At the beginning of February there is a Jewish holiday called Tu Bi Shvat. It is a tree planting ceremony made popular through the 20th century, and has all sorts of ecological and environmental overtones, and celebrates the goodness of God and the fruitfulness of the earth.
In Um al Kheir this year Tu Bi Shvat was used as a cynical landgrab by some settlers from the nearby Carmel settlement. The village elder had been warning for weeks something was afoot, as ground used by the Palestinian community, and protected as part of the master plan for the village, was prepared for planting.
On Tu Bi Shvat the settlers came. They not only planted about 50 young olive trees, they also planted a large flagpole and Israeli flag and that other important signifier of occupation: a security camera.
They planted their trees, they surrounded them with wire fence to protect them, they threw their excess wood and wire over the fence into a Palestinian family’s yard. And then they prayed.
Because this land is now appropriated, Palestinians can no longer walk on it. It was one of the gathering places in the village where tents would be put up for feast days and to celebrate weddings.
The settlers not only took this land, they made a path from the gate of the settlement, painting the stones edging the path blue and white. The intimidation and the push for Palestinian villagers to give up and move is relentless.
The community had tried to get a lawyer to make a court order to stop the olive tree planting, but none were available. There are so many violations, so many arrests, so many acts of destruction, that the lawyers are overwhelmed.
What would you do if some bullying neighbours harassed you and your family in this way? Arguing does no good and any display of anger or attempt to protect property is seen as an attack. The person protesting is far more likely to be arrested than the aggressor.
What the villagers of Um al Kheir did was to plant their own olive trees. They bought 50 young saplings and planted them between the blue and white painted stones and along the pathway the settlers had built. Having been called by the settlers, the army came and perhaps surprisingly did not side with the settlers. ‘It is their land,’ they said. ‘They can plant there if they want.’
The tiny olive trees can be pulled up with no effort, or trampled underfoot, or they will quickly parch in the relentless hot sun. The settlers’ trees are more mature and better protected. Yet it is a tiny act of non-violent resistance for the villagers of Um al Kheir to plant those trees.
Over many years, the protective presence of foreign nationals has helped contain the settlement expansion, but with a more rightwing government committed to expansion, and since October 7th 2023, the protective presence feels as useless as King Kanute ordering back the tide.
The creative and humorous use of the counter-planting of olive trees, the sheer determination to keep holding on, makes me think that we who watch and hear about these daily indignities at a distance must be able to do something.
The same day we saw the competing olive groves in Um Al Khair my colleague was taken to see an uprooted orchard in the Seam area near Jerusalem. This is Palestinian land cut off from the occupied Palestinian Territories by the Separation Barrier. Palestinians who live and farm there do not have Israeli citizenship or papers. They are in no-man’s land.
Earlier that day a bulldozer had come and uprooted all sorts of fruit trees, including some mature olive trees. No demolition order. No explanation.
The family were devastated. But even in their distress they were gathering up some of the fallen fruit and offering it to their visitors. And the next day they had replanted some of the trees and tidied up. The water source on the land had not been discovered, although the pipes above ground had been cut. They would continue. This is sumud.
Olive trees planted as an act of colonization. Olive trees planted as an act of resistance. Olive trees ripped up as an act of destruction and economic vandalism. Olive trees replanted and pruned in the hope they will recover and bear fruit.
The prophet Micah had a vision of a time when swords are beaten into plough shares:
Nation will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again.
Everyone will live in peace among their own vineyards and fig trees
And no-one will make them afraid
The Lord Almighty has promised this. (Micah 4:4)
The image of the fruit trees flourishing is poignant, and a reminder how things should be for all people.