IN STEREO

A lot of farmers would love to [work on] their land, but they don’t have the money. It’s a big source of income for a lot of families. Giving olives to the farmers, they can get income [and] save the land from confiscation. It’s also just like encouragement for them to be in touch with the land. A lot of people just want to protect these olive trees because they inherited them from the older people. “This is something I got from my dad, from my grandparents, from the extended family, and my mission in this generation is to protect these trees – so that’s what I want.” It’s not politics; it’s not war; it’s not a big deal, you know. It’s just like, they’ve got this piece of land, they want to keep it, protect it, maintain it. 

 

Then they want to take care of the olive trees and hand it to the [next generation]. It can also be like a social event, that gathers everyone in the picking [and] the planting, in many seasons. So it’s how we are connected, in many ways. There are many people who believe that it’s a holy tree. If you go to Al-Walaja, you will find the oldest olive tree in the world. If you go to that guy who guards it, he has a lot of stories about it, and he has myths. You [can] sit there for three hours, just listening to what he’s saying about this tree. [Surviving] 5000 years – it’s not easy. A lot of people have gathered around it. Many stories. – Muhanad