TULKAREM: Palestinian activists and residents planted a grove of 250 olive trees in a northern West Bank town on Monday in memory of the late US President Jimmy Carter, describing him as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.
The former president’s legacy is “rooted” among Palestinians and across the globe, said Abbas Melhem, executive manager of the Palestinian Farmers Union. Carter was one of the few world leaders who “stood firmly supporting the struggle of the Palestinians for independence and for freedom,” he said.
Under clear winter skies, Palestinian kids helped a handful of adults place the trees into newly dug holes. Melhem said the 10-dunam (2.5-acre) grove in the city of Tulkarem, titled “Freedom Farm,” would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers, who have attacked Palestinian olive trees in the past.
The advocacy group for farmers in the West Bank launched the project in collaboration with US-based nonprofit Treedom for Palestine, which plants trees to empower Palestinian farmers.
Carter, who died last month at the age of 100, brokered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978.
In his later years, Carter was highly critical of Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians, saying conditions in the occupied West Bank amounted to apartheid. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
“I think planting olive trees that live at least 100 years old like him is a very suitable way to honor his life and his legacy,” said George Zeidan, the Carter Center’s Director in Israel and Palestine.
Palestinians dedicate a new West Bank olive grove to former US President Jimmy Carter
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Palestinians dedicate a new West Bank olive grove to former US President Jimmy Carter
- The "Freedom Farm" would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers
- Jimmy Carter was highly critical of Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians
Syria strongly condemns the terrorist attack near Palmyra
- Palmyra in the Homs countryside witnessed an armed attack targeting a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces
DAMASCUS: Syria strongly condemned the terrorist attack that targeted a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces near the city of Palmyra on Saturday, extending its condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the US government and people, the Syrian News Agency reported.
Earlier, Palmyra in the Homs countryside witnessed an armed attack targeting a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces during a field tour in the area.
A gunman opened fire on the patrol, resulting in the deaths of two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter, in addition to injuring three US soldiers and two Syrian security personnel.
“Syria strongly condemns the terrorist attack that targeted a joint Syrian-US counterterrorism patrol near Palmyra. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and to the US government and people, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery,” Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani said in a post on platform X.
