Army stops holiday tree planting near Palestinian village
IDF says activists were stopped when they entered a closed military zone
Human rights activists ran into army resistance on Wednesday as they tried to plant trees next to the Palestinian village of Al Jenia, Israel Radio reported.
According to the report, the activists, from Rabbis from Human Rights, were stopped by IDF soldiers when they started to march towards Talmon, after they refused to leave an area declared a “closed military zone.”
The activists had decided to plant trees on Tu Bishvat as a response to a “Price Tag” event in the village on Sunday. Buildings were sprayed with such slogans as “Death to Arabs” and “Muhammed is swine,” and car tires were slashed.
In other places, Israelis and Palestinians did join forces to plant trees. Schoolchildren from Efrat, south of Jerusalem, and the nearby village of Jurat al-Shama were met by community leader Abu Taled and Efrat’s mayor Oded Ravivi, as they planted a new grove of trees to filter and block dust from a tree-processing plant.