My Story with the 'Sabr' Plant in Our Neighborhood in Al-Bireh

-        Sixteen years ago, in 2007, I rented a ground-floor house with my family... in the dear city of Al-Bireh in Palestine..... this house is surrounded by a front yard and a back yard... with areas reaching up to 500 square meters. Some of them are planted with saplings of the blessed olive..... As for the owners of the house, they are expatriates in the United States of America, and they come every few years to their homeland to spend their vacation in their beloved country.. and they live in their apartment on the second floor of this house... and they stay for a little over a month, they and their children.. enjoying the air of their native country Palestine.. and their town Al-Bireh.. dear.... to everyone... they wander and tour all the regions of Palestine completely.. to deepen their love for their unique country.. even if the years of exile are long...

-        This year 2022, they came after a long time.. it took more than 8 years since their last visit to their country.. and we, without need of confirmation, are on good terms with them, and with the house agents, their relatives in the city of Al-Bireh...!

-        By nature I am rural.. I love agriculture.. and I adore it.. where in my youth in my village I used to care, with my brothers, under the supervision of my dear late father (Abu Zuhdi).. for citrus orchards, guava, and olive trees... owned by us... in the expanses of my beautiful town.. Azzun..

-        From the beginning of renting the house, I cared for the olive saplings.. which were planted in addition by the house’s agent, the late .... who was the husband of the sister of the owner of the house rented before me... In one of the harsh winter seasons.. heavy snow fell.. it knocked the saplings to the ground.. and some of them were close to being uprooted from the roots...! However I.... after the recession of that snowy wave... with the help of my children, corrected the trunks of the trees lying on the ground.. and brought supports (wooden stakes), and put the saplings back on their feet.!.... and they became tall and verdant after a while… and thus the condition of these saplings, which numbered 5 olive trees, was repaired..

-        I did not stop at that, but I performed a grafting (tataʿim) of one of the wild olive saplings in the garden with a scion from an olive of the “Nabali” type also present in the garden.. and this was the first time I tried to graft a tree by myself,,,. In our beloved town Azzun we used to rely on a specialist (so to speak) to prune and propagate (graft trees).. who used to do this work for free, thankfully..... and the graft I performed succeeded.. and this was in the very early days of our residence in this house.. and it has now become a beautiful little olive tree, bearing the olives sacred to every Palestinian..

-        And I continued in cultivation… in fact, from the beginning of our residence I also began planting citrus trees, which I used to bring from my village.. As for the guava plant, although I planted it, the cold climate of Ramallah and Al-Bireh does not suit this type of tree.. Even the citrus trees I managed to succeed in cultivating 5 citrus trees of different varieties including Abu Sura orange and Shamutti, and the sour lemon plant that every Palestinian is keen to plant... and all this under special care and winter protection with plastic covering.. and these trees bore fruit.. and they are tall green evergreens in the front and back yards of the house. As for the guava tree.. it died...! .

-        My cultivation was not limited to citrus; I planted grape saplings (tashteel) of various types, foremost among them the original famous Sardaoui grape.. My dear friend from Sarda, Hisham Abdullah (Abu Amir), gifted me cuttings of this grape, and I planted these cuttings as I mentioned after the pruning season of the Sardaoui grape vines in my friend Abu Amir’s vineyards, usually in January and February of the year.... After a year I transferred them from the nursery bags to the ground, side by side with black and red grape saplings I had brought from my dear neighbors adjacent to our residence.. and I planted more than 12 grape plants around the front and back yards of the house.. and they bore fruit.. and we ate and gifted their fruits to friends...!

-        Also, every year I sow peas, fava beans, chickpeas, spinach, radish, parsley, etc., in the winter and summer seasons before each winter.. I also sow chickpea seeds and plant pepper, tomato, lettuce, molokhia, purslane, and cucumber seedlings....... and sometimes potatoes.. before each summer....!

-        My cultivation was not limited to edible plants only.. from the beginning I planted local carnation flowers and other annual flowers.. and snapdragon plants in their bright multicolors... There was a pond built by the homeowners years ago... it is large with a capacity of 120 kub (cubic meters of water)... I water the plants from it.. from time to time.!

