Rachel’s Grove vulnerable in Bethlehem

With support from the Olive Tree Campaign from the Joint Advocacy Initiative, Abed Rabo has planted olive trees to send a clear message to Israel that the land it wants to confiscate for "Greater" Jerusalem is his land.

Abed Rabo walks in front us to show the way to his land which lies on the Israeli side of the projected wall around al-Walaja, within a stone's throw from Jerusalem. The land borders a local road where the soldiers manning an Israeli checkpoint control all Palestinian movement. Abed Rabo tries to go to his land as often as possible, which is quite far from Deheisheh camp. Living in the camp with his wife and eight children, he did not receive much education, and is proud that his children have better opportunities. His wife works as a civil servant at the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Youth and Sport. Because he does not have the money to travel to his land every day, Abed Rabo quite often walks to the office of the YWCA Women's Training Program in Bethlehem. He assists the staff as a volunteer, who in return give him a ride to his land. The land was already owned by Abed Rado's grandfather and his father. "The day I don't come to my land I get sick," he tells us.

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