Problems

Winter is quickly setting in and the olives have to be harvested as quickly as possible before they spoil. However this year many Palestinian families have been attacked while harvesting their crop by Jewish settlers who have taken over the land. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017576844&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Olives, as you read so often in the Bible, is the most important staple for the local people here. Without this year's harvest, the families will have no oil and food for the rest of the year.

However the settlers are provoking more trouble by moving into the olive groves of the Palestinians: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017576434&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull and now they're sending girls inside and occupy the land because it's less likely the soldiers will dare physically remove them.

Meanwhile Pope Benedict stood firm and said he will not visit Israel unless a plaque accusing Pope Pius XII for being silent in the face of the Nazi persecution of Jews be removed in an Israeli museum. The Church has always said Pope Pius remained relatively silent because any active intervention would have made the Holocaust worse. And Pope Pius did encourage priests and nuns at grassroots level to protect and save Jews - but Israeli right-wingers say "It's not enough". Now what does that mean? See http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017567342&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull However some Vatican circles and the Israeli statesman Shimon Peres insist this question of Pope Pius should not interfere with Benedict's visit. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017574500&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Well you can imagine the demonstrations in the streets and anti-Catholic feelings if the Pope decides to come.