Israel is making the Holy Land burn through ecological destruction
Olive groves under pressure
The article says Israeli settlers and soldiers damaged or uprooted 4,500 olive trees during the first month of the current harvest season. It also reports that 100,000 olive trees have been destroyed since January, without explaining how the figures relate.
In Gaza, the article states that 97 percent of the territory’s two million olive oil trees have been lost since October 2023. It also gives a figure of more than 800,000 trees destroyed between Israel’s 1967 occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the 2010s.
Changing the landscape
Before these changes, Palestinians cultivated grains, fruit and olives, while Bedouin communities in the Naqab raised sheep, goats and camels. The article contrasts these practices with European settlers’ efforts to reshape the land through imported trees, swamp drainage and redirected streams.
It describes tree planting over the remains of Palestinian villages and says imported farming methods displaced local techniques. After Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, the account says, control extended to natural resources as well as the population.
A family grove and its loss
The writer recalls a grandfather, Hamdan, who cared for an eight-dunam olive grove for four decades. It produced 1,500 kilograms of olive oil each season, and the writer says Hamdan regarded the trees as part of his family.
The grove was destroyed in 2014, and the writer says Hamdan died less than a week later from the shock. After the land was damaged, the family cleared contamination and bomb craters, then planted some areas with wheat; the Israeli army devastated the grove again in December 2023.
Cultivation amid displacement
The article says the war in Gaza has severely damaged agricultural land, trees, soil and water. It warns that substances entering soil and groundwater could leave environmental effects lasting for years.
Even in displacement camps, people are tending small gardens outside their tents, growing mint, basil and flowers. The writer presents these efforts as an expression of Palestinians’ continuing connection to the land.
Key points
- The article reports extensive olive-tree losses in both the West Bank and Gaza.
- It describes changes to Palestinian land and farming practices dating back to 1948.
- The writer’s family grove was damaged in 2014 and again in December 2023.
- Displaced Palestinians are growing herbs and flowers in small gardens outside their tents.