Olive harvest season threatened by the Wall, military restrictions

Hundreds of Palestinian farmers in the Palestinian Plaines areas, in West Bank's Jordan Valley region, are still deprived from reaching their farmlands, and olive orchards, since their lands are near or behind the Annexation Wall, an issue which threatens to cause the loss of the entire olive harvest season.

Resident "Abu Hamid" said that he owns ten Dunams mainly planted with Olive trees but he cannot reach his orchards unless he receives a special permit from the Israeli military headquarters in the area, which is a difficult issue that ends with rejections in most cases.

Abu Hamid added that since the construction of the Annexation Wall, he and all other farmers, became unable to plant their lands or harvest them.

"We depend on farming, agriculture, as our only source of livelihood, but the occupation is not allowing us to reach our lands", he stated, "We applied for permits to enter our own lands, but we are still waiting, nothing is happening".

The Palestinian Plaines area is under strict military measures and siege, the army also annexed huge areas of agricultural lands for settlement construction and for the construction of the Annexation Wall. The remaining lands are located in areas that are close to the Wall and the farmers are not allowed to enter them. More....