Hiba Ghandour and her husband had been having the identical argument for days.
At stake was the modest olive grove she inherited in Lebanon’s village of Arnoun, in Nabatieh governorate, which is on the centre of renewed Israeli attacks which might be flouting the one-year-old ceasefire.
Their 10 trees will barely produce greater than just a few bottles of oil, but for the family, they hold roots deeper than their harvest.
With the fruit hanging heavy on the branches – and only just a few days left until it will spoil – Hiba’s husband was determined to travel to the village.
She refused, arguing that the realm is unsafe amid Israel’s wave of airstrikes on the south and north of the country.
‘I keep telling my husband, “Who knows what could occur if you go to Arnoun. It shouldn’t be definitely worth the risk,”‘ she tells Metro, days before he eventually made the trip – in secret – successfully picking the fruit.
‘We are able to survive without the olives… it’s more concerning the sentimental value. For my husband, they’re an emblem of something. He planted them along with his own hands. He took care of them, nourished them.’
As programme manager with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in Lebanon, Hiba understands higher than most the hazards of harvesting olives in land still affected by unexploded ordnance (UXOs) from the 2023-2024 war.
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For the reason that ceasefire on November 27, 2024, the UK-based charity has to this point cleared an estimated 548,111 square metres of olive groves from shrapnel, cluster munitions and other deadly weapons, declaring them secure.
Clearing olive groves
From a hilltop within the southern village of Kfarmelki, 15 miles from the border with Israel, Metro watches as deminers in blast-resistant armour, carrying metal detectors, move from one patch to a different.
Thus far, they’ve uncovered and destroyed 180 cluster munitions, a lot of which were scattered within the olive groves stretching ahead, so far as the attention can see.
Until the ceasefire, around 90% of individuals within the village had fled due to the bombardments – but many made the perilous journey back to envision on their homes and farmland, despite warnings of UXOs.
Hiba says: ‘People need any source of income, and this [olive trees] is their livelihood, so it’s difficult to show them secure behaviour.
‘That is one in all the challenges that our community faces. The second is within the clearance itself since you are not looking for to wreck anything.
‘God forbid you damage a tree. God knows what is going to occur. Even when MAG takes all of the measures, sometimes accidents would occur. So it is rather, very dangerous.’
Mohamad Sewan, the self-declared ‘best baker’ in Kfarmelki, had fled to a village near the town of Saida, but travelled every two to a few days to see if his bakery was still intact.
‘Alhamdullilah, nothing was damaged,’ he confirms, while loading the oven with Lebanese flatbread to bake.
But his olive grove was contaminated and multiple UXOs were discovered by MAG deminers.
Still with a smile on his face, Mohamad says: ‘The entire crop was wasted. I used to supply 37 tanks of olive oil. This 12 months, I didn’t even collect one tank.
‘I also used to cultivate 32 boxes of sumac but this 12 months, it was poisoned.’
Ahmad Darwish, the previous head of Kfarmelki, knows all too well concerning the loss people have endured.
He greets us on the gate of his olive mill as his eyes linger on the now idle presses.
For the primary time in 19 years, because the 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, he made the inconceivable decision to not pick the fruit because of how contaminated the land is.
After spending a lifetime coaxing oil from his land, Ahmad’s livelihood has again been paralyzed. So is the case for the employees he employs.
He says: ‘Returning to Kfarmelki was challenging and to this present day, many individuals fear accessing their lands [because of UXOs].
‘Currently, it’s the olive season, and lots of families’ livelihoods depend upon the olive harvest entirely.
‘Almost yearly, farmers within the village would produce between 10,000 and 15,000 tanks of olive oil.’
For a lot of them, what is going to come next stays uncertain.
Israel’s decades-long pattern of attacks on olive trees not only in Lebanon, but in addition the West Bank, is sort of a dagger through the hearts of the farming families.
Across the south, greater than 60,000 trees burnt in Israeli airstrikes between 2023 and 2024, Lebanese agriculture minister Abbas Hajj Hassan warned in a report from March last 12 months, but since then the number has risen much more.
Among the many hardest hit areas have been the Nabatieh, South Lebanon, and Bekaa governorates – which might be wealthy in ancient and recent groves – and together account for around half of the country’s olive oil production.
Hiba says: ‘There is commonly a stronger response to olive trees being destroyed than people’s own homes.
‘We see the frustration and the lack of hope – though I don’t even know if I should say that word anymore, “hope” – due to what people have lost.’
Contaminated harvests
Each Mohamad and Ahmad tell Metro that this 12 months’s harvest was already ‘doomed’ due to the impact of strikes on the environment.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented Israel’s widespread deployment of white phosphorus munition in populated areas, which is banned by UN convention.
Besides severely wounding people by sticking to their skin and clothing, it has long-term effects on the water and air, including poisoning the soil.
For people within the south, purchasing olives is sacrilegious. In spite of everything, they’re the backbone of their economy, and inherent to their culture.
In order that they persist, unwrapping vast nets under heavy olive branches to catch the ripe fruit.
This can also be the case along the Blue Line, the temporary boundary drawn by the UN after Israel pulled out of south Lebanon in 2000, which has change into practically inaccessible because of continuous clashes.
Throughout October, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and United Nations peacekeepers carried out 40 deployments to guard farmers during their olive harvests.
Major general Paul Sanzey, from UNIFIL, said: ‘This 12 months’s harvest holds particular significance, as olive picking in several areas in South Lebanon had not been possible since 2022 because of hostilities.’
Prior to the conflict, agriculture was vital for Lebanon’s food security, and played an important role in sustaining rural livelihoods, particularly for ladies.
The World Bank estimates that the damage to the sector is value around £60 million, with severe impact on infrastructure, livestock, fisheries, crop production and irrigation systems.
The Nabatieh governorate suffered probably the most damage – around £32 million – followed by the South governorate and Bekaa governorate.
Until the land is secure – each from UXOs and environmental damage – people could have to by some means make the inconceivable alternative whether to desert their crops to rot.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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