22/10/2008

By Haaretz

http://www.haaretz.com
October 22, 2008

As happens every Sukkot holiday, tens of thousands of Israelis accepted the Jewish National Fund's invitation to take their families to visit olive groves across the country. Many participated in the harvest celebrations and heard the tale of the olive tree, the symbol of peace. And as happens every year when the olive harvest begins, dozens of youths set out from the settlements and outposts to the olive groves of the West Bank to confront their Palestinian neighbors. They also threatened human rights activists who volunteered to help the harvesters and beat a photographer who came to document the Sukkot riots.

The Torah - which was the focus of yesterday's holiday celebrating the conclusion of the annual reading cycle and its renewal - reminds the people of Israel that they were foreigners in Egypt, and prohibits them from exploiting foreigners, orphans or widows. But enlightened religious laws like these are, themselves, foreign to the spirit of the hooligans who wear large skullcaps and dare to call themselves Torah-observant Jews.

They have been stealing the land of powerless farmers for decades and do not recoil from stealing the fruit of these farmers' humble land. A society that declares its longing for peace cannot accept such malicious Jewish terror against innocent Palestinian civilians.

One could have expected the settler leaders, including important rabbis, to more vehemently condemn their Jewish neighbors, who personify the occupation in all its ugliness. But it is the occupation authorities who are tasked with the moral and formal responsibility for the well-being of the Palestinian population. All the attacks have taken place in areas B and C, which the Oslo Accords placed under Israel's sole security responsibility. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was completely correct when he said, early this week, that Israel has failed in its duty and has not defended Palestinian farmers from the settlers.

The security forces know the identity of the leaders of the rioters and know where the clashes take place - in the southern Hebron Hills, Tel Rumeida and central Samaria. The timing of the harvest isn't exactly a military secret, either. Nonetheless, this year, too - as every year - fairly small groups manage to reach the olive groves, where they beat, steal and then return home safely. There's no need to guess how the security forces would have dealt with Palestinians or peace activists who dared raise a hand against a settler; just visit the anti-fence protests in Bil'in or Na'alin.

Ehud Barak, the minister responsible for the Israel Defense Forces, which is sovereign in the territories, gave an interview with Army Radio on Monday condemning the harassment of the harvesters, and said the army was deploying with "supreme efort" to allow the harvest to take place. Nonetheless, the defense minister hid behind the dubious excuse that "there are hundreds of sites, and it's impossible to be everywhere at once." It would be interesting to see how Barak would react to such an excuse if it were given by Palestinians discussing possible harm to settlers or IDF soldiers. In the same interview, Barak said the Palestinian leadership is incapable of making the decisions necessary to reach a final-status agreement.

Instead of vilifying the Palestinian decision-making ability, it would have been better if the politician tapped to become the senior-most deputy prime minister were to make a decision to enforce law and order in his jurisdiction and allocate the resources necessary to do so. The Israel Police and Shin Bet security service also should not tolerate settlers' shameful attacks on olive harvesters.