-        I did not stop caring for the garden trees… rather I planted a walnut tree, a casuarina (eskandaria), 3 pomegranate trees.. roses, jasmine plants.. many around the house.. and the most important tree I exerted effort and toil to plant and nurture is the cactus tree (the prickly pear for those who do not know what the sabr plant is), I brought pads of this beautiful symbolic plant ..... from my village Azzun.. and planted cactus pads; there were 3 .. and small pads began to grow over time.. and this was 12 years ago.. and this tree by the way... every Palestinian is keen to plant it wherever he settles.. and this tree does not require extreme care, but it requires patience greater than patience.... in itself.. to taste its first fruit.. and a single tree remained and grew and succeeded in surviving..... and its fruits (akwaz) began to appear..... after several years.. and I brought a hook to harvest the cactus (to collect the prickly pear fruit from the akwaz).. from my village as well.. and every summer season I would count its akwaz, mathematically.... so our cactus, which is (the hot sabr), began with 11 akwaz.. then increased as the seasons passed..... and became more than 200 akwaz in August this year 2022..!... Its taste was beautiful.. and harvesting the prickly pear and processing it (removing the small thorns from the akwaz using a bundle of dry herbs or a broom dedicated to such matters) is a traditional task, but it requires caution.... since the pads are of the (spineless) type....!.. I feed my family.. and they rejoice, and I am very happy for it.. and I watched it closely, it is planted at the fence in the front yard.. and next to it an olive tree.. and it overlooks, from behind the surrounding wall guarding the yard, the main asphalt road.. and I was keen to remove any pad of the cactus that protruded its head outside the fence..... and the wall topped by a railing.. the protection over the street....! , in order to keep any harm away from passersby on the main street.. from the thorns of the akwaz that extend outside the curtain!

-        To eat what you have grown has a beautiful impact on the soul.. Prickly pear fruits can be bought in the markets.. at cheap prices; the point is that you planted something and it produced fruit... it is a high feeling of reassurance and happiness for the soul..!!

-        The cactus plant was afflicted by a disease that affected prickly pear plants across Palestine this year, and it destroyed a not insignificant portion.... of these plants that are a source of livelihood for many families..... As for the disease that occurred... it is a white cottony disease. It begins to appear... on the pads, then spreads and absorbs the plant ... until it dies completely.. and quickly.. I bought chemical treatments from an agricultural shop in Al-Bireh city.. and I sprayed the cactus plant completely twice using a backpack sprayer I had bought previously.... via online shopping..... until I eradicated this damned disease.. and we had finished.... we had eaten the cactus fruits of this plant..... which had grown and its number of pads had become many.... and beside the olive that had, with some of its high branches, blocked the sunlight from reaching the cactus ..!

●      One day, two weeks ago, a relative of the owner of the house I rented began painting the railing on the wall surrounding the front yard, adjacent to the street. The railing is made of iron bars... After the homeowners returned to the United States of America, where they work.. and the painting that this relative used to do periodically.. he comes, as usual..... we open for him the stair door leading to the passage to the second floor, where the owners’ apartment is.. It seems he had the apartment key of the homeowners.... to tidy up the house as he normally does.... before the arrival of his relatives. But this time he was taking the painting materials and supplies from his relatives’ house to complete painting the railing over periods of time... out of fear of its damage from rust. The wall topped by the railing is 30 meters long... lengthwise... to preserve its beauty and durability and resistance to this rust that damages iron.. and we used to tell him that if he needed anything.... we are present.. as we exchanged greetings and farewells..! ..as is the case for every Palestinian family when it receives a guest or acquaintance.. or a worker.. and we make him coffee … and so on.... !

●      This relative was accustomed to finding the olives (harvesting the olive crop) every year.. and to sending the homeowners their share of the oil to them by shipment by sea or by air... every year..!

