The hills all around us are rocky and barren. But the olive trees offer some respite: patches of sandy green peppered across the valley. “It’s our tradition,” Othman Odeh tells me, pointing around his grove. Here there are men and women, young and old, clustered under trees, going diligently about their work.
The olive harvest is much more than a livelihood. Olive trees can be decades, centuries, or even millennia old, passed down through families from generation to generation. For Palestinians, the olive harvest is a living symbol of their connection to their land. And it’s for that reason, they say, that it’s been under attack.
|
