A Palestinian woman harvests olives in the village of Kafr Ni'ma near the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Khaleel Reash, Maan Images)

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad joined West Bank farmers to pick olives Wednesday and slammed assaults by Jewish settlers on the harvesters as "terrorism."

Fayyad rolled up his shirt sleeves and climbed up a ladder to help an old woman pluck olives from her tree in Mazra al-Gharbiyeh, a village north of the West Bank city of Ramallah which is surrounded by Jewish settlements.

His visit was "a clear message that we are here to stay," the Palestinian premier said.

"The settlers being here in itself is illegitimate. And on top of that they engage in acts of violence against our citizens, particularly at this time of year when they pick olives, with all that the olive tree signifies to our people," Fayyad told Reuters.

"This is nothing short of terrorism by the settlers."

Fayyad said the olive tree was not only a source of income for most Palestinians, but more importantly a "symbol of the determination of the Palestinian people to stay on their land and to preserve and defend it."

About 300,000 Jews live in settlements built by Israel in occupied West Bank land captured in the 1967 Six Day war.

To read the full article please visit Reuters

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