Olive picking season has become a nightmare for Faqu’a citizens … Jenin Governorate

Location and population:

The village of Faqu'a is located in the north eastern corner of the West Bank and about 11 km east of Jenin city. Its lands border the green line in the upper part of the Jordan valley. It has a populationof 3200 inhabitants, mostlyworking in agriculture because of fertile lands and relative abundance of water.

Village area:

The village area is estimated at 36000 dunums, from which 28000 dunums were confiscated in 1948. For the construction of the segregation wall Israel has confiscated 458 dunums of land on which the Wall was built. The village built up area is only about 2000 dunums out of the total village area.

The village and the wall  

The average distance of the wall from the village houses ranges between 15-150 meters. The construction of the Wall has led to the uprooting of about 366 olive and almond trees. Another 1070 olive trees have been separated behind the Wall and became inaccessible to Palestinians. Two cisterns, each at a capacity of 100 m3 , were destroyed during the Wall construction.

Ever since the actual works started, the local people and farmers have become targets for daily Israeli harassments which included: verbal abuses, opening of fire, beating and killing of animals. The local people were also asked to stay 150 meters away from the fence.

Olive season losses

Last year, the Israeli occupation authorities refused to give the Palestinian farmers permission to pick their olives during the harvest time. Such permission was only given to farmers in the month of January, 2004, when it was too late. The duration of the permission was only for one and half day and, even, no vehicles were allowed in. The farmers found that 80% of olive harvest was spoiled under the effect of rain and overripe.

Picture 1- The Wall path crosses olive orchards in the north of West Bank – Photo courtesy of Al Quds Newspaper

This year, on the 20th of August, the Palestinian DCO informed the Faqu'a village council that all the lands located as far as 150 meter from the Wall path has been indefinitely announced a closed military zone by the Israeli army and forbidden for Palestinian use.

These lands are full of olive and almond trees. With the advent of the olive picking season, the people of Faqu'a are now wondering what to do about their crop which is due for picking in the middle of this month. Some of them told LRC field worker that the olive picking season.

Instead of being a wonderful experience for all family members as usual has become a nightmare for them because of the Israeli repressive policies on the ground. This suffering is shared by other farmers from different sectors who cannot tend their lands or sell their produce. The following is a list of land owners affected by the Israeli repressive measures: 

Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC