Amid the ruins of Palestinian villages destroyed by Israeli forces, life sprouts from the branches of newly-planted trees. While the Israeli government might suggest that this is nature reclaiming old habitat, much of this process is unnatural and predates the ongoing war in Gaza. Spaces formerly inhabited by Palestinians and their olive groves have been cleared by Israeli forces in many locations, and new trees — in many cases not native to the area — have been planted by the Jewish National Fund, a nonprofit founded in 1901 to develop land for Jewish settlement.
The Aleppo pine, for instance, is a fast-growing species found throughout the western Mediterranean, Greece and parts of the Levant, including northeastern portions of historical Palestine. But it has now become so widespread in Israel and Palestine that many environmentalists have blamed devastating wildfires on its unnatural proliferation. According to their research, the Aleppo pine's highly flammable leaves and cones have increased the risks of fire. Projects by Israeli nonprofits to introduce this species and other non-native trees, in other words, may not be conducive to their stated mission of "making the desert bloom."
