Description

Saturday, 09 April 2011 06:25

The village of Al Farisiya are planning to collectively plant 2000 olive trees. Each tree will cost £1, and the village is appealing to international supporters to sponsor this project. The settlements surrounding the village have gradually takien more and more land, and planting trees will help to clearly establish the land as Palestinian.

Al Farisiya has been under constant attack by both the Israeli army and settlers over the past few years; they have had their access to a water spring – their main source of water – cut off, their water pipes cut, their pumps confiscated, and in July in 2010 all the homes, animal shelters and green houses on one side of the road were demolished twice. The second time this happened, olive trees were also destroyed, meaning the community had no access to shade in the sweltering July heat. The community rebuilt their homes, which were destroyed again by the army in August.

Last year, the Al Farisiya community worked with volunteers from JVS, to run water pipes from an Area B village 7 km away. This means that 100 local families now have access to water.

Now the community has this access again, it is possible for them to plant on their land, and start to think about planning for the future. This is particularly important because the surrounding settlements are expanding, and Palestinians are being ethnically cleansed from their land. The olive tree plantation, which is a grassroots community based action, is an attempt to stop this happening.