Palestinian farmers protest land restrictions as olive season nears

The protesters came from the villages of Araqa, Nazlat Zaid, Toura and Tarem, where farmers are especially affected by Israel’s barrier. They demonstrated near the fence, which separates them from their farmland, in anticipation for the upcoming olive harvesting season.

The protesters demanded Israeli authorities remove the crippling restrictions that stops them from entering their own lands on the other side of the fence, according to Palestinian Authority official news agency WAFA.

51 years of illegal occupation

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, committing various crimes against Palestinian civilians.

More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions considered illegal under international law.

Along with stealing land, occupying Israeli forces and settlers routinely torment Palestinians in various ways.

Earlier this month, the UN published a report which revealed the impoverished conditions in Palestine proves the extent to which Israel's policies of expanding the occupation debilitates Palestinians.

“Over the years, Israel established a complex matrix of controls over the Palestinian economy featuring a permit system, roadblocks, earth mounds, trenches, road checkpoints, road gates and the Separation Barrier”, the report said.

“The Occupied Palestinian Territory has the highest unemployment rate in the world, and women and youth are disproportionately impacted by the joblessness crisis. Construction of illegal Israeli settlements and annexation of Palestinian land accelerated. Gaza continues to slide on a path of de-development as a grave humanitarian crisis deepens,” the report added.

Last month, Israeli settlers vandalised Palestinian property in the village of Einabous, south of Nablus, reports said.

The settlers had slashed tires of a car in the village and painted racist slogans in the area, Ghassan Daghlas a Palestinian Authority official who monitors illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank said.