Arborocide In Palestine

I've just read an article from Christian Peacemaker Team in Palestine, 'Tuwani-Reflection on Healing Trees.' The author talks of the emotions when viewing trees that have been vandalized by Israeli occupiers of the Palestinian Occupied Territories. Ends her post by telling of the feeling of healing when they did what they could to repair the damage & water the trees.

The banal,everyday wickedness is human beings destroying other human being's livelihoods; in this case living, breathing trees. Zionists, for no other reason than ability to agress,and torment with no consequences, are serial offenders. These orchard cultivators and nurturers endure continuous misery of being bullied by Zionist racist groups that view themselves as omni-entitled by their Biblical deity, to the land of generations of Palestinians' ancestors, even though the latest polls I've read state that 60% of Israeli Jews consider themselves atheists.

The olive tree is the symbol of Palestine, imo. It is a sturdy tree that survives and thrives in Palestine's delicate ecosystem. The fruit itself is bitter but the fruit yields world renowned oil, and of course treatment of the fruit is part of cultural knowledge and pride. Olive harvesting is now fraught with danger, but in the past it was a celebration-before zionism.

The olive branch is a universal symbol of peace. I am reminded of Yasser Arafat's poetic address to the United Nations, when he said (paraphrase here - 'I've come with an olive branch'). And certainly of the Biblical story of the dove returning to the ark with an olive branch in its' beak, after the flood, connoting safe land.

The Israeli occupiers have uprooted, burnt, hacked branches, stole and damaged olive groves relentlessly as policy, anyone can do it from IOF to zionist endoctrinated children with police and military protection.

The land of Palestine was renowned for lemons, oranges, almonds, pears and many kinds of fruit orchards and olive groves. The zionists deceived the world depicting Palestine as a neglected, unused land that only 'civilized educated Europeans' could realize Palestine's potential.

And look what they've done.

Their accomplishments are over a hundred years of escalating repression and racism.
Pollution of the land with depleted uranium, dense inert metal explosives, drowning cultivated land with human excrement, paving over centuries old habitats and of course - the true Zionist Symbol - the caterpillar bulldozer.

The Zionists should superimpose that bulldozer right over that blue Star of David, in the interests of honesty.

And the world stands mute, and my government gives Netanyahu 29 standing ovations when he addressed Congress recently. Last week (10-27-11) there were several articles concerning the destruction of 7,500 Palestinian olive trees in the last nine months. The financial loss is estimated at $500,000 in damages - a half a million dollars. This information is from uscampaign@endtheoccupation.org. End the occupation has a program to help farmers. For a $25 donation they can plant one tree. For $100 they can plant five & I believe they issue a certificate in honor of whomever you name, even if you can only donate $25, so it makes an excellent Christmas, Eid or birthday gift if you have relatives that have all of what they need or are hard to shop for, to gift them with the honor of a tree planted to help farmers who are under relentless attack by 'settlers' and the IOF.