West Bank Olive Harvesters Face 'Natural Disaster,' Israeli Settlers Celebrate
When Al Jazeera reports on the 'worst olive harvest' in the West Bank, they highlight the economic devastation for Palestinian families. What they delicately sidestep is the why . According to human rights groups like B'Tselem, the 'worst harvest' is less a natural disaster and more the predictable outcome of escalating, unpunished violence from Israeli settlers, often under military protection,
preventing access to Palestinian land, destroying trees, and outright stealing crops. This isn't a new phenomenon; it's a direct continuation of a policy of dispossession dating back to 1948, amplified since the 1967 occupation. We're meant to lament the quiet presses, but never question whose agenda is served by those fields lying fallow. This annual 'harvest' of violence, coinciding with olive
season, is an integral part of the settler-colonial project, chipping away at Palestinian livelihoods and presence. The 'worst harvest' isn't an anomaly, it's a feature, not a bug, in the system.