Israel Uproots 10,000 Olive Trees

From the Jewish Voice for Peace as reprinted in the Middle East Magazine

To the Israeli government, even Palestinian trees pose a so-called security threat.

This past weekend, in just three days, the Israeli military uprooted 10,000 olive trees in al-Mughayyir village, in the occupied West Bank. Some of the trees were over 100 years-old.

The Israeli military’s Central Command Chief Avi Bluth said about the order: “Uprooting the trees was intended to deter everyone. Not just this village, but any village.”

This act of environmental destruction is collective punishment, aimed at destroying Palestinian livelihood and severing Palestinian connection to their land. We stand with Palestinians in al-Mughayyir, as they grieve the loss of 10,000 olive trees.

Ripping olive trees out of the ground is nothing new to the Israeli military. Since 1967, the Israeli government has uprooted over 800,000 olive trees, and bulldozed hundreds of miles of agricultural land in Palestine. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians rely on the olive harvest for income.

The Israeli government targets olive trees because they uphold the deep ties Palestinians have to their land. Zionism, by aiming to build a Jewish-only state on stolen Palestinian land, erases Palestinian connection with the land by decimating the landscape, planting non-native trees, and preventing agricultural production. Because Zionist narratives rely on this erasure, olive trees indeed pose a “threat.”

This assault on olive groves in Al-Mughayyir comes in the midst of increased Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank, both carried out by the Israeli military and settlers. Working together, these groups displaced hundreds of Palestinians just this week, while the Israeli government announced plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

As anti-Zionist Jews, we oppose the Israeli government’s decades-long campaign of destroying Palestinian land and life. A free Palestine is a world where each life is precious — a place where every human and every plant can thrive without fear of being killed, uprooted, or destroyed.

Thank you to @sliman.mansour for your powerful artwork, Olive Grove (حقل زيتون), oil on canvas, 2012