This summer, Dylan Jones, a 48-year-old woodworker, walked into an art gallery in his hometown of Caersws, Wales, and found himself drawn to a collection of photographs depicting the harvesting of olives in a small village in the West Bank. He observed grey skies and golden landscapes, men and women reaching up toward the branches of towering olive trees, and piles of purple olives nestled atop a large gray tarp, spread out on the ground.
The photographs were taken by Margaret Munyard, a retired therapist who lives in the nearby Welsh town of Llanidloes. Next to the photos were a series of write ups, detailing the significance of the olive harvest for Palestinians, the destruction of countless centuries-old olive trees by Israeli settlers and army forces in the West Bank, and the risks that farmers take to harvest their olives every year. “It has struck at the core of the Palestinian identity,” Munyard wrote in her captions. She also noted the role of “internationals,” referring to th..