{"id":120178,"date":"2024-08-05T11:38:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178///wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//www.yesmagazine.org/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//?post_type=article&p=120178"},"modified":"2024-08-05T11:38:13","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:38:13","slug":"seeds-growth-freedom-palestine","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178///wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//www.yesmagazine.org/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//environment/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//2024/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//08/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//05/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178//seeds-growth-freedom-palestine","title":{"rendered":"Nurturing Seeds of Freedom in Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n

Surrounded by a 26-foot-high separation wall, barbed wire, and a watchtower, a group of young Palestinians prepares a 3.5-acre piece of land for the growing season in spring. The noise of their hoes shaping the soil mixes with the humming of construction cranes from the nearby Israeli settlement of Modi/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u2019in Illit. Established in 1996 on land appropriated from Palestinian villages, the Israeli settlement is illegal under international law but continues to expand./wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n

The Om Sleiman farm in the village of Bil/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u2019in is part of a growing agroecology movement in the occupied West Bank that is turning to sustainable farming as a way to resist the Israeli occupation and stay rooted to the land. Established in 2016, Om Sleiman/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u2014Arabic for /wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201cladybug/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u2014aims to connect Palestinians to the produce they consume and to promote food sovereignty./wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201cWe share the yield of the farm with 20 to 30 members, depending on the season,/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201d explains Loor Kamal, a member of Om Sleiman, as she prepares raised beds where eggplants, tomatoes, watermelons, peppers, and beans will be sown. The farm operates on a community-supported agriculture, or CSA, model in which members pay for their share of the produce at the beginning of each season, sharing both the yield and the risks of production./wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n

One day in April, Kamal shows us around the property, which is located in Area C of the West Bank, under full Israeli military control. Here vegetables are grown alongside olive and fruit trees, but Kamal, who works at Om Sleiman with a team of five other women, mentions that a part of the land is inaccessible. /wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201cIn March, we were walking around the farm, checking the carob trees inside our land, and suddenly soldiers started shooting at us,/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201d she recalls./wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n

Growing food under military occupation has become increasingly dangerous as settler violence and repression escalate. Even with the world/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u2019s attention focused on the war in Gaza, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed more than 563 Palestinians in the West Bank since October./wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n

Despite the dangers, Om Sleiman/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u2019s team is determined to continue their work. /wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201cWe have to go on, even when there is fear, because our presence here is important,/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/u201d says Kamal as she picks eggplants, apples, and mulberries from the farm./wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/120178/n

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