Olive Trees

Today, I went with Jesse and Mori to an event protesting the construction of the Slopes of Mt. Scopus National Park, coordinated by the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement. The proposal would effectively annex Palestinian land, hemming in a nearby village between the wall and the park and preventing expansion. The same tactic was used south of Jerusalem a number of years ago, when the government took land for a ‘park’ and later built the settlement of Har Gilo. Today, about thirty activists, both Israeli and Palestinian, gathered to prepare the ground to plant olive trees. Most worked with shovels while Jesse and I moved some rocks out of the way. Prayer mats and yarmulkes alike were in danger of being swept away by wild gusts of wind. We only stayed for an hour, since rain threatened our work, but nevertheless, the earth on the hillside had been turned and made ready for a peaceful and symbolic means of resistance.