Olive trees and Iftar

Nasreen and her siblings

One of my Advanced English students, Nasreen (she’s wearing the white headscarf in this photo), invited me for Ramadan iftar (dinner) with her family on September 5th.  She lives in a village near Nablus, called Sarra.  We ate on their second floor porch with a beautiful view of the magnificent sunset and the hilly, desert countryside spottedwith olive trees and villages.

This view was marred by a huge fire in the distance.  Olive trees belonging to Sarra farmers and farmers in a neighboring village were enveloped in huge flames.

Her family looked at the fire, and looked at each other.  It was nothing new or surprising.  Imagine watching your neighbor’s garage go up in flames and think, “Well, this happens all the time.”  We continued to eat dinner.  There is nothing they can do to prevent it.  Nothing they can do to stop it.  They can only watch.

Fire in Sarra

Israeli Army jeeps drove by the fire and did nothing. This happens all over the West Bank all the time, especially in villages like Sarra, that are surrounded in all directions by Israeli settlements.  Did this make the news?

No.

Fire in Sarra