By ISM NorCal
ISM Palestine is looking forward to welcoming volunteers back to Palestine to support grassroots Palestinian nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation. On November 1, 2021, the Israeli occupation authorities announced that international visitors and tourists would once again be allowed to enter the area; of course, this does not mean that the occupation authorities will cease their ongoing attempts to block international human rights advocates, observers and solidarity activists from coming to Palestine to join the ISM and other grassroots organizations.
For nearly two years, ISM Palestine has been forced to function with almost no international support inside Palestine. Once again, in the fall of 2021, the olive harvest was conducted without international observers and participants, despite the ongoing spate of settler attacks and apartheid soldiers separating Palestinian farmers from their land and crops.
As ISM activists in Palestine noted, “This is a significant development because of the exceptionally high levels of violence by the illegal settlers and the occupation military since the recent uprising, which leaves us in no doubt that harvesting olives in Palestine this year will be much more dangerous than before.”
“The absence of internationals and their protective presence and documenting work in the time of such an extreme need, will be felt very strongly by the Palestinian society.”
Indeed, on November 6, ISM activists documented Israeli occupation forces expelling Palestinian farmers from Qaryut, in Area B, preventing them from picking their olives, detaining them, confiscating their agricultural equipment and throwing the olives they had harvested on the ground, sabotaging them and preventing their further use. Through the Fazaa campaign, Palestinian ISM activists have been supporting Palestinian farmers and helping them to protect their crops, despite the lack of an international presence.
Palestinian ISM activists accompanied villagers in Atara to reach their land and pick their olives near the “bypass road” for illegal settlers, in order to protect them from the frequent harassment they encounter due to settlers and IOF soldiers.
On the same day, south of Burin, ISM activists documented 48 Palestinian olive trees belonging to the Zaben family were cut down by soldiers or settlers, further targeting Palestinian agriculture. In Al-Mazraa Al-Qibiliya, 240 olive trees were chopped down by illegal settlers.
In villages throughout the occupied West Bank of Palestine, the Fazaa campaign accompanied farmers, especially those close to illegal settlements. Farmers like those in Qaryut were repeatedly chased from their own land by occupation soldiers on the pretext of a “lack of coordination,” in an attempt to prevent them from completing the olive harvest, so vital to Palestinian agriculture and economy.
Therefore, ISM Palestine and their allies in the Fazaa campaign coordinated groups of Palestinian volunteers to provide broader support and accompaniment to assist farmers in their steadfast act of resistance: remaining present on their beloved land.
As the borders once again open, ISM Palestine anticipates rebuilding its teams of international volunteers to better provide support to Palestinian farmers, students, workers and citizens of all backgrounds seeking justice, freedom and an end to occupation. ISM NorCal looks forward to working with ISM Palestine and ISMers around the world to train new volunteers and return a strong international presence to defend Palestinian rights and work hand in hand with those most directly affected by the occupation.
ISM Palestine’s efforts are monumental, but they are operating on the most minimal of budgets. Your support for ISM NorCal helps us to directly support ISM Palestine activists to accompany Palestinian olive farmers and to prepare for the return of international volunteers. To make a donation, please visit http://www.ism-norcal.org/donate/.
We are an all volunteer organization that has no paid staff. ISM-NorCal is a project of the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, tax ID no. 20-5516191, which provides our fiscal sponsorship. Your contribution to ISM-NorCal is fully tax-deductible.