Olive Harvest Season Ushers Escalating Violence in West Bank
source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96028143
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The olive harvest is under way in the West Bank and, as in past years, it means increased violence by Israeli settlers — against both Palestinians and, in some cases, Israeli security forces.
Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak says the settler violence threatens the authority of the state.
Outside the sleepy West Bank Palestinian village of Tel Feat, Farhas Awaad, 76, and his wife, Fakhriyeh, say they haven't been able to tend to, and harvest, their 5-acre hillside olive grove because it's too close to an outpost of the Jewish settlement of Eli.
There is always tension between settlers and Palestinians around olive harvest time, but Awaad says this year has been the worst. Every time he and his family members try to reach the trees they depend on for their livelihood, he says settlers threaten or attack him.
"I'm only afraid of them because they have weapons," Awaad says. "This is the only reason. Imagine if they didn't have weapons — we would smash their heads because we are a bigger number! We are not afraid of them. The fight will escalate and develop."....
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Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak says the settler violence threatens the authority of the state.
Outside the sleepy West Bank Palestinian village of Tel Feat, Farhas Awaad, 76, and his wife, Fakhriyeh, say they haven't been able to tend to, and harvest, their 5-acre hillside olive grove because it's too close to an outpost of the Jewish settlement of Eli.
There is always tension between settlers and Palestinians around olive harvest time, but Awaad says this year has been the worst. Every time he and his family members try to reach the trees they depend on for their livelihood, he says settlers threaten or attack him.
"I'm only afraid of them because they have weapons," Awaad says. "This is the only reason. Imagine if they didn't have weapons — we would smash their heads because we are a bigger number! We are not afraid of them. The fight will escalate and develop."....
Rest Is At the Link...
