Where are the Arab governments?
Where are the ministries of agriculture, farmers’ unions, chambers of commerce, and Arab development funds?
Has the Arab world’s response to Palestinian farmers been reduced to issuing another statement of condemnation after their land and harvest have been stolen?
Why are there no large-scale Arab initiatives to protect the olive harvest, compensate affected farmers, finance the replanting of destroyed agricultural land, and purchase Palestinian agricultural products at fair prices?
And Where is the International Agricultural Community?
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, humanitarian agencies, and international partners already provide assistance and protective accompaniment to some Palestinian farmers.
But these efforts remain insufficient to stop the attacks or guarantee farmers safe access to their land.
What is the meaning of discussing food security and sustainable agricultural development when a farmer is prevented from reaching his own land at gunpoint?
Palestinian farmers do not simply need new saplings after their old trees have been destroyed.
They need real protection, proper documentation of abuses, accountability for perpetrators, and effective international pressure to halt settlement expansion and land seizures.
And the Most Dangerous Part is That Preventing the Harvest is Only One Part of the Problem.
When a farmer is prevented from accessing his land season after season, cultivation and maintenance become impossible.
Eventually, the land may be abandoned, making it increasingly vulnerable to seizure.
That is where the real catastrophe lies:
What begins with the theft of a harvest can end with the loss of the land itself.
In Palestine, the Olive Tree is Not Just an Agricultural Crop.
It represents history, identity, generations of family memories, and roots deeply embedded in the land.
It is a disgrace that harvesting olives has become an activity requiring international protection, while an Israeli settler can access land that its Palestinian owner is prevented from entering.
Palestine does not need another round of sympathetic statements.
Palestinian farmers need to return to their land, harvest their olives, and live from the work of their own hands without fearing that they will lose their lives, homes, or property.
And if the international community cannot even protect a farmer carrying a basket of olives, then what kind of international justice are we talking about?!