Burin, olive harvest
We arrived to visit D. and harvest olives. We met in the olive grove below Yizhar. The trees haven’t a great deal of fruit, but what there is must be picked. The interesting, intimate conversation took place while we were eating. D. told us about the damage caused by the settlers and the arson of some 1200 olive trees, including 250 belonging to her. The grove belonged to her grandfather who was no longer living. She said that she’s been unable to bear children for 13 years, since the time she had a miscarriage during a demonstration against the army and the settlers after soldiers pushed her to the ground. She told us about her family: the son who has been living many years with her sister, and about her daughters. When we asked what is most important to her, she said the land. Even more than the children, we asked? She replied she’d been a fellah before she’d had children. Soldiers had killed her father when she was five years old and her family had survived in poverty with great difficulty. She’d worked in the fields since she was 13 years old. She’s dreamed all her life about her father, to sit in his lap; she’d been jealous of all the children who had a father. She sends her daughter to university and supports her studies. Her other daughter is also preparing for the matriculation exam. That’s why they didn’t join us harvesting. The son, who wasn’t interested in school, came with us.
When we left we encountered a small group of olive harvesters. The man is a member of the Burin local council, and she’s a member of Huwwara’s council. They’d finished harvesting and invited us to their home for coffee and to talk. We had to decline because we were in a hurry, but we’ll try to meet with them next time.
Burin (Yitzhar)
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Burin (Yitzhar)
This is a Palestinian village in the Nablus governorate, a little south of Nablus, on the main road passing through the West Bank. The settlements: Yitzhar and Har Bracha, settled in locations that surrounded the village, placed fences so it is cut off the main road.
There are around 4000 inhabitants. Most of them are engaged in agriculture and pasture, although many graduates of the two secondary schools continue to study at the university. Academic positions are hardly available, they find work as builderd, or leave for the Gulf countries.
The village lands were appropriated several times for the establishment of Israeli settlements and military bases, and as a result, Burin's land and water resources dwindled. lSince 1982, more than 2,000 dunams of village land have been declared "state land" and then transferred to Har Bracha settlement.
Over the past few years and more so since 2017, the villagers have been terrorized by the residents of Yitzhar and Har Bracha, the Givat Ronen outpost and others. Despite the close proximity of soldiers to an IDF base close to one of the village's schools, residents are suffering from numerous stone-throwing events, vehicle and fire arson, also reported in the press.
In 2023, the prevention of the olive harvest in the village plot was more violent than ever. Soldiers and settlers walked with drawn weapons between the houses of the village and demanded that people stop harvesting in the village itself and in the private plots outside the village. The settlers from Yitzhar and Giv'at Roned raided the olive groves and stole crops. 300 olive trees belonging to the residents of Burin, near Yitzhar, were uprooted. The loss of livelihood from the olives causes long-term economic damage to the farmers' families, bringing them to the point of starvation.
(updated for November 2023)
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