Protected by Israeli army, settlers uproot olive trees near Salfit

(As a young man growing up in a Lithuanian Jewish family in London, Leon had been a member of the Hashomer Hatzair, the Communist wing of the Zionist movement, but later broke with Zionism over its treatment of Palestinians)

SONG OF THE OLIVE TREE


1)My father's father's father planted here,
on this now-broken earth, an olive tree.
And as a child I sang to it my secrets,
And as I grew I felt it part of me.
It's branches gave me shelter from the storm,
It's grey-green leaves shaded my young dreams.
The fruit it gave was like a gift of home.
Of all the olive trees, I loved this one.

2)The settlers came, they beat us black and blue
They said "Next time we shoot you-understand?"
But still we dared to come, we had no choice
We came at night like thieves, to our own land.
Like ghosts we came there, women, children, men,
To pick the crop, as we had always done.
For centuries we harvested in peace.
The oil we pressed was sweet, precious as gold.

3)Now look, this is a cemetary for trees.
Their great machines turned hope into despair.
They ripped the heart from every living tree,
Except for one-my tree, they chose to spare.
They dug it up, they carried it away,
My olive tree, they saw it as a prize,
For some Israeli rich enough to pay.
Five thousand dollars worth, that's what they say.

4)Do you believe in ghosts? Last night, I dreamed
My father's father's father came to me.
He took my hand and held it in his own,
And said "take heart, here is my olive tree".
And when I woke, it was a kind of birth,
And in my hand I held an olive stone.
And in the fields where once my tree had stood,
A thousand shapes arose, out of the earth.
I saw them standing, women, children, men,
And each hand held a perfect olive stone.
And each heart held a vision of to come:
When all our olive trees will bloom again.

forget or give up. Sugar daddy Uncle Sam is broke and tired of trying to steal all that oil over there. Iran is becoming a regional power.

Is there any coffee brewing over there at all?

those settlers are the most evil crazy humans on earth. Even the majority of folks in Israel can't stand them.

and all the resources are taken away?

So, there should be a one state solution. One person, one vote, with freedom and equality for all. What a concept.

Israel and Hamas on the other hand are non-starters when it comes to the two-state solution...

just sayin'

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