Yet Another West Bank Tragedy

 Aysam Jihad Labib Naser, 13,died Nov 11, one month after Israeli forces attacked his family while they were harvesting olives. 

“If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?

Deuteronomy 20:19 NRSVue 

Earlier this month this West Bank boy died after inhaling tear gas a few weeks earlier. He had encouraged his mother to sit in the shade of the trees while he harvested. As I have noted before there have been relentless attacks and violence perpetrated on the Palestinians of this territory. Extremists from Jewish settlements have beend emboldened due to the conflict of the past two years but this has been going on for decades, often with the protection of the Israeli military. When the Palestinians resist on their agricultural land and in their orchards they run the very real risk of reprisals by the military, including the use of tear gas.

 I have been reluctant to note that the attacks are orchestrated by those living settlements in the West Bank deemed illegal by many countries, includiing Canada. My reluctance to describe this stems from the rise of anti-semitism around the world. Yet these desuctive incidents are usually carried out by those who insist that they have a right to take over this land and drive out Palestinians justified by their  interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures. In my estimation this is a distortion of the bible and a disgrace to the spirit of justice in Judaism. There are lots of Jews who agree, including Israeli citizens. Some have travelled into the West Bank to help with the harvest and act as human rights monitors. 

The escalation of violence has been condemned by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee who has described violence by illegal Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as “terrorism." The ambassador said Israeli authorities are seeking to bring those accountable to justice. “Those who are committing acts of terror, even if they are Israelis, they are going to feel the full force of the law.” More than 1,076 Palestinians have been killed, and 10,700 others injured in attacks by the army and illegal settlers in the occupied territory since October 2023. 

                                                     Destroyed Olive Tree in the West Bank 

Of course, while Huckabee makes these statements and Israeli PM Netanyahu essentially agrees with him the number of incidents rises and the IDF is often on the scene, turning a blind eye to the violence.  At times IDF bulldozers have razed hundreds of olive trees with little or no justification. 

A spokesperson for the organization Defense for Children International -- Palestine (DCIP) said: 

“Aysam should have been able to pick olives with his family in peace, and instead Israeli forces targeted him and his family with deadly force,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Targeting a child who poses absolutely no threat to a soldier’s life is shockingly routine for Israeli soldiers, who are never held accountable for killing Palestinian children.”

As the grandfather of an almost 13-year-old grandson Aysam's death is particularly poignant. I am also appalled that the harvests that feed Palestinian people who are struggling with food insecurity and malnutrition. How is this not genocide? How can anyone believe that this is what God would desire or bless? Enough.