Al Jazeera Discovers Olives, Forgets Stolen Land
Al Jazeera's visual guide to Palestine's olive harvest beautifully showcases deep-rooted traditions and the critical economic role of olive oil. It is, however, a stunning exercise in journalistic amnesia, meticulously avoiding the daily settler violence and Israeli military incursions that routinely destroy these very olive trees and terrorize the farmers who tend them. In 2023 alone, OCHA
reported over 10,000 olive trees belonging to Palestinians were damaged or destroyed by settlers, often under military protection. One might wonder how many 'visual guides' it takes before the news shows the actual daily reality. This portrayal of tranquil tradition, scrubbed clean of documented assaults and land confiscations, feels less like journalism and more like a carefully curated postcard
from a conflict that—in mainstream media—is often stripped of its context. It's a testament to how easily a story about 'culture' can become an anesthetic for ongoing injustice, especially when it avoids naming the elephant in the grove.