FILMS
PLANTED IN PALESTINE, 2008
Led
by three Middle East experts, a group of 22 Americans concerned about
the conflict in Israel/Palestine volunteered to plant olive trees in
the fields of four Palestinian farmers near Bethlehem in February 2008.
They also sought to discover how Israel is using 7 billion U.S. tax dollars
annually, and to see effective actions for peace from both sides. The
YMCA of Jerusalem and the YWCA of Palestine hosted them in a program
called KEEP HOPE ALIVE. The planting of olive trees replaces over a million
trees destroyed by Israel since its War for Independence sixty years
ago. It helps farmers reclaim land arbitrarily taken by the Israeli Occupation
for continued settlement, violating historic U.N. resolutions and recent
agreements between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the U.S.
The Americans – with a handful of internationals – planted over 750 trees. They also met with diverse Israelis and Palestinians: a native Israeli peacenik and a settler from Chicago, leading NGO officers, and spiritual and religious leaders. Traveling east to the Jordan Valley, the group learned how the early Jews died defending their desert fortress of Masada, instead of surrendering to the Romans, the Occupation of their day. After visiting the Sea of Galilee and sites central in Jesus’ ministry, the Americans headed for Nazareth and Galilee proper, at Ibillin visiting a thriving ecumenical complex of schools for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian youth. The travelers’ appreciation of both Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints gives viewers a basis to develop a similar in-depth understanding of this contended land. (45 min.)
