I went on a beautiful hike yesterday led by Palestinian writer Raja Shehadeh. In his book, he paints a vivid picture not only of the landscape of Palestine, but of its continuing destruction at the hands of the Israeli state for the purpose of settlement construction.
As we hiked up hillsides and down into wadis throughout the morning, I found myself lost in the beauty and tranquility. Mounting our last hilltop, we walked along a terrace, a layer in the side of the hill that was planted with olive trees. I paused and looked up the few layers above me to the top of the hill. Then I glanced over at another hill top, cleared of its lovely terraces and ancient olive trees, which were razed and replaced with identical concrete constructions--an unnatural and intrusive settlement. I returned my gaze to my hillside thinking how the hill on which that settlement stands looked like the one on which I paused now, and just a few years ago at that. I wondered, how long will these trees stand before they too are cut with chainsaw and the land dug up and reformed with concrete?
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