Uprooting trees

Human rights in the Occupied Territories › Separation Barrier › Action against uprooting of trees in Beit Jala, 03.03.2010

I once learned that 60-80% of trees were believed to have been destroyed by war in Afghanistan 1980-present. What a shocking amount. War is one of the most destructive activities humans engage in, and it is an issue for the entire globe when our common Earth is threatened.

Here we see a woman watching removal of olive trees from her family's land in March, 2010 in Beit Jala. Settlements are allowed by Israel to continue to fence in agricultural land used by Palestinian families for herding or orchards. Bulldozers dig up trees and cart them away. Fences keep shepherds from grazing their flocks, or farmers from walking to their fields that need tending.

Occupation looks like a mad giant, careening through space,  crushing things under his feet.

Last night I went to a talk at Boston University by young Israeli resisters called Anarchists Against the Wall. Noam Lekach and Elinor Amit shared images like the one above which photographers collectively gather and save as documentation of the ever-expanding occupation of Palestine.

There were several current maps showing the absurd cantonment of the West Bank, and multiple walls with checkpoints that look like the Canada-U.S. border. These are staffed by private contractors. How tidy and profitable they look.

AATW presented exuberant photos of struggle with popular committees in occupied villages and towns. They go in support of what the local people are doing to resist the containment and destruction of the land. Cutting fence never looked so exhilirating, but they are always under threat of interference by IDF or settler militia waving automatic weapons.

Burning olive tree, which caught fire due to tear gas shot into the dry groves. Weekly demonstration against the Wall, Ni'lin, Ramallah district, July 17th, 2008. Keren Manor/Activestills

The apartheid is partly accomplished by roads that only Israel's citizens are allowed to drive on, many built with funding by U.S. aid.

Israel has been the largest recipient of cumulative U.S. aid since WWII.

Bring Our War $$ Home!