Extremist Jews Damage Palestinian Olive Trees

[SecularMotion]

IRAQ BURIN, West Bank (AP) — Extremist Jews ripped off branches and cut the roots of Palestinian olive trees in the West Bank village of Burin, residents said Saturday, as the yearly harvest of the important crop begins.

The attack came at the beginning of the 45-day Palestinian olive harvest. It's traditionally a time of heightened violence, as a minority of extremist Jews tries to provoke Palestinians.

Some two dozen men from a nearby Jewish settlement damaged the trees in Burin after they tried to attack Palestinians bulldozing an access road to their fields, said Bilal Eid, who witnessed the incident.

"The settlers began cutting the trees, trying to kill the roots. They are trying to scare us," Eid said. The damage could kill the trees, which were meant to be harvested this week, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/09/world/middleeast/AP-ML-Israel-Palestinians.html?hp

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Winning hearts & minds

both in the occupied territories & around the world. What next - poisoning wells? Good way to ensure acrimony for generations.

[the other one]

2. I think the word Israeli would be more appropriate than Jew

in this context.

[azurnoir]

3. I agree with your statement albeit in the media these days

settlers are rarely referred to as Israeli, the lone exception that I can think of is when 4 settlers were attacked and killed o the West Bank last month then suddenly they were Israeli's and depending on the publication it was 4 or 5 because the women was pregnant.

The story is full euphemisms though as here it is milder though

"His rival, Salam Fayyad, wrapped a traditional peasant's scarf around his head and climbed a ladder to pick olives in the West Bank village of Iraq Burin "

I think they're referring to a keffiyah

[oberliner]

4. "They" would be Nasser Ishtayeh

And what exactly are you saying is the reason for his use of the phrase "traditional peasant's scarf" rather than keffiyeh?

[azurnoir]

5. code words in the media today the use of Arabic terms frequently

denotes some relationship to terrorism and keffiyah is Arabic or alternately perhaps he was talking down to audience

but thanks for your diligence again in digging for sources as the NTY article is credited to AP, do you feel that the author of piece having an apparently Arab name has to do with the reference to Jews rather than other terms

[oberliner]

6. Code words? Seriously?

That seems a little paranoid to me - no offense intended.

I think he may have used the phrase instead of the word because people might not know what the word means.

I wonder if you can email the author and ask him.

Also, I think that his name suggests that he himself probably knows what a keffiyeh is.

As to why the word Jews rather than Israelis was used in this article, your guess is as good as mine.

[azurnoir]

7. yes code words an example is the word martyr which means

someone who died for cause usually religious, however wen it is used for a Muslim it generally is accepted as denoting intent to kill rather than to be killed

[oberliner]

8. Who is sending the code and who is receiving it?

I'm not sure what you are suggesting here.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. I don't think Az is talking about sending code...

They're talking about code-words. As I understand it from the times I've seen it referred to it here, it's using a less nasty word to hide true feelings. For example, I've seen some people claim that Israel is a code-word for Jew and that criticism of Israel is actually voicing hatred of Jews. Not one for code-word crap myself, I figure if you can't say it upfront then it shouldn't be said at all...

[azurnoir]

11. I think VC explained it quite wll but I will give another example

perhaps one you'll better understand "Zionist Entity" which is 2 words which are code for Israel albeit an antisemtic one

[oberliner]

12. So what is the implication of writing "traditional peasant's scarf" rather than keffiyeh?

Would this be a case of the "code word" deliberately not being used?

[azurnoir]

13. I have already explained that and gave 2 possibilities as to

why the author said "traditional peasant's scarf" rather than keffiyeh

[oberliner]

14. Which possibility do you favor?

Or is either one equally likely?

[azurnoir]

15. either is possible n/t

[Ken Burch]

9. True. But forum rules require that the headline of the original article

be used as the thread title, word for word.

[provis99]

20. are you implying Arab-Israeli's ripped the braches off?

If not, then it is entirely correct to blame Jewish-Israelis, rather than Arab-Israelis. Noting they were Jewish settlers is also an indicator of why they did it.

[Violet_Crumble]

16. Palestinians: Settlers attacked our olive trees

Fall olive harvest presided over by soldiers and solidarity activists, but extremists managed to damage a dozen trees, villagers say.

Settlers ripped off branches and cut the roots of Palestinian olive trees in the West Bank village of Burin, residents said Saturday, as the yearly harvest of the important crop begins.

The attack came at the beginning of the 45-day Palestinian olive harvest. It's traditionally a time of heightened violence, as a minority of extremist settlers attempt to provoke Palestinians.

Some two dozen men from a nearby Jewish settlement damaged the trees in Burin after they tried to attack Palestinians bulldozing an access road to their fields, said Bilal Eid, who witnessed the incident.

"The settlers began cutting the trees, trying to kill the roots. They are trying to scare us," Eid said. The damage could kill the trees, which were meant to be harvested this week, he said.

A military spokeswoman said Israeli forces ordered the settlers to leave.

Spokespeople for Jewish settlers did not respond to telephone calls, most likely because it would violate Sabbath rules of work.

The olives are a staple of Palestinian cooking, used for food and oil. Palestinians are sensitive about any damage done to their trees, which can live for hundreds of years. The olive tree is also viewed as a symbol of the Palestinians determination to remain in their homeland.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/palestinians-settlers-attacked-our-olive-trees-1.318030

[txaslftist]

17. Extremist seems a strong word for something

that is pretty much widely accepted policy.

[Shaktimaan]

18. what is widely accepted policy?

destroying Palestinian olive trees?
It certainly is not.

[txaslftist]

19. Sure it is.

Oh, I'm not saying it's "official" policy, but it's policy. It's a way to make the Palestinians insecure economically, encroach on the land they live off of, deny them compensation, take them to Israeli courts and legally steal their land, etc, etc.

It's about creating facts on the ground to move their borders ever-inward until they don't have anything left. Ethnic cleansing, Israel style.

If you don't want to believe that this is Israel's policy, listen to the Israelis speak. If you want to believe that this is their policy, watch what they do.