BostontoPalestine
Boston support group for the International Solidarity Movement

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Bostontopalestine delegates to the Olive Harvest Campaign 2003

Rena's reports

Hannah's reports

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2003 OLIVE HARVEST IN PALESTINE
Resisting the Occupation by Insisting on Life
 
Since October 2000, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian trees have been
bulldozed, uprooted or set ablaze by Israeli soldiers and settlers tens of
thousands of these olive trees.  Olive trees are a symbol of the life of the
Palestinian, and their destruction by Israeli forces is an attempt to de-root
the Palestinians from their land.
 
Throughout the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian land has been and continues to
be confiscated by the Israeli government.  Since May of 2002, the Israeli
government has been building a massive apartheid wall, which has thus far
flattened and/or isolated hundreds of thousands of dunams of Palestinian
farmland and destroyed tens of thousands of olive trees; Illegal Israeli
colonies are built on occupied Palestinian land; more land is confiscated to
build roads that encircle Palestinian villages but are not for use by
Palestinians; Palestinians are locked up in their towns and villages as
Israeli soldiers stand guard; Palestinians are not allowed to access their
own property; crops go bad and Palestinian survival on their land is
threatened.
 
The economic impact of Israeli policies on the olive sector has been massive
millions of dollars lost to damage in the past three years, and millions
more to Israel's barring farmers from their land.  And these policies are
designed to have impact not just now, but for years to come olive trees
produce for generations.

During last year,s one month Olive Harvest Campaign, 200 civilians from all
over the world joined us in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a front
to this policy of starvation and ethnic cleansing.  Internationals
accompanying Palestinian farmers helped ensure access to fields and groves in
some cases and helped highlight Israel,s war on Palestinian survival in cases
were access was violently denied.
 
This year we are again calling on you to join us for the olive harvest in
Palestine. 
 
The Olive Harvesting Campaign, part of the Palestinian people's resistance to
the occupation, will be from October 5 November 20, 2003.  ISM will be
working in conjunction with the Palestinian Environmental Network (PENGON),
the Union of Palestinian Agricultural Committees, the Union of Palestinian
Farmers, and the Land Defense Committee to welcome you.  Orientation and
training will be held in Palestine on October 3rd and 4th, and every Friday/Saturday
throughout the campaign. 

Please register to join this ISM Campaign at www.palsolidarity.org
For more information, please contact info@palsolidarity.org

If you live in the Boston area and are thinking of joining ISM campaing or support
ISM work please contact us at bostontopalestine@palsolidarity.org

For more information on the wall and its impact on the
Palestinian people, please see: www.palsolidarity.org, www.pengon.org,
www.stopthewall.org
 
The olive is the lifeline of the Palestinian people.  Come to Palestine and
help Palestinians endure by joining them in concert with their land.