TULKAREM, West Bank (AP) 鈥� Palestinian activists and residents planted a grove of 250 olive trees in a northern West Bank town on Monday in memory of the late U.S. President , describing him as a of the Palestinian cause.
The former president鈥檚 legacy is 鈥渞ooted鈥� 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 鈥渟tood firmly supporting the struggle of the Palestinians for independence and for freedom,鈥� 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 鈥淔reedom Farm,鈥� would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers, .
The advocacy group for farmers in the West Bank launched the project in collaboration with U.S.-based nonprofit Treedom for Palestine, which plants trees to empower Palestinian farmers.
Carter, who 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鈥檚 military rule over the Palestinians, saying conditions in the occupied West Bank . Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
鈥淚 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,鈥� said George Zeidan, the Carter Center鈥檚 Director in Israel and Palestine.
The Associated Press
