pointed out, that this season, which coincided with the aggression waged against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip by the occupation state, is considered one of the most difficult and dangerous in the past decades, since the occupation army and the colonizers are exploiting emergency law to commit these crimes, supported by many policies and legislations that increase cases of aggression, terrorism, and oppression, especially the closure of governorates and the arming of colonizers’ militia and more dangerously, exempting them from accountability. He added that this season witnessed an insistence of imposing closed military zones on agricultural lands, indicating that the occupation state issued 100 military orders to close agricultural lands in areas close to colonies, which limited citizens’ access to these lands.
Mr. Sha’ban also stated that 84 assaults against olive tree fields were carried out this season, 29 of which included the cutting and breaking of trees, and levelling of olive-planted lands. This led to the destruction of a total of 3910 olive trees. These assaults were concentrated in the governorates of Nablus, Salfit, and Qalqilya. Moreover, 15 cases of agricultural supplies confiscation and theft were recorded to hinder citizens’ efforts to complete the agricultural season and impose heavy prices that obstruct their work and affect their standard of living negatively.
Mr. Sha’ban explained that the occupation state is continuing its efforts to spoil the Palestinian way of life, which is historically tied to the land as a source of livelihood and a model of life. He added that the occupation state is targeting the olive picking season systematically due to the indigenous nature of the relationship between the Palestinian citizen and his land. He also affirmed that all the actions of the occupation state aim to undermine this tight relationship with the land in declared and clear plans to control the Palestinian geography and hinder Palestinian citizens’ access to it.
Mr. Sha’ban stated that Palestinian citizens’ insistence to exercise their right to reach their lands, make this season succeed, and challenge the occupation’s decisions, obstructed the colonizers’ plans and restored the Palestinians’ steadfastness that challenges the occupation and break its measures.