Mohamed Suleiman writes:

The last time Hajj Suleiman Abdel-Nabi witnessed a normal olive harvest was three years ago.

Days before the “ceasefire” went into effect on October 10, the 75-year-old farmer took a saw to what remains of his three-dunam (about three quarters of an acre) olive farm in southern Gaza’s Al-Mawasi area. Alongside the massive destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure wrought by Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, the toll on agriculture and farmland in the enclave has been equally devastating. With Gaza’s water resources severely depleted, half of Abdel-Nabi’s olive trees have dried up and died.

“Water became more precious than gold,” he says. “How can I ask for water for trees when people are dying of thirst?”

Israel’s war on Gaza that began in October 2023—at the height of the olive harvest—all but stopped in the same season with last week’s “ceasefire.” Over the past two years, nearly 68,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, in what is widely acknowledged to be a vast undercount, and entire cities and towns have been reduced to rubble. Israel’s siege and starvation campaign triggered a famine across much of the enclave. Despite the genocidal assault that devastated their crops and sent costs skyrocketing, Palestinian farmers in Gaza were still preparing for the olive harvest, even though there are barely any olives left to pick.

“The olive trees have become firewood now,” he said bitterly. “I feel pain with every cut—not just for the loss, but because these trees are life itself. For Palestinians, they are a symbol of steadfastness. When they die, it feels like another disaster.” [Continue reading…]