Alwaght- It�s springtime, this means that flowers are in bloom. Her wrinkled hands fill the canisters with soil as blossoms shyly pop their heads in brazen colors. The paradox is true to life, summarizing the Palestinian reality that says where there is death, there is also hope. 

Peaceful Resistance

In a show of peaceful resistance, a Palestinian woman in the village of Bilin, near Ramallah, West Bank, has been planting flowers inside used tear-gas grenades in her garden.

The grenades had been collected during clashes between Israeli occupation forces and local Palestinian protesters.

Some are placed in rows on a plot of land, some others are dispersed on iron bars commonly used for construction while the rest decorate the barbed wire that reminds her of the prickly state under which she lives.

Coincidently, the area where the woman is growing the plants was reclaimed two years ago by Palestinians in a court battle. Winning the case hindered the Israelis� original plan for their separation barrier, which is also referred to as Palestine�s very own apartheid. Plans to build the wall in this area were thwarted and it forced Israelis to redirect it.� The barrier, however, will still stretch for 430 miles around the West Bank virtually rendering it a huge prison for Palestinians.

As the woman and other villagers water the plants, they give themselves the liberty that they, too, can grow beyond the walls that confine them.

 

Thorny Barriers

Life in the West Bank is not easy. Palestinians face many barriers, the most concrete of which is the separation wall as it restricts the movement of the Palestinian population.

Other hurdles that Palestinians face include the Israeli settlement expansion policy. Colonies of plain identical buildings have replaced the once picturesque geography of certain parts of the region, flattening Palestinian hills to construct Israeli settlement units.

As of December 2010, 327,750 Israelis live in the 121 settlements in the West Bank while 192,000 Israelis live in settlements in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Under international law, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal.

The UN Security Council has issued several non-binding resolutions to condemn settlements construction including resolution 446 which states �[the] practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity, and it calls on Israel as the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention.�

Another side effect of the occupation is the dire economic depression that Palestinian have to endure on a daily basis.

According to a 2007 World Bank report, the Israeli occupation has proven detrimental to the Palestinian economy.

A more recent report said if restrictions were to be lifted, the Palestinian Authority�s deficit would significantly decrease, and industries would flourish and in turn increase GDP, while employment rate would also rise.

 

Hope Blooms

The garden stands for many things, but in this context, what it stands for the most is resistance and a resolve to grow no matter the circumstances.

Like the smiles of Palestinians while being detained, or standing over one�s house that was reduced to rubble by an Israeli warplane, using a weapon as a plant-vessel is a symbol of resistance. Under an occupation that has lasted for decades and continues to be protected by its allies who claim to speak for human rights, hope sprouts in even the unlikeliest places. As the organizer of the garden said, life can spring from death.

By Alwaght