Israeli settlers take Palestinian olives, and their harvest traditions

As Israeli settlers harvest olives on Palestinian land, farmers face growing violence and loss of an ancient tradition. As Israeli settlers harvest olives on Palestinian land, farmers face growing violence and the loss of a tradition passed down through generations. Ramallah, occupied West Bank – The video shared in Israeli settler groups shows two men bashing an olive tree with long wooden sticks. Smiling and congratulating one another, they try to knock the olives to the ground. They call the result “Pure Olive Oil”. But as Palestinian activist Bashar Qaryouti explained, the two men don’t own the land, the trees, or the olives. They’re Israeli settlers who set up an illegal settlement outpost on private property in the village of Qaryut, in the northern occupied West Bank, and made their way into this olive grove, some 200 metres (656 feet) away from Palestinian homes.

“No one has come near here for about three years, thank God,” one of the two men in the video says in Hebrew. Local Palestinians know the man by name, and he does little to hide. The man is Avichai Suissa, an Israeli settler sanctioned by the European Union, United Kingdom – and previously by the United States – who runs a farm on the outpost. It was established more than a year and a half