Meretz supports Palestinian olive harvest

On Wednesday, October 22, the Young Meretz and Meretz Students divisions of the Meretz party sent volunteers to the West Bank to help with the Palestinian olive harvest.

Ido Porat of Young Meretz related that the volunteers worked in an orchard owned by a family from Abu Salman, a West Bank village. The village is located to the east of the separation barrier, but the olive orchard is to the barrier's west, making the land almost inaccessible to the family. Far from an isolated occurrence, this separation of Palestinian farmers from their land creates immense difficulty for both the individuals and the Palestinian economy as a whole (click here for details - loads slowly).

Porat explained: "Only the head of the clan received a permit [from the military] to [cross the barrier and] work the harvest, but no one else was allowed, which makes the harvest an impossible mission," for the family. Meretz, together with volunteers from the Harvest Coalition and Machsom Watch, stepped in and contributed the labor that allowed the family to continue making a living.

Additional harvest support efforts are planned, Porat noted.
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