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South Lebanon Farmers Brave Israeli Fire to Harvest Olives

Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)
Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)
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South Lebanon Farmers Brave Israeli Fire to Harvest Olives

Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)
Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)

Farmer Ghassan Hassan and his laborers have been toiling tirelessly to harvest olives in fields near Lebanon's southern border, undeterred by nearby Israeli bombings and the whirr of surveillance aircraft.

Olive harvesting is a main source of income for villagers, but this year the season has coincided with tit-for-tat cross-border exchanges between Israeli troops and the Iran-backed Hezbollah as the Israel-Hamas war rages in Gaza.

"Aircraft hover over our heads day and night while we work, making the workers anxious. They sometimes get so frightened they leave," said Hassan, in his 50s, who is picking green and purple olives near the town of Hasbaya.

"This year is unlike the ones before," he added.

As he spoke, one of his workers received news his village had been hit by a bombardment.

Stopping work, he frantically tried to call relatives with trembling hands before hearing they were all safe, breathing a sigh of relief as he returned to work.

Since Hamas fighters stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, Israeli warplanes have been bombarding the Palestinian territory, killing more than 8,500 in violence that has also triggered a wave of unrest along the Israel-Lebanon border.

So far, at least 63 people have been killed in Lebanon according to an AFP tally, mostly combatants but also five civilians.

And eight people have been killed in Israel, among them both soldiers and civilians.

The escalating exchanges of fire have made olive picking near the border particularly dangerous.

But despite the frequent nearby shelling and non-stop buzzing of reconnaissance aircraft, the farmers have not stopped coming to their lands.

Lebanese farmers mostly rely on Syrian laborers during harvest season, but many living near the border have fled, Hassan said.

"It has become difficult for us to find workers," he told AFP.

So far, thousands have fled the south due to the border tensions with nearly 29,000 people displaced across the whole of Lebanon, figures from the UN's International Organization for Migration show.

Israeli attacks have also set olive groves and greenery ablaze, with Agriculture Minister Abbas Al Hajj Hassan accusing Israel of carrying out white phosphorus attacks, saying the incendiary substance had burnt down 40,000 olive trees.

Rights groups and Lebanese officials have repeatedly accused Israel of using white phosphorus which catches fire on contact with the air and can inflict serious burns -- allegations Israel has previously denied.

Farmer Hussein Shaheen, in his 70s, was one of those picking the tiny fruit outside Hasbaya as explosions resonated in the distance.

But he has been clear with his workers: they must have the olives packed up and ready for transport so they can move quickly if shelling hits.

Across the border regions of Hasbaya and Marjayoun, families and laborers are out and about in the olive groves, resting in the shade or climbing trees to pick the fruit.

"People are risking their lives" because olives are their main source of income, Shaheen said.

"Every year, they await harvesting season so they can sell olive oil and make a living," he said.

"When bombs fall, they go home" only to return the next day, he said.

The Hasbaya region counts about a million and a half olive trees, according to Rasheed Zuwaihed of the local olive cooperative.

"Whether there is bombing or not, people have no choice but to go out to the fields," said the 73-year-old, a retired teacher who owns an olive press.

"They certainly take risks, but they are forced" to do so to survive, he said.

In a nearby field, the Shaar family are picking olives together.

"We are not afraid, but the buzzing of aircraft... is playing with our nerves," said Mona Shaar, 54, smiling as she gathered olives in her apron.

Some of her relatives covered the ground with a plastic sheet to catch the fruit while others took turns hitting the branches with a stick to harvest the fruit.

Working nearby, Mona’s cousin Adnan said he's used to the sound of explosions, now a regular occurrence in the area.

"I know people who couldn't harvest because they are closer to the border and under bombardment," he told AFP.

"They left their harvest, their land... It's hard," he said.

"Your harvest is like your child, you care for it as you would for your own son."

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Varieties

NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft will Scour Jupiter Moon for the Ingredients for Life

This illustration provided by NASA depicts the Europa Clipper spacecraft over the moon, Europa, with Jupiter at background left. (NASA/JPL- Caltech via AP)
This illustration provided by NASA depicts the Europa Clipper spacecraft over the moon, Europa, with Jupiter at background left. (NASA/JPL- Caltech via AP)
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NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft will Scour Jupiter Moon for the Ingredients for Life

This illustration provided by NASA depicts the Europa Clipper spacecraft over the moon, Europa, with Jupiter at background left. (NASA/JPL- Caltech via AP)
This illustration provided by NASA depicts the Europa Clipper spacecraft over the moon, Europa, with Jupiter at background left. (NASA/JPL- Caltech via AP)

A NASA spacecraft is ready to set sail for Jupiter and its moon Europa, one of the best bets for finding life beyond Earth.

Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust where an ocean is thought to be sloshing fairly close to the surface. It won’t search for life, but rather determine whether conditions there could support it. Another mission would be needed to flush out any microorganisms lurking there.

“It’s a chance for us to explore not a world that might have been habitable billions of years ago, but a world that might be habitable today — right now,” said program scientist Curt Niebur, The AP reported.

Its massive solar panels make Clipper the biggest craft built by NASA to investigate another planet. It will take 5 1/2 years to reach Jupiter and will sneak within 16 miles (25 kilometers) of Europa's surface — considerably closer than any other spacecraft.

Liftoff is targeted for this month aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Mission cost: $5.2 billion.

Europa, the superstar among Jupiter’s many moons One of Jupiter’s 95 known moons, Europa is almost the size of our own moon. It's encased in an ice sheet estimated to be 10 miles to 15 miles or more (15 kilometers to 24 kilometers) thick. Scientists believe this frozen crust hides an ocean that could be 80 miles (120 kilometers) or more deep. The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted what appear to be geysers erupting from the surface. Discovered by Galileo in 1610, Europa is one of the four so-called Galilean moons of Jupiter, along with Ganymede, Io and Callisto.

Seeking conditions that support life What type of life might Europa harbor? Besides water, organic compounds are needed for life as we know it, plus an energy source. In Europa’s case that could be thermal vents on the ocean floor. Deputy project scientist Bonnie Buratti imagines any life would be primitive like the bacterial life that originated in Earth’s deep ocean vents. “We will not know from this mission because we can’t see that deep,” she said. Unlike missions to Mars where habitability is one of many questions, Clipper’s sole job is to establish whether the moon could support life in its ocean or possibly in any pockets of water in the ice.

Supersized spacecraft When its solar wings and antennas are unfurled, Clipper is about the size of a basketball court — more than 100 feet (30 meters) end to end — and weighs nearly 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms). The supersized solar panels are needed because of Jupiter’s distance from the sun. The main body — about the size of a camper — is packed with nine science instruments, including radar that will penetrate the ice, cameras that will map virtually the entire moon and tools to tease out the contents of Europa’s surface and tenuous atmosphere. The name hearkens to the swift sailing ships of centuries past.

Circling Jupiter to fly by Europa The roundabout trip to Jupiter will span 1.8 billion miles (3 billion kilometers). For extra oomph, the spacecraft will swing past Mars early next year and then Earth in late 2026. It arrives at Jupiter in 2030 and begins science work the next year. While orbiting Jupiter, it will cross paths with Europa 49 times. The mission ends in 2034 with a planned crash into Ganymede — Jupiter’s biggest moon and the solar system's too.

Europa flybys pose huge radiation risk There’s more radiation around Jupiter than anywhere else in our solar system, besides the sun. Europa passes through Jupiter’s bands of radiation as it orbits the gas giant, making it especially menacing for spacecraft. That’s why Clipper’s electronics are inside a vault with dense aluminum and zinc walls. All this radiation would nix any life on Europa’s surface. But it could break down water molecules and, perhaps, release oxygen all the way down into the ocean that could possibly fuel sea life.

Earlier this year, NASA was in a panic that the spacecraft's many transistors might not withstand the intense radiation. But after months of analysis, engineers concluded the mission could proceed as planned.

Other visitors to Jupiter and Europa NASA’s twin Pioneer spacecraft and then two Voyagers swept past Jupiter in the 1970s. The Voyagers provided the first detailed photos of Europa but from quite a distance. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft had repeated flybys of the moon during the 1990s, passing as close as 124 miles (200 kilometers). Still in action around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has added to Europa’s photo album. Arriving at Jupiter a year after Clipper will be the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft, launched last year.

Ganymede and other possible ocean worlds Like Europa, Jupiter’s jumbo moon Ganymede is thought to host an underground ocean. But its frozen shell is much thicker — possibly 100 miles (160 kilometers) thick — making it tougher to probe the environment below. Callisto’s ice sheet may be even thicker, possibly hiding an ocean. Saturn’s moon Enceladus has geysers shooting up, but it’s much farther than Jupiter. Ditto for Saturn’s moon Titan, also suspected of having a subterranean sea. While no ocean worlds have been confirmed beyond our solar system, scientists believe they’re out there — and may even be relatively common.

Messages in a cosmic bottle Like many robotic explorers before it, Clipper bears messages from Earth. Attached to the electronics vault is a triangular metal plate. On one side is a design labeled “water words” with representations of the word for water in 104 languages. On the opposite side: a poem about the moon by US poet laureate Ada Limon and a silicon chip containing the names of 2.6 million people who signed up to vicariously ride along.