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160 Gush activists reached Saturday at a far-away isolated olive grove, next to which a small group of settlers has set up an "outpost". The armed settlers have for a long time prevented the owners from approaching their grove, threatening to shoot them on sight.

In their despair, the villagers called the Gush for help, and it was decided to come there in force.

A call to the Israeli activists had amazing results: in spite of the obvious danger involved, the number of volunteers reached 160 already 48 hours before the action, and registration had to be discontinued.

It was the largest concentration of Israeli olive pickers on one spot yet. After long delays, lasting hours, the army allowed the activists to reach the grove, but under strict conditions: to remain far from the outpost, not to allow any Palestinians in - "so that the settlers won't see them".

However, dozens of villagers just broke into their long abandoned grove and started picking feverishly, together with the Israelis. Within a few hours of hard work, most of the olives were picked, the rest had to be abandoned with heavy heart. With the onset of the evening (and the Ramadan meal for Muslims, who had fasted during the day), the activists walked the long way back, only to find that the army was refusing to let the villagers take home the olives that had been picked.

In a spontaneous gesture, all 160 Israelis sat down on the road, blocking the army.

After half an hour, the army gave in, the olives got to the village accompanied by a Gush member and the Gush Shalom activists returned home, happy that a small but important victory had been won.

Gush Shalom activists, together with activists from several other peace organizations: (Ta'ayush", Women's Coalition for Peace and others), numbering more than 250, came on Saturday 19/10/02 to several villages in the Nablus area in order to act as "human shields" and join the Palestinians in picking their olives in the "dangerous" areas.

Dispersed on a wide area on the mountainside, around hundreds of trees, the activists gathered the olives in great haste, knowing that after their return home the villagers would be unable to reach these groves.

Settlers on the mountaintop tried to prevent the villagers and activists to come to the trees near them and opened fire.

After an hour the army arrived to "separate" the two sides, affirming that the settlers had the right to shoot, since picking olives was forbidden in these areas. Afterwards, eight Palestinians and two peace activists were arrested.