10,000 Olive trees

Last week, the Jewish Voices for Peace posted the following;

To the Israeli government, even Palestinian trees pose a so-called security threat. 

This past weekend, in just three days, the Israeli military uprooted 10,000 olive trees in al-Mughayyir village, in the occupied West Bank. Some of the trees were over 100 years old.

What is the thinking behind the extermination of olive trees? How can anyone think this act is benign? Erasure of livelihoods? To serve what and who?

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the West Bank since the beginning of this year.

The chances of them ever returning are small.

The world rolls over and goes back to the petty drama filled news feed.

Yesterday in Australia, rallies were held to protest immigration. Laughable really, since most Australians, with the exception of the small minority of Indigenous Australians, are immigrants. One of our elected leaders spat at the cameras when asked about his Lebanese heritage. My family have been here for 150 years. Those words must sting the true locals who have been here for 60,000 years, yet have almost no say in anything. 

Simultaneous border closures and forced immigration – be it through the brute of war, the decimation of the middle and lower classes, or climate destruction, make the situation for millions of people impossible. The number will only rise. One day, it might just be you and me forced out of our homes.

The similarity between these events is supremacy and the ongoing stench of colonisation. Mostly white supremacy, but also, as in the case of India, religious supremacy. 

10,000 Olive trees? How is that ever justified?

Who the hell do we think we are? 

PS. Immigration is hard. It’s hard to do as an immigrant, and challenging for the people assimilating with immigrants in their local communities. Most governments are bad at true assimilation, where there is a blending, rather than communities of us and them. The us and them is another expression of supremacy. We can and must do better at this. Yet the rise of immigration is a fact of life. Rather than shut borders, we might become better assimilators. When done well, multiculturalism allows everyone to become better for it. 

Photo Taken September 1st 2025, Article published September 1st, 2025