 November 2002
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Picking Olives for Peace This report by Yaakov Manor, sent by Israeli peace activist Gila Svirsky of Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org, about an Oct. 3 peace action in Kfar Yassuf is typical of many Peacework has received in recent weeks about similar incidents across Palestine. In the wake of ongoing attacks by settlers from Tapuah against the residents of the nearby Palestine village of Kfar Yassuf, and following several recent shooting incidents and the theft of olives, we decided to quickly organize help with the harvest. This action was called by Rabbis for Human Rights and the Israel Committee Against Home Demolitions, but activists from many organizations joined in... The first thing we saw at the entrance to the village were mounds of dirt and boulders blocking the road and forcing villagers to walk several hundred meters from the road to their homes, often carrying heavy packages. The next thing was graffiti: "Death to Arabs." At the entrance to the village, hundreds of residents met and welcomed us, and many more joined as we walked through the village. We quickly went to the olive orchard near the Tapuah settlement where the olive groves had been raided by settlers. Palestinian villagers and Israeli peace activists set to work at once with great energy out of fear, soon confirmed, that we would soon be interrupted by settlers and security forces. At first, about 15 soldiers and police stood on the hill between us and the settlement, and allowed us to continue the harvest. A short while later, some 20 settlers gathered above us, some of them armed. The settlers began to advance toward us shouting and cursing. At that point, the senior officer approached and requested that we leave the hillside to avoid clashes. Since we had almost completed the harvest in that location, we complied. A short while later, the district army commander arrived and demanded that we entirely evacuate the area on the grounds that it was a 'closed military zone‚' After discussing this with the villagers, we agreed to leave out of concern for their welfare.
Our request that the security forces disperse the settlers and
allow the villagers to complete their harvest was jeeringly denied.
"Let them harvest their olives when there's a Palestinian
state," said the commander. 
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