Vad jag minns bäst från en av mina littslattar, “The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish-Arab Divide” av Susan Nathan, är hur Israel sedan 1948 skövlat skogar av oliv- och fruktträd för att istället plantera diverse barrträd, oanvändbara för befolkningen, extra så sedan dessa “naturliga skogar” dessutom blivit nationalparker eller rekreationsområden.
“The state uprooted the natural vegetation of olive, carob and fruit trees the area was renowned for and which the villagers had cultivated for generations, and surrounded them instead with the useless pines, ‘I am sure the point was to prevent us from making a living from our old trees,’ Abu Hayja said.
I interrupted him to say that many years before I had stayed at the Carmel Forest Spa Resort, which is just visible from the road leading to Ayn Hawd. In those days I had wondered at the glory of the forest and national park; it had never occurred to me that the whole landscape was artificial.”
