Lebanon’s lost olive season: harvesting olives under drones and warplanes
Lebanese olive farmers in southern regions are harvesting their crops under the constant watch of Israeli drones and warplanes, with many facing restricted access to their land and the ever-present danger of unexploded ordnance.
Beirut, Lebanon – Every year, Khaled Farhat tends to his olive trees in the southern village of Majdel Selm, a task carried out year after year amid the din of war. This year, reaching his olive grove, which is just a 20-minute drive from the border with Israel, is more complicated due to the ongoing Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.
His town of Majdel Selm lies just north of Israel's "Yellow Line", below which the Israeli military is demolishing homes and local infrastructure. To reach his land, Farhat had to request access from his local municipality, which forwarded the request to the Lebanese Army.
Occupation and destruction
American University of Beirut's Ramy Zurayk, a professor specialising in landscape design and ecosystem management, said the widespread damage to farms and buildings in southern Lebanon, along with restrictions on movement, is an attempt by Israel to make the area "sterile".
Lebanon's Environment Minister Tamara Elzein said more than 16,000 hectares (about 40,000 acres) of land have been torched since Israel began bombing, and later invading, Lebanon in October 2023, including through the use of white phosphorus, a highly flammable substance.
Israel continues to occupy nearly 630sq km (243sq miles) of southern Lebanon, which includes swaths of farmland and dozens of villages. Many of the border areas' olive trees have been burned to the ground or uprooted by Israeli bulldozers.
Access restrictions and dangers
Israel has placed tight restrictions on Lebanese farmers' access to their land, which has cost them their crops. Farhat said he was given just a two-week window to work his land, and the neglect of his farmland is already evident.
"Usually, there shouldn't be any weeds. But since the time for tilling and clearing the land happened during our displacement, we weren't able to clear it. The land remained as it was because we couldn't reach it," Farhat explained.
Farmers and landowners said working their lands in the south is rife with unexploded ordnance, including from cluster bombs. In early October, at least two people were killed in olive groves in south Lebanon by Israeli artillery fire and exploding ordnance.
There is a constant fear of being targeted [by Israeli attacks], especially in areas near the sites of attacks, as well as the risk of encountering cluster bombs or other remnants of war, which pose a grave danger to human life.
Long-term contamination
Explosives have been a recurring problem for farmers in southern Lebanon since the final days of the 2006 war, when Israeli forces dumped cluster bombs containing between 2.6 and four million submunitions in the area.
According to a 2022 Lebanese Mine Action Center report, the government announced that much of the contaminated land had been cleared, with only 5 million square metres remaining contaminated. However, since October 2023, the situation has become more complex.
Hiba Ghandour, Lebanon's programme manager for the Mines Advisory Group, said MAG had identified 444,000sq metres of confirmed hazardous areas for farmers, but with research still ongoing, this figure is likely to rise significantly.
Economic necessity and hope
Despite these dangers, Lebanon's dire economic situation has pushed many Lebanese to work their lands out of necessity. Political analyst Bassel Doueik told Al Jazeera that many Lebanese citizens have been harassed by Israeli forces and barred from harvesting their olive trees.
The widespread use of white phosphorus has led some Lebanese to hesitate buying produce from the south over concerns that it could be exposed to hazardous chemicals. However, Zurayk said the panic was unfounded and there was no evidence that any of the olives or other produce from south Lebanon was dangerous to consume.
For many in Lebanon, harvesting olives is serious work but also an opportunity for families to come together. This year, due to the threat of Israeli attacks, many will leave their children and other relatives behind when they head to their crops.
"People hear that the situation is dangerous, they hear that there is shelling, but for someone who is actually in the midst of the shelling, or living under it, it is certainly a different experience," Farhat said. "Still, thank God, hopefully, this is just a phase that will pass."
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