Every spring, silver-green olive trees across the historical territory of Palestine bloom into white clusters, with the region's iconic green and black fruit to appear as the season wears on. Acacia and artemisia species, cousins of wormwood, gather across the landscape, bedding up Italian ryegrass, crown daisy and showy scabious. Unapologetic bouquets burst purple from the chaste trees and jujube fruit hangs from the Christ-thorn trees — from which, it is said, the crown of a certain 1st Century rebel rabbi was fashioned. All these plants are the source of traditional medicines. The flora of the places now called Gaza, Israel and the West Bank tell the history of a blended people.
Tilled by humans for thousands of years, this region is an endangered miracle of biodiversity, and an ethno-botanical story of shared roots especially worth honoring in a time of war. What local people believe to be the oldest olive tree in the world still stands in the village of al-Walaja, near Bethlehem in the West Bank. It's said to be 5,500 years old, and if that's true it was already there during the empires of ancient Egypt and Babylon, which lasted much longer than any subsequent civilization has managed. Known as al-Badawi by locals, the tree has had many names and titles, including “Bride of Palestine” and “Old Woman.”
