West Bank grove of olive trees cut

By Laurie Copans
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

EINABUS, West Bank — Men with chain saws destroyed Fawzi Hussein's olive grove overnight — 255 trees cut down at the trunks, fruit-laden branches wilting on a West Bank slope, at the height of the harvest season.

The suspected culprits: militant settlers who have been harassing Palestinian farmers for years, especially in the past three years of fighting. Human-rights groups say it's part of an attempt to drive Palestinians off their land.

The destruction of about 1,000 trees in three villages including Hussein's was unusually large-scale. It prompted an outcry in Israel, with settler rabbis calling it a sin and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promising to track down the vigilantes.

It also heightens fears that this kind of militancy — albeit of a tiny minority among the 220,000 Jews in the West Bank — is a harbinger of the resistance the Israelis could face if it tries to uproot settlements in a land-for-peace deal.

There have been hundreds of settler attacks, including rampages through Palestinian villages, since fighting broke out in 2000. A Palestinian human-rights group says 25 Palestinians have been killed by settlers in the past three years. Palestinian gunmen, in turn, have targeted settlements, killing dozens of residents.

Palestinian officials and Israeli opposition leaders say Israeli security forces are mostly choosing to ignore attacks by settlers, and are doing little to protect Palestinian civilians — one of the duties of an occupying power.

"Settlers succeed in murdering, uprooting trees and attacking Palestinians without the army and the police controlling them," said legislator Ran Cohen of the dovish Meretz party.

Police say they have established a special unit and filed 85 indictments in 2003. Spokesman Doron Ben-Amo says attacks have dropped from 350 last year to 192 this year, suggesting "maybe the settlers are beginning to understand that there are laws."

Hussein, the olive farmer, is from the village of Einabus near Nablus. His grove is near Yitzhar, a Jewish settlement known for its militancy.

Police say they are trying hard but lack the staff to protect all farmers at all times. Military officials say farmers are offered escorts on request, but few Palestinians respond. After 36 years of occupation, many Palestinians distrust the Israeli authorities.

The military itself has uprooted tens of thousands of trees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past three years, usually in areas from which attacks on Israelis were launched.

West Bank farmers say they mainly fear settlers.

Hussein, 55, a father of 14, said he rarely went to his grove until the harvest began last month.

Yehoshua Mor-Josef, a spokesman for the Settlers' Council, said militants are blackening his entire community "with this horrible thing of cutting down olive trees."

Zvi Berenstock, the secretary of Yitzhar, said he did not know if members of his community were involved, but said settlers have to defend their communities, claiming Palestinians disguised as farmers attacked Jews from groves.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he knew of three incidents in the past 18 months in which Palestinian militants used cover in olive groves but none in which they posed as farmers.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company