Olive Trees—Symbols of Hope

A letter from Kate Taber serving in Israel/Palestine

October 28, 2016

Greetings friends and family!

It’s officially a new season in Israel-Palestine! Yesterday we had our first rain since May, just in time for the tail end of the olive harvest. Mission partners all over Israel-Palestine have been participating in the harvest. Some do protective accompaniment for farmers whose land is threatened by settlers or soldiers. Others harvest olives in order to contribute the proceeds of olive oil sales to their ministries.

Every year the harvest highlights the centrality of the olive tree to Palestinian culture. Palestinians have cultivated olive trees for over 5,000 years, and the evidence is everywhere—from the terraced hillsides to the dinner table. Palestinians use every part of the tree, from the wood for carving and fuel to the branches and leaves for sheep food, to the olive for food and oil used in every meal. Even the olive pit is made into prayer beads. The UN estimates that half the West Bank is cultivated with olive trees, and occupied Palestinian territory generally is planted with 800 million olive trees. The olive tree is a way of life.

Yet the conflict has had a devastating effect on Palestinians’ access to their olive trees. The separation wall prevents farmers all along its length—423 miles—from accessing, cultivating, and harvesting their land. The construction of the wall itself has destroyed countless trees. Typically one-third to one-half of Palestinians who apply are denied permits to access their olive groves located behind the wall. Those who are granted permits must use “agricultural gates” built along the wall, most of which are open only for a very limited time during the annual harvest. These restrictions prevent farmers from carrying out essential year-round maintenance, which in turn undermines the quality and quantity of the yield.

[Not a valid template]The olive tree has also been a target of attack by Israeli settlers. Violent, ideological settlers, committed to taking over land they believe is theirs by divine promise, have destroyed thousands of trees. A 2011 report from Oxfam states that over 800,000 olive trees have been uprooted in occupied territory since 1967.

Palestinians whose neighbors are violent settlements fear not just for their trees but also their own lives; settlers have frequently attacked farmers tending their land. There is no accountability for such crimes. Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group and PC(USA) ally and resource, report that only 1.9 percent of complaints submitted by Palestinians against Israeli settler attacks result in conviction.

The olive harvest begins mid-October and lasts late into November. Traditionally the whole family joins together in the olive groves, working sunup to sundown. Schools close. Friends and relatives come to help. Everyone, from child to grandparent, has a role, from laying down mats underneath the trees to catch the olives to climbing up to the top branches to reach the last ones. Currently all over the West Bank mission partners and internationals are joining together to harvest olives as both protective accompaniment and fund-raising.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, a PC(USA) mission partner, provides protective presence to vulnerable Palestinian communities all over East Jerusalem and the West Bank, engaged in work that ranges from monitoring checkpoints to walking children to school. Every year volunteers also join the olive harvest. They hope their presence deters harassment, but they are also there to document and report it if it does happen. While they have reported incidents this year already, they also celebrate small victories, sharing in their blog that recently “Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) responded to a request for protective presence from Palestinian farmers living…in the hills south of Hebron. [This] was no ordinary day in the fields for the Jabareen family. [It] was the first time in 16 years that the Israeli courts granted them unhindered access to their land.”

PC(USA) mission partner YMCA-Palestine hosts an annual olive harvest program designed to provide protection to local farmers as well as expose international participants to the cultural and political context of the conflict. This year the program hosted 65 international participants from 12 countries. I had the privilege of meeting a small group of American Presbyterians who participated in the YMCA’s program. I met them toward the end of their program while they were solemnly processing vast and heavy information they’d received about the occupation. Together we contemplated the fate of the Holy Land, our complicity in the suffering here, and how the PC(USA) might contribute to a future of peace and wholeness for all the people of Israel-Palestine.

Olive trees are full of symbolism for people here. They represent Palestinians’ attachment to the land, which has taken on even greater meaning in the context of this territorial conflict. They also represent resiliency; the trees themselves are hardy. They are highly draught-resistant, ideal for the area’s long, dry summers. They grow under poor soil conditions. In the midst of a seemingly endless military occupation that displaces and oppresses the people under its control, the trees have come to represent the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.

When I drive through the West Bank hills molded by ancient olive tree terraces, I’m struck by the discernible contrast between the turbulence of life in this land and the constancy of the land itself. It has an eternal quality that promises continued existence in a place where nothing seems certain. The trees endure. They witness to the existence of the future, to hope. Palestinian Lutheran pastor and PC(USA) partner and friend Mitri Raheb wrote in his book Bethlehem Besieged: “At times, when we feel as if the world must be coming to an end … our only hopeful vision is to go out … and plant olive trees. If we don’t plant any trees today, there will be nothing tomorrow. But if we plant a tree today, there will be shade for our children to play in. There will be oil to heal the wounds, and there will be olive branches to wave when peace arrives.”

I invite you to consider joining the olive harvest next year with one of our mission partners. Meanwhile, I covet your prayers, am sustained by your encouragement, and ask for your continued financial gifts to make this ministry possible. Thank you for your special care for this unholy Holy Land and for our partners in mission here who continue to ask for our solidarity and fellowship in Christ. Please continue to keep Nathan and me in your prayers as we head to Atlanta for a time of sharing about this ministry and awaiting our daughter’s birth.

May this be a time of harvest for us all, reaping faith, love, and joy in the Lord!

Kate

Please read this important message from Tony De La Rosa, Interim Executive Director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:1b-2, NRSV)

Dear Friend of the Presbyterian Mission Agency:

Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support of Kate Taber this year, and any previous year. We hear from our mission co-workers how much your prayerful financial support has meant to them. Please know that you are a vital part of ministries throughout Israel and Palestine.

Even as I thank you, I want to let you know that this is a critical time for our congregations and all people of faith to commit themselves to support mission co-workers like Kate. Our global church partners greatly value her service, and you well know how important this ministry is in building connections between the body of Christ in the U.S. and Israel and Palestine.

We have historically relied on endowment interest and the general offering from congregations to sustain the vital work of all of our mission workers. Those sources of funding have greatly diminished. It is only through the gifts of individuals and congregations that we are able to keep Kate doing the life-giving work God called her to do. A year ago, in May 2015, we had to recall some mission workers due to a lack of funding. World Mission communicated the challenge to you, and you responded decisively and generously. Through your response, we heard the Spirit remind us, “Fear not!”

Today, I’m asking you to consider an additional gift for this year, and to increase the gift you may consider for 2017. Sending and support costs include not only salary but also health insurance and retirement contributions, orientation, language training, housing, travel to the country of service, children’s education, emergency evacuation costs, and visa/passport costs.

My heartfelt thanks for your prayers and support of our Presbyterian mission co-workers. In the coming season, we will celebrate God’s sending of the Christ child, the source of the good news we share. May you experience anew the hope, peace, joy, and love that are ours because “perfect love casts out fear” (I John 4:18).

Thank you for saying “yes” to love.

With you in Christ,
Tony De La Rosa
Interim Executive Director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)