Last update - 00:00 04/11/2006
Settler celebration prevents West Bank farmers from harvesting olives
By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Defense Forces troops prevented residents of the West Bank village of Dir al-Hatab, near Nablus, from harvesting their olive trees this weekend. The army said the move was intended to prevent a confrontation between residents of the village and visitors to the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh.
Hundreds of visitors arrived in Elon Moreh on Saturday, inspired by this week's Torah portion - "Lech Lechah," from the Book of Genesis - in which God guides Abraham through the area:
"And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the plain of Moreh." (Genesis 12:6)
Palestinian farmers said they were informed of the prohibition on tending the trees only on Thursday evening, after they had planned on taking advantage of dry weather to harvest the olives.
Some twenty Israeli volunteers and 100 farmers from the village tried to approach the groves but were denied access.
The farmers said they were assaulted last Wednesday in the groves, and one of them was wounded in the back after stones were thrown at him.
Yoel Marshek, head of the Kibbutz Movement task force, said "there was no reason to block the farmers from their groves. The distance between them and Elon Moreh is 1-2 kilometers. An officer who makes such a decision has to understand that agriculture is dependent on the weather and that this decision hurts the farmers."