Nablus / Amin Abu Wardeh - Dozens of villagers in the eastern Nablus town of Salem are at the mercy of a phone call from Israeli soldiers. In what has become a daily occurrence, the occupying army stationed at the Al Turabi corridor not only searches farmers en route to harvest olives, but also takes their numbers.

Vast olive groves are on Palestinian lands now blocked by a bypass road linking the Israeli settlements of Itamar and Elon Moreh.

It is from this point, where farmers must begin walking to their fields, that Israeli soldiers call them at 3:30 pm with a mandate to return before the days work is complete.

Photographer Nasser Ishtayeh described taking phone numbers as a new form of oppression. “They are given very specific times in which they are allowed to harvest olives.”

Salem Village Council member, Jaafar Ashtiyeh, said that large parts of the village lands are unreachable. “Many owners are prevented from harvesting their crop because of the restrictions imposed on them, especially with the Jewish holidays and with more areas closed under military order as the settlements expand.”

The local official added that dozens of families are entirely dependent on their olive crops this year due to the work stoppage within the Green Line.

Khalid Mansour of the Public Action Committee for the Defense of Land said that the harvest is further disrupted this season “because of the intensification of bloody attacks by settlers that do not depend on the clock.”

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