Dear Zatoun Friends,

Undeclared Olive Harvest War

It is olive harvest season in Palestine.  Timing varies from region to region but begins about mid October and continues to late November.  Harvest the world over is a very busy time. And in less mechanized regions it is also a joyous family and community event when all are called to participate in a collective ritual.  This is perhaps foreign to people who live in urban areas with little direct connection to the land and its cycles.

But the under-20 and slightly older Palestinians are "armed" differently with access to the world via smartphone cameras and social media - a direct voice undreamt of by earlier generations. This plus a rapidly disappearing horizon of possibility in their future has lead the young to stand up. Of course Israel would not allow that and feels it is time to "mow the lawn" as they do in Gaza with bombs. It can't bomb the West Bank but it can declare open season on killing young Palestinians.

There are indications of a 3rd Intifada (uprising) as Palestinian resistance and Israeli clamp down and killing are at level not seen in 20 years.  This has terrible impacts as mobility is key to a successful harvest.  At present, Palestinians have to battle not only Israel and settlers but nature as well in a race against time before the olives are compromised or ruined by delay.

The articles below speak to this expanded undeclared war and  the climate in the West that enables this permissive killing attitude.

As always, visit these remarkable sites for excellent reporting, analysis and insight into Israel-Palestine. Please subscribe to newsletters from these stalwart and trusted sites:

• middleeasteye.net, electronicintifada.net, mondoweiss.net, palestinechronicle.com, 972mag.com, haaretz.com, aljazeera.com, ifamericansknew.org, palestinemonitor.org, middleeastmonitor.com, cjpme.org

Sincere apologies for the overwhelming list of articles but it is impossible to do otherwise to give a sense of news and developments in previous month. To help the reader focus we have listed items in broad categories:

About olive harvest

• Olive Harvest in Palestine: Could Oil Become Tears?
  
• Why are Israeli soldiers harvesting Palestinians’ olive groves?
• An olive harvest lynching
• Olive Harvest Season Begins amid Songs and Dance (photos)
  
• Settler attacks drive farmers to treetops
• 'We will stay here until Palestine is free,' farmer beaten by settlers

Current revolt in Palestine

• Is Palestine on the brink of a full-scale revolt?
• 'Who are the terrorists?': How a new Palestinian generation is fighting occupation
• Palestinians trapped in Nablus as Israeli army cracks down
• From cubs to lions: towards a new Palestinian Intifada
• Who are the Lions’ Den?
  
• Difficult Months Ahead: Why Israel is Afraid of the Lions' Den
• Strangers Behind the Trees: On the Death of Rayan Suliman and His Fear of Monsters

On the ground in Palestine

• Resisting Israeli Efforts to Displace Them, Palestinians Move Into Caves NYT
  
• Special Focus: Alarming Increase in Settler Attacks in OPT
  
• Israel’s Detention of Palestinian Minors: a Horror Show
• Top doctor says 'Arab womb' is overwhelming Israel with high birthrate
• Kahanism’s Raucous Return
• Israel keeps building settlements and Palestinians keep dying. Peace is impossible this way
• Palestinian leadership: Now the people must decide

Media / Lobby: news from here

• Palestine in the Elizabethan Era: Will Britain Atone for Its Sinful Policies
  
• How powerful is the Israel lobby?
  
• Katie Halper loses job at ‘The Hill’ after calling on progressives to dismantle Israeli apartheid
  • The Video That Got Me Fired: Israel IS An Apartheid State
    
• Palestinian journalists are under attack by Israel lobby groups for reporting the truth from Palestine
• Palestinian photog says ‘NYT’ fired him for expressing support for resistance
• The Israel Files: Wikileaks Docs Show Top Hollywood Producers Working with Israel to Defend its War Crimes
• Anti-Palestinianism makes the weaponization of antisemitism possible
• Rejecting NATO's Peace Prize: Palestinian NGOs are True Nobel Laureates
• Palestine advocates face ‘organized, funded intimidation,’ finds new report
  
  • Unveiling-the-Chilly-Climate (report in pdf)
• US senators refuse to let killing of Shireen Abu Akleh drop with Israel
• Anti-boycott laws are a dystopian nightmare
  

About the olive

• Olive Tree in Palestinian Culture
• Cultivating Resilience: Growing Olives in Palestine
• Palestinian Olive Trees – This Week in Palestine
• Olive production in Palestine (wikipedia)
  
• Olive tree, za'atar, cactus: Palestine's symbolic plants and their meaning

Of Cultural Interest

• Preserving a Palestinian Identity in the Kitchen - NYT
  
• The Women who made Palestinian history (pdf)
• Mo and Sabra: Hollywood discovers the Palestinian, while 'genderwashing' Israeli apartheid
• Laughing all the way to the West Bank: the blind Palestinian comedian tearing down barriers
• Decolonizing the Palestinian imagination‘
• If the Dead Could Speak’: Visiting a Gaza Family Living in a Graveyard (photos)

To stay informed, please subscribe to highly recommended newsletters: Palestine Deep Dive, Palestine Updates plus those from many of the daily online news sites.

Monthly photo essay - Palestine in Pictures: September 2022, a regular feature from Electronic Intifada, a pioneer news and anaysis site on Palestine.

Palestine Book Awards 2022 - Thursday, Nov-03 at 2 to 5p ET

Palestine Book Awards 2022 - Pre-launch Evening Tickets, Thu 3 Nov 2022 from 2 to 5p ET.  Book tickets here.

CJPME has launched a great collection of resources to use online or on the street

Canadians for Justice and Peace in Middle East continues its stellar solidarity work with more resources including posters, flyers, handouts and factsheets on Israel-Palestine. Visit here and here and much more to be found on informative and useful site.

Tell PayPal to Stop discriminating against Palestinians

Contrary to UN guidelines, PayPal operates in illegal Israeli
settlements, thereby serving Israeli settlers but not the Palestinians they live among. PayPal: make your service available to all the people of Israel and Palestine. Take minute to sign.

Palestinians call for Zara boycott after franchise in Israel supports racist MP

Joey Schwebel, a Canadian-Israeli dual national and chairman of Israel's Zara franchisee Trimera, hosted far-right MP Itamar Ben-Gvir and notorious anti-Palestinian lawmaker at his home in a campaign event in the lead-up to the Israeli election.  More...

Protect Hassan Diab from further injustice. Say NO to request for Hassan's re-extradition!

In 2014, Hassan was wrongfully extradited from Canada to France. After spending more than 3 years in prison, French judges found strong evidence that he was not in France at the time of the 1980 crime. He was released in 2018 and cleared of all allegations.  France wants to repeat this again!  Take minute to sign message to Trudeau.

Thank Jarmeet Singh (Federal NDP leader) and tell him not to succumb to anti-Palestinian smears

Jagmeet Singh has finally gotten with the party's rank and file support for Palestine human rights. After decades of NPD waffling and avoidance, Singh announced 14 points of support. Predictably he attracted the ire of Israel lobby.  Take minute to sign support for Singh.

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In the ups and downs of the journey, we wish love, justice and peace (in that order) to Palestine-Israel and the world.