New ROOTS.
- Words Vera Sajrawi
- Photography Samar Hazboun & Max Hemphill
The Palestinian agriculture collective sowing seeds of community.
A grapevine twists through a pergola in the hills above Battir, an ancient Palestinian village just west of Bethlehem. Clusters of grapes dangle over a tranquil, shaded terrace that looks out on an ancient scene—terraces of dry stone walls, olive groves and Roman-era irrigation systems. The landscape is a living history: In 2014, Battir was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in honor of the traditional agricultural methods still practiced there.1
Farther down the valley, however, is a poignant symbol of more recent history—a barbed wire fence separating the occupied West Bank from Jerusalem.2 The Israeli military often prevents Palestinian farmers in Gaza and the West Bank from accessing their land during harvest on the pretext of security concerns, and in recent years, Isr...
