World Olive Tree Day

#preservetheolivetrees

Epicenter,

olive-oil,

excellence,

iconic crop,

horticulture,

humble tree,

human fabric

World Olive Tree Day was proclaimed at the 40th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2019 and takes place on 26 November every year.

The olive tree, specifically the olive branch, holds an important place in the minds of men and women. Since ancient times, it has symbolized peace, wisdom and harmony and as such is important not just to the countries where these noble trees grow, but to people and communities around the world.

-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

And we’re human too,

please acknowledge that..

acknowledge us..

“Our traditions, culture, poems and songs are often centered around the tree.”

- Nabil Anani

Nothing less than free,

dream for our people 🙏

The Second Olive Tree

By Mahmoud Darwish

The olive tree does not weep and does not laugh. The olive tree

Is the hillside’s modest lady. Shadow

Covers her single leg, and she will not take her leaves off in front of the storm.

Standing, she is seated, and seated, standing.

She lives as a friendly sister of eternity, neighbor of time

That helps her stock her luminous oil and

Forget the invaders’ names, except the Romans, who

Coexisted with her, and borrowed some of her branches

To weave wreaths. They did not treat her as a prisoner of war

But as a venerable grandmother, before whose calm dignity

Swords shatter. In her reticent silver-green

Color hesitates to say what it thinks, and to look at what is behind

The portrait, for the olive tree is neither green nor silver.

The olive tree is the color of peace, if peace needed

A color. No one says to the olive tree: How beautiful you are!

But: How noble and how splendid! And she,

She who teaches soldiers to lay down their rifles

And re-educates them in tenderness and humility: Go home

And light your lamps with my oil! But

These soldiers, these modern soldiers

Besiege her with bulldozers and uproot her from her lineage

Of earth. They vanquished our grandmother who foundered,

Her branches on the ground, her roots in the sky.

She did not weep or cry out.  But one of her grandsons

Who witnessed the execution threw a stone

At a soldier, and he was martyred with her.

After the victorious soldiers

Had gone on their way, we buried him there, in that deep 

Pit – the grandmother’s cradle. And that is why we were

Sure that he would become, in a little while, an olive

Tree – a thorny olive tree – and green! 

Roots entire nation,

land and livelihood,

mostly lost now,

ongoing,

illegal,

Israeli,

occupation

Olive

Thick taproot,

hardy root,

flute of fruit,

a suit shoots,

brute implant,

loot lush olive,

and liquid gold

The Health Ministry in Gaza has compiled figures on families who have lost multiple members to Israeli attacks:

1,410 families have been completely wiped out

3,463 families have been left with only one survivor

2,287 families have lost members, but have multiple survivors

This means a total of 7,160 families have lost multiple members, with 1,281 families losing at least five members, according to the ministry.

@TRT World

This is the second winter of the war in which thousands of people have been living inside tent camps.

Thousands of tents have been severely damaged or destroyed by the heavy rain and rising tides, particularly those close to the coast or those in the central part of Gaza City. This is increasing people’s suffering and misery.

People with damaged tents have been seeking temporary refuge, moving into mosques, evacuation centres and other spaces, but these places are overcrowded, lacking privacy and sanitation. Other people are staying in their damaged tents. But the cold increases their chances of catching diseases. Others with limited options have found themselves in the streets.

Seasonal peak,

violence and vandalism,

Israeli settlers,

settlements and outposts,

the West Bank,

farmers and property,

leading up..

(and also during)

harvest season,

October and November

🎥 Israeli soldiers film themselves celebrating destruction of Lebanese village | Al Jazeera Newsfeed

Al Jazeera English | Oct 16, 2024

Israeli forces detonated a massive amount of explosives in the Lebanese village of Mhaibib, saying they were targeting underground Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure.” Israeli soldiers recorded themselves celebrating the village’s apparent destruction with smiles and laughter.

Only certainty..

stress-test,

green-light,

speedy-missile,

tomorrow always,

proves, worse,

politically,

calculated,

transmuted,

(our) future,

generation

ajplus

A post shared by @ajplus

Josep Borrell has also addressed the ICC’s arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, saying EU states must respect the ruling whether they “like it or not”.

“This is not something you can pick and choose,” said Borrell. “You cannot applaud when the court goes against Putin and remain silent when the court goes against Netanyahu.”

“I ask members of the European Union to fulfil their obligations under international law,” he added. “If the Europeans don’t support the ICC, then there will not be any hope for justice.”

We don’t fit,

your Western standards,

colonial, expectation,

clinging, bleeding roots,

reaching for skies,

above your rockets and bombs,

our buried treasure,

nothing hurts them anymore..

Maysa Yousef lost both her home and workshop in Gaza, but she continues, to paint amidst the rubble.

anas_fteiha

A post shared by @anas_fteiha

And in other Palestinian artists I learnt today, I share Nabil Anani and his work featured at Zawyeh Gallery (dedicated to supporting Palestinian and Middle Eastern artists) based in Ramallah and Dubai (I fly to latter tomorrow morning 🫡)

(b. 1943, Latroun, Palestine) Nabil Anani is a key founder of the contemporary Palestinian art movement. Anani studied Fine Art at Alexandria University, Egypt, in 1969. On his return to Palestine, he began a career as an artist and an art teacher-trainer at the UN college in Ramallah. Anani held his first exhibition in Jerusalem in 1972 and has since exhibited widely in solo and group shows in Europe, North America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Japan. His works can be found in many museums and private collections.

As a multi-talented artist, Anani is a painter, ceramicist, and sculptor. He pioneered the use of local media such as leather, henna, natural dyes, paper-mâché, wood, beads and copper, and other materials. Over the past four decades, he has built an impressive catalogue of outstanding, innovative, and unique art. Anani is also the co-author of a number of books on Palestinian arts and folklore. He was awarded the first Palestinian National Prize for Visual Art in 1997 by Yasser Arafat. He was the head of the League of Palestinian Artists and played a key role in the establishment of the first International Academy of Fine Art in Palestine. In 2006, Anani was awarded the prestigious King Abdallah II Arab World Prize for Fine Art. He lives and works in Ramallah, Palestine.

@na.anani

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