In southern Lebanon, olive growers defy the Israeli threat.
On 14 November, an Israeli drone killed Yassin Bou Ghaith, who had returned to his land to harvest his olives.
Thanks to its ten olive trees, Kamela Choucair covers her family’s olive oil needs. But this year, she is not on her land. Her olive grove is located in Meis el-Jabal, a village two kilometers from the Blue Line, which, according to its mayor, A. Choucair, has been bombed by Israel more than 500 times since the beginning of the conflict since the start of the war between Hezbollah and Israel in October 2023. An ongoing war in this border area turned into an open conflict on September 23, when the Israeli air force went on the offensive in South Lebanon and Beqaa, forcing the 70-year-old to flee and leave behind her home, her village and her olive trees. Although many of the neighborhoods there have since been completely flattened, as satellite images show, that did not stop her from returning last month to harvest her olives.
“As long as my olives are standing, I won’t have to buy olive oil. We’re Southerners, we don’t do that.” When she picked her olives, she said she felt refreshed and energized.
As long as the harvest lasted, her children kept calling her. “They wanted me to come back, but I said ‘no, I will only come back with my harvest. A few days later, Kamela Choucair returned home safe and sound with her olives. But she was lucky. On November 14, one of her fellow villagers, Yassin Bou Ghaith, also went to his olive grove near Hebbariyé to pick his olives. The next day, in the middle of the harvest, an Israeli drone fired a missile at him, killing him.
Source : L’Orient Today / Ghadir Hamadi & Amelia Hankins, November 2024