'It doesn't matter how many come, one volunteer is enough'

"I've already got past the anger phase. Now I'm in the sorrow phase," said Uri Pirkenfeld at the end of another Friday in the olive groves of the village of Salem. Pirkenfeld, 78, a resident of Kibbutz Revadim, made his way to his car. A week earlier here, when the work was done, he found it with its windows smashed and four tires punctured. This time, with the permission of the Israel Defense Forces, he parked it at a nearby military base.

For several months now, ever since persons unknown damaged the olive groves of the farmers of Salem near Nablus, Israelis have been coming to help the farmers. According to Gideon Alon one of the regulars, "It doesn't mater how many come. If you don't come, the Palestinians are afraid to come out. This is terror on the part of Jewish settlers, and there is no sovereign in the territory. The farmers are not able to realize their property rights."

In recent weeks the place has become an arena of skirmishes between the farmers and the volunteers on the one side and Jewish settlers from the area and right-wing activists who come to help them on the other. Two weeks ago there was an altercation in which two shots were fired, with no injuries. The following day Sabar al-Shtiya, a 73-year-old farmer, was cruelly beaten when he went out to cultivate his olives on his own. Shtiya was seriously hurt and he is hospitalized at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. Thus far the police have not arrested any suspects in the attack.

On Friday at midnight right-wing activists came to the home of one of the organizers of the project, Yoav Marshal, to clarify their opinion of his help to the Palestinians. Marshak heads the department for national missions at the Kibbutz Movement. The spectrum of his activities is broad - from helping Vicky Knafo's march in 2003, to the encouragement of kibbutz youngsters to choose the officers' trajectory in the army, to helping the farmers of Gush Katif dismantle their greenhouses on the eve of the disengagement.

"Five unknown persons turned on lights on the porch of my home and banged wildly on the door, frightening the family," Marshak recalls. He went outside to speak with them and they handed him a piece of paper accusing him of any number of things, from "his blessed activity to destroy the state of Israel and uproot its Jews" to aiding the Vicky Knafo project and her hosting at kibbutzim "as part of a plan of the New Israel Fund and with indirect funding by the Central Intelligence Agency."

Sleepless night

After a sleepless night Marshak came to the volunteers' meeting point. They came from all over: Pirkenfeld, who left at home his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; Gilad Alon; a bookstore owner from Tivon; Buma Inbar, a bereaved father from Neveh Monoson; Menachem Sharir from Korazim in the Galilee and many others. About 30 volunteers came last weekend. According to Inbar, "The number increased in the wake of the attack on Shtiya." Inbar says that since his son, Yotam, fell in Lebanon, he lost faith, but not hope. "I believe that the people at the grassroots will succeed in moving things."

Sharir says that he is not "a holier-than-thou leftist. I've been coming since the olive trees were cut down. We have to show that we have another face. Organizations don't interest me. I am disturbed by the thought of how we look."

The entrance to the wadi that leads to the olive groves is located near the road that leads to the settlement of Elon Moreh. This is a bumpy, difficult road, in the heart of the Har Kabir reserve. Easier access has been paved on the ridge line above: four well-paved kilometers that lead from Elon Moreh to Skali Farm, which is adjacent to the Palestinians' territories. The farmers from Salem come on foot, on donkeys and on tractors. On weekdays they are prevented from coming by tractor by an obstruction of earthen barriers, which was removed by the army only because the volunteers came.

Near the olive grove right-wing activists, from "the Nahalal Force," wait. They are a "counterweight" from Jewish agricultural settlements to their peers who help the Palestinians. Ahuvya Tabenkin, the son of pioneering labor movement ideologist Yitzhak Tabenkin, says to Marshak that his (Marshak's) father Benny - who was the politruk of the Palmach - "is no doubt turning in his grave."

Gilad Alon, the son of nature conservationist Azaria Alon, answers Tabenkin and calls him "wine vinegar." The exchange of barbs continues throughout the time at the site. The settlers from Skali Farm and Elon Moreh did not come this time. The rightists refuse to be interviewed: "I spit on you," said one young woman.

Pulling weeds

The work begins and the tractors till the soil. Unnecessary branches are trimmed and weeds are pulled. Most of the volunteers do not work, but rather serve as a human barrier.

According to Ahmad Jabbour, a member of the Salem village council, "For most of the inhabitants, the olives and the almonds are the only source of income. Some also have flocks. Our situation is difficult, as in all the territories. But the settlers make problems for us. For five or six years we haven't worked here. Only thanks to Uri, Yoel and their friends are we working."

Ahmad Shaiya, a shepherd, related that he had been beaten up in the past by settlers and this dog was shot and killed. According to him, people are afraid to go out to their lands. "If it weren't for the volunteers, we would not be able to work."