Today, February 17, we ventured back to Bethlehem for the second time. After stopping to shop a bit and to visit the Church of the Nativity and the grotto where Jesus was born, “according to tradition,” as we say, we moved on to the East Jerusalem YMCA. We were met by Beha Hilo, a gorgeous Palestinian young man, who runs the Olive Tree Campaign among other things. He and Charlotte have been in touch trying to set up this time for us to plant trees. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. The fields were muddy, after yesterday’s rain, and olive trees don’t take to being planted in mud. So we had to settle for a very informative conversation with Behar and his boss, Nidal abuZuluf, the manager of the Joint Advocacy Initiative, and the ceremonial planting of just one tree in an area close to the Y. I found the experience moving and strangely exhilarating: we all took turns breaking up the soil and digging the hole, we placed the little tree in the hole, and patted the dirt around it. We will leave this land having actually done something to help, symbolic as it was.
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