The olive harvest season is underway throughout Yehuda and Shomron and while for most of us this is not a significant event, for residents of the yishuvim it signals the beginning of some difficult times.

The harvesting season has over many years been used and abused by Arabs to get very close to yishuvim, and there are countless cases in which intelligence officials later learned they farmers actually used their vantage point to photograph communities and make diagrams which were to be used in future terror attacks. In addition, they Arabs today are well aware of the media and judicial support they enjoy in Israel and they are quick to cut down trees and accuse “settlers” of vandalism attacks.

This was the case with the terrorists who murdered the Fogel family HY”D of Yitzhar. Despite that horrific murderous attack, which snuffed out the lives of most of a family, IDF authorities continue to permit the Arabs to harvest in areas that result in compromising security of the Jewish area residents.

That is not to say Jewish residents of Yehuda and Shomron never damaged or cut down Arab olive trees, but in many of the reported cases, it was later learned that Arabs and/or left-wing Israelis and left-wing activists from abroad perpetrated the act to advance their anti settlement agenda.

Just last week Arabs in the Sussia area of the Southern Hebron Hills district accused Jews of cutting down 50 olive trees. Representatives of the Rabbis for Human Rights organization were quick to respond to assist the Arabs against the persecution of the Jewish residents.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)