a day at the farm

the farm we went to today was in the Hebron direction. it's surrounded by settlements and one of the outposts abuts the farm wall. for those of you who don't know, and I didn't before I came here, illegal settlements are all over the West Bank. they completely encircle Jerusalem and Bethlehem. they surround Hebron and these were the ones we saw today. once settlements are built, the Israelis encourage settlers to form outposts. an outpost may start as one or two caravans/mobile homes. in this case the outpost was designed to link two existing illegal settlements and would cut this farm off completely from other Palestinian farms. I'm trying to upload some images so you'll see what I mean. anyway this farm was one where the olive picking project had been for the last four years because of the aggression the farmer had had from the settlers. actually aggression is a bit too mild to describe this situation. four years ago the IDF came and threw a bomb into his house. his mother and brother were killed. the army wouldn't allow ambulances to come for three days so by the time they arrived it was a case of counting the bodies.

as well as olives, the family has grapes (which the women were picking whilst we were there), apples, pears and lots of vegetables. apparently they're always being asked to sell the land and of course say no. we were told that this land in the Bethlehem area would cost about 200,000 dollars but the Israelis were offering 2 million. anyway the family were delighted to see us and we set to. we picked all morning and then walked to the farmhouse for lunch which was simply delicious. a huge pot was brought out and upended onto a tray. the most delicious dolmades and stuffed courgettes. there were also homemade breads with minced spiced lamb on top, salad and yoghurt. I forgot we had a delicious pea or maybe lentil soup as well.

then back to the field to pick for the rest of the afternoon. we were joined by some young people who live in Amman and work for the UN. one of them is Palestinian and her mother lives in Bethlehem. whilst up a tree stripping olives (as you do) I told one of them about Blair and his encounter with the other group in Hebron and that it made CNN news. he was delighted and said although Blair visits the area often, he's virtually invisible.

the family were absolutely delighted to see N, my delightful Muslim travelling companion. it's rare that Muslims join the olive picking programme (why I don't know), and they made her feel incredibly welcome. we left them just after 4 and drove back to Bethlehem.

whilst we were doing this, about 7 others had travelled to a village close to Ramallah to join a demonstration that's taken place every Friday. they got back late this evening having been tear gassed and fired at with rubber bullets. I know a friend's also blogging and I'm sure describing the day in detail so as soon as I have the link I'll add it.