Dear Avaaz community,

A few days ago, an Israeli settler attacked me while I was harvesting olives. His random act of cruelty was just one small part of a much larger effort to drive us from our land.

They know the olive harvest is when we return to our fields. So they wait for that moment to strike: to beat us, burn our trees, or steal the few olives we can gather. Because under Israeli law, if we don’t return, they can claim our land.

The truth is, they keep doing it because no one stops them. The Israeli government fuels them, and they devour our lands like a slow fire. I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it on my skin. But after what they’ve done in Gaza, the world is finally watching. If those violent settlers were banned and sanctioned, this year’s harvest won’t be stained with our blood.

Join my call to sanction the violent settlers and share it with as many people as you can. From the heart of the Mediterranean, too weak to walk but strong enough to hope, 

شكراً من قلبي (Shukran min qalbi), thank you from my heart.

Afaf Abu Alia
Turmus Ayya, Occupied West Bank