Update on Olive Harvest Incident

--- Hebrew-language video clip here ---


A)

Five Palestinians wounded in clash with settlers

(AFP) – NABLUS, West Bank — Five Palestinian farmers were wounded in clashes with armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian security services and witnesses said.

Israeli security forces fired tear-gas and arrested one Palestinian, the sources said, while Israel's military and border police declined to comment on the incident.

The clashes started after about 50 settlers, some firing guns in the air, hurled rocks at Palestinians who responded in kind, the sources said.

The witnesses said the Palestinians were picking olives near Qaryut village in the northern West Bank.

A settler told army radio that the Palestinians were faking the harvest and actually involved in "terrorist activities. They go to the fields to gather information to then commit attacks," said Dibi Degani.

B)

Settlers, Palestinians confront after protest march near olive grove

A confrontation between settlers and Palestinians broke out on Tuesday morning near Karayout, a village adjacent to Nablus, after a few dozen settlers conducted a protest march against olive harvesting taking place in a grove from which gunshots were fired at a settler a few weeks ago.

Border policemen at the site managed to bring a halt to the mutual stone hurling. No casualties were reported, and no arrests were made.

In related news, Palestinians from Turmus Aya on Tuesday morning claimed that dozens of their olive trees were uprooted, apparently during the night.

C)

Settlers, Palestinian olive harvesters clash


JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Jewish settlers and Palestinian olive pickers clashed in the West Bank. The residents of the northern West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, including of nearby illegal outposts, held a rally to protest the harvest because they say it poses a security threat.

Following the protest, the settlers and Palestinians began throwing stones at each other. The groups were separated without incident, according to Israeli news sources.

According to Palestinian sources quoted by the French news agency AFP, five harvesters were injured and the settlers fired gunshots in the air [???]

The Israel Defense Forces approved the rally and gave the Palestinians permission to pick olives in the area. The settlers say the harvesters use the time to gather intelligence about the nearby settlements and launch attacks from the olive groves.

D)

Nine injured as settlers rampage through olive harvest

Nablus – Ma’an – Nine Palestinians were injured and one was detained on Tuesday when dozens of Israeli settlers attacked farmers were harvesting olives in the West Bank village of Qaryout, south of Nablus, according to witnesses, local officials, and medics.

According to sources in the village, the incident began when dozens of Israeli settlers assaulted farmers working near the Israeli settlement of Shavout Rachel. After the initial attack, both soldiers and settlers stormed the village [??? do you know how far the village is from the orchard?], clashing with Palestinian residents who defended the area by throwing stones at the marauding groups. Soldiers fired bullets and tear gas, residents said.

Medics identified some of the injured people as: 21-year-old Isra’ Badawi, who was hit in the eye; 50-year-old Hani Kassab, the village council’s accountant; 30-year-old Jawad Badawi; 70-year-old Muhammad Muqbil; 46-year-old Abdullah Badawi; and 31-year-old Mu’taz Ghassan.

Qaryout’s Mayor, Abd An-Nasser Al-Qaryouti, told Ma’an the farmers obtained permission to enter their own fields from the Israeli army through the Palestinian Authority’s liaison office. Part way through the olive harvest season, Israeli authorities implemented a mandatory registration and permission process for farmers who wished to access agricultural land in the West Bank for the harvest.

Despite this prior coordination, the mayor said, settlers arrived in more than 70 cars. He said the settlers initiated the fight by hurling stones at the farmers. Israeli forces were present, and they did not attempt to stop the settlers, he added.

You don't need me to read between the lines, do you?


P.S. And even Gawker gets in to the act:

No Friend Of A Farmer

[Qaryut, West Bank; October 27. Image via Getty]

A Palestinian farmer from the West Bank village of Qaryut reacts in front of Israeli soldiers on October 27, 2009. Five Palestinian farmers were wounded in clashes with armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank, Palestinian security services and witnesses said. AFP PHOTO/MARCO LONGARI (Photo credit should read MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images)

"Witnesses"? Ah, independent objective non-involved witnesses?