AS if it were not enough that Israel closed off the West Bank during the Jewish high holidays, preventing Palestinians from the occupied territories from entering Israel, a group of Jewish settlers in Hebron attacked Palestinians harvesting olives and the police response was to order the harvest to end. Apparently Israel feared disruption of Yom Kippur and Purim observances by Palestinians and barred them from entering during that time. As one owner of a small computer repair business said, “They go on holiday and so do we.” Unfortunately, the Palestinians had no reason to go on holiday and the results have been days of lost business, angry customers and further impoverishment of the Palestinian people as supplies, including computer parts, must come into the occupied territories through Israel. The lack of concern on the part of Israelis for the Palestinians suffering in the West Bank was only accentuated by the attacks on those picking olives. The olive harvest is of particular importance for many of those involved as it lays the foundation for their economic survival in the months following. The attack by settlers was designed to accomplish one thing: to make Palestinians suffer economically and make it even more difficult for them to put food on their tables and feed themselves and their children. Clearly, the settlers had no business interfering with the harvest (just as they have no business settling on land on the West Bank), but the police resolution of the incident was only further evidence of the official tack taken against the Palestinians. Even though the settlers provoked the incident, they were allowed to leave with no arrests being made. The Palestinians were ordered out of the area, as well, and told that the harvest had ended. Incidents such as these just serve to draw further into focus the Israeli lip service paid to the peace process and the treacherous mendacity with which Israel conducts its “diplomacy” vis-a-vis the people it has occupied for some 60 years. __
