Olive Trees Amidst the Occupation

The olive trees remain steadfast and are thriving this season in the West Bank, even thought they too are forced to endure life under the brutal military dictatorship. This means the farmer can be arbitrarily prevented from tending to his trees, as he must enter his field this year through a military checkpoint. In the ever changing political landscape here, this means that the continual land grab by the Israeli governance marches on. Municipal boundaries are expanded to incorporate traditional Palestinian land into areas previously having been designated as belonging to Israel. Water for the trees are highly restricted under military orders, in order that the illegally occupying settlements in the hillside above the farm - also on expropriated Palestinian land - have unlimited water for their exclusive enjoyment. The amount of time and number of people permitted to pick the olives are also heavily scrutinized. The harvest has been recast as a security risk.