We, a group of about 15 internationals, 6 Israelis and around 200 Palestinians headed out into the fields of a small village in the Salfit region to pick olives from trees which were sandwiched between two settlements occupied by some very right wing militant settlers. We had secured an agreement with the army to 'protect' us for one day while we picked in these fields. So they sent four soldiers, who simply observed as a band of gun weilding fundamentalists rampaged across the fields intimidating families away from their trees. One of the settlers, a twentysomething American from New York, in between threatening to stab various internationals and Israelis tol! d us to take these Arabs to Saudi Arabia, where they belonged. The rest of the gang (7/8 young men) armed with automatic machine guns (standard settler regalia) were less vocal, simply pointed their guns at the Palestinians and told them to get back to the village. After about an hour of negotiations with the Police and army, the Palestinian/International/Israeli partnership managed to convince the police to disarm the settlers and order them home. The commanding soldier told us "Today you have won". If three media representatives and 15 international observers hadn't been there, there is no doubt about who would have 'won'. So on this day the Palestinians of Yasuf picked their olives from their trees. But what about other villages and other days, and next year. It's not just that they are prevented from picking -they cannot get out to these fields during the year to prune the trees and tend to the land as they should. Many families who we pick with are truly terr! ified of going to the fields near the settlements, and will only go if internationals accompany them (I'm not sure what they think we can do). One family who we picked with were tear gassed by the army -their trees are very close to the military base and they pick to the soundtrack of sporadic M16 gunfire. But they need the olives -they need a livelihood.