Palestinians harvesting olives despite Jewish settler attacks

AQRABA, West Bank -- Thunder crashes like waves over mountains as Palestinian farmers pick olives in groves of gnarled trees, working quickly before the coming rains. But a greater danger threatens the once joyful harvest: violent attacks from Jewish settlers.

With horses, axes, rifles, stones and fire, Jews who've built outposts on nearby hilltops, disrupt work crucial to the survival of these hamlets, cutting and burning trees and beating Palestinian villagers.

"They want to take the land, to impoverish us," said Musla Jaber, a bearded man with a gash on the side of his head he says came from a rock hurled at him.

Palestinian villagers and human rights groups have reported daily harassment of olive pickers from Jewish settlers since the harvest began this month. After driving farmers away, the attackers have stolen ladders and sacks of the crop, and picked the fruit for themselves.

For Palestinians, who have seen their economy crumble since they launched an uprising two years ago, the monthlong olive harvest is a critical lifeline for many families.

It's central to their history and religion. The trees, with rough trunks twisted like knotted rope, are cited in the Muslim holy book, the Quran, as a blessing from God.

This year seems to have brought only curses.

Fleeing at moment's notice

Izzedine Jaber, 44, a plump man with a gold tooth and thin beard, is so scared when he goes into his olive grove that he keeps his dusty orange car nearby to speed away at the first crackle of a gun. Just over the next hill, he saw a friend shot dead.

More than 200,000 Jewish settlers now live in enclaves built in the hilly West Bank and seaside Gaza Strip -- lands where more than 3 million Palestinians live.

In two years of violence, Palestinian gunmen have killed more than 100 Jewish settlers, mostly in shooting attacks. Israeli settlers have been accused of killing about a dozen Palestinians and destroying property.

The Settlers' Council, an umbrella group that represents settlers, condemned violence against Palestinians, said spokesman Ezra Rosenfeld. But he said he believed the claims of attacks were exaggerated.

Israel's police have responded to a number of attacks on olive farmers, police spokes-man Gil Kleiman said.

However, he said, "It's very difficult to do due-process policing in a war zone."

Palestinians complain that Israeli security forces serve only the settlers.

"They can occupy all of our country and they can't protect one farmer going to his fields?" Palestinian Agriculture Minister Rafiq Al-Natshah said of the security forces.

On a recent afternoon, Riskala Jaber, a skinny man with torn clothing, hid for an hour just below a ridge with his brothers, watching settlers make off with sacks of olives.

With no other work, he needs to harvest olives to support a wife and five children. "Even if they try to kill me I'll still pick the olives," said the 27-year-old man, who looks much older and walks with a cane. "My eyes are always on the mountain."