Palestinian olive crops ruined by the zionists. by Average Jeff ?Saturday October 12, 2002 at 07:20 PM
	Olive groves have been bulldozed to build settlements
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October is the start of the olive picking season, but while this years' crop is large, output is expected to be low again as Palestinians are reluctant to harvest the fruit.
"Thousands of olive trees have been wiped out by the Israelis," Professor Hasan Abu-Libdeh, head of the PCBS told BBC News Online.
"Also, olives could not be harvested because the groves were declared security zones by the Israelis and farmers were being shot at by Jewish settlers," he said.
The Palestinian Authority's olive output, one of its most important agricultural products, was reduced by more than 80% in 2001, mainly due to Israeli military action. Figures released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) show that the amount of olives pressed in the Gaza Strip and West Bank fell from 126,147 tons to 22,155 tons.