●      A week before the present time.....and while this relative was finishing painting the railing, at the end of the wall...near the sabra plant..(al-ṣabra)..because it is alone in the neighborhood or in the surrounding area. Until..!..one of my children went out by car..to buy something, when he called me on his mobile..angrily.."Dad, this man (who is painting the railing)..said…screaming…he uprooted the sabra....and threw it in the street on the sidewalk intact.! Should I beat him..!" I was stunned by the news. I told my son…do not..go on your way..I will handle it..! I was astonished and amazed….that such an aggressive act would occur..without my knowledge..something outside our people's habits....and our traditions..not to mention that he has no authority. People are also preoccupied....with many issues, foremost among them....the occupation and its brutalization of the Palestinians and the prisoners..and the assaults of the settlers. People are killed..without shame...and everything related to the hateful occupation..and people are bitterly divided; their rift is older than this sabra plant… (16 years.).!..and people are not lacking quarrels and disputes….their worries are great for all of us...what does a sabra mean in general! ..But specifically ..this reckless act by this relative the painter harmed us..! (It hurts me a lot)..!...Had I not restrained my anger and kept calm, my children would have taken a decisive course contrary to conciliation....and restraining anger.....!.In the end....the important thing. I went quickly with steps weighed down by anger..What, uncle..(so-and-so)..why did you pull out the sabra..he said yes I pulled it out..because it bothers the olive tree..and we cannot get its harvest (pick the olives)!..I said to him. Well, you don't know that I am the one who planted it..you shouldn't take my permission out of courtesy…or at least consult me..before doing such an act…man. I raised this sabra…as I raised my children..I cared for it and fed from its fruits..even the owners of the house on their last two visits to the country. They were pleased by that..and joyful as I saw them..!. He replied to me saying: I did not know that you were the one who planted it..I thought it had been here for a long time!. And I told him..you know that I planted many trees here..including this tree..(the sabra)..and I know that it will return at the end of time after the owners leave the house to the owners!. But is there enmity between us, uncle? ..and I told you what do you want if anything call me.....and I will help you, or provide what you ask if I can..Is there blood between us, uncle?? .Why did you do that. He said..By God I did it for the olive tree!. And besides, we plant sabra in the wilderness..! (outside dwellings in wide lands and not among residents)....I got angry..and said I will call the owners of the house..and it was noon..I said are they sleeping..in America. I called the new agent of the house who collects the monthly rent on behalf of the house owners..and I phoned him and he went crazy..he said I will call the sister of the house owner here in al-Bireh,..I told him I am angry at this relative’s action which is nothing but thuggery..indifference..and disrespect for others...! He phoned me later after hours...that the sister of the house owner had called her brother at work in America...who in turn.....went berserk, who hurried to call his wife, and told her..your brother cut the sabra of the tenants at our place (the neighbors).....are you aware? ..His wife answered him..Yes I know..but not of uprooting the sabra!. I said to him (i.e., to her brother)...try only to remove the boards..that obstruct the olive tree..only,…!. Do not uproot it..(this according to the relayer of the news)...and I told him (to the new agent)....that I am trying to contact the house owner in America ..but to no avail!. Meanwhile two of my children went out angry, and called for the painter..the relative of the house owners.....and I tried to calm them..but they went toward the relative painter and their voices rose saying...you have no right to cut any tree here. You are not authorized...and I called them… and brought them into the house, after I heard the relative painter..say (something happened).....trying, it seems, to apologize but in a mocking way and imposing a fait accompli…!....I went out into the street to see the sabra uprooted..and thrown....on the sidewalk beside it..and I marveled at this relative's lie when he had told me…that he did not know I planted the sabra..and he did not tell me that he had phoned his sister, the house owner’s wife...to ask permission..!...and yet he knew everything..!

●      I thought to myself..should I call the police....but I calmed down a little and refrained..….the police do not resolve such matters, especially when the complainant is a tenant…! And I said…I will resort to the Ministry of Agriculture because this involves....an assault on trees..and I feared that planting sabra among residents in the city is customarily forbidden…!..and I was convinced that it would not be possible to do anything..officially..so I said to myself..!

●      My wife intervened..Umm al-Hasan..after this painter's act angered her..and she said angrily..Get ready..so we return..to our house in our town 'Azzun…….what happened is shameful..and it cannot pass without a reaction… I told her be patient, for we will not leave because of this reckless act by this person….!

●      I wonder to myself..was this act planned..? !Do the house owners want us to leave..through their relative the painter, by his uprooting the entire sabra....with such insolence and lack of mercy for the trees and lack of respect for people..the tenants..without consulting them.! ….Do they want us to leave the house quietly..if that is the case..I am ready to leave the house..only when the house owner tells me that personally …..and not through beneficiaries… you do not know what they carry in their hard heads of ideas, tricks, malice and disrespect! …Except that when the house owner visited his homeland this year, he was friendly and pleased....with the plantings and the arrangement of the garden in a delightful way…...!

●      His wife's brother's action…is unacceptable..but the house owners did not phone me…apologizing.! .This is what I am puzzled about....! ..After sixteen years of our renting this house which is a time period more than sufficient...to obtain the nationality of any Western country if one wished......!. But....I say ...echoing our old proverb handed down through generations..("Ya mu'arrif fi ghayr baladak, la huwa laka wa la liwaladak" )...!! Is this acceptable in Palestine, our beautiful occupied homeland. For a century of time….Should we refrain from planting sabras..and figs and shrubs, even if we are tenants..! We will not carry the trees with us when we change our residence to a new house.....It is unreasonable to uproot the trees we planted to carry them to wherever we settle again..or carry them back to our beautiful town 'Azzun..and plant them in addition to what is already planted ...and settle there…after a long estrangement from our beautiful town 'Azzun…..! It is not reasonable to consider such options..because we all love the Palestinian land..and we love belonging to it…..even if it is not our ownership…!..It is the spirit of roots and the perfume of history…..and the spirit of love for Palestine..whether we are residing….in our land …or traveling, or tenants…..in any spot in Palestine....!

●      I became certain...that what the painter did is detestable..indeed......but this is an exception to the general rule about people....who act...with respect for neighbors, respect for others...and respect for nature..and act in accordance with customs, traditions and virtuous examples.....and the public morals...in our homeland.!...However I await a phone call or clarification and an apology from the house owners..and I am still waiting....and hope I do not wait long....for my family and I no longer feel comfortable in this house...and I do not know whether my restraining of anger was correct from the perspective of life in the surrounding society..?..This is my story...and it will not end..except by a continuation to it..even if after a while...!