Israel sends olive oil harvested in occupied West Bank as Memorial Day gift

Israel’s Defence Ministry gave out bottles of olive oil produced in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank as this year’s Memorial Day present, reported +972 Magazine.

The bottles, which are labelled as having been produced by Meshek Achiya, claim to be “Made in Israel”, however, the olives are harvested on land belonging to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian landowners, represented by the Israeli NGO Hakel filed a complaint to the Civil Administration, the arm of Israel’s military government that rules over the occupied West Bank.

READ: Nearly 1,600 trees vandalised by Israel settlers in the West Bank since start of 2020

The Civil Administration then issued six different eviction orders against Meshek Achiya between 2008 and 2012, including a demand to vacate privately-owned Palestinian land that the company had seized illegally.

Palestinian olive oil producers based in the occupied West Bank have faced enormous difficulties as Israeli authorities have confiscated or denied access to land, uprooted ancient trees and controlled water resources.

Over 800,000 Palestinian olive trees have been uprooted by Israeli authorities and settlers since 1967, according to research from the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.