I can remember collecting tzedakah (donations) as a child for planting trees in Israel. It seemed like such a natural and healthy cause. It’s something we did regularly through our temple. But, now I realize that what I hoped would be doing good, was likely supporting the eviction of Palestinians from their homeland, the colonization of their farmland and a tragic upset of the ecosystem. It’s a very sad realization.

Fast forward to my adult life as a flower farmer: Much of the land of Palestine/Israel near the sea is known as rich, arable land. In Palestine, cyclamen and anemones bloom as wildflowers from December to March. Then come the poppies and buttercups and yes, even tulips! Daisies, marigolds, and chamomile follow. Many of the flowers we have come to know and love as growers and florists grow in the wild in what should be a beautiful, quiet mediterranean land - the perfect place to grow flowers.

As a flower farmer I came to know the Israeli company Danziger as the producer of prized hybrid varieties — the gypsophila (baby’s breath) “Million” series, the scabiosa “Scoop” series, “Skylar” veronica, “Galilee”, “Meron”, and “Jerusalem” anemones. We have grown many of these here ourselves. They are sold only to professional growers, with few outlets around the world. We’ve felt lucky to gain access to them. Now, we choose to boycott them.

The recent events in Palestine/Israel made me wonder about the flower industry in Gaza. The land is being obliterated. We see videos of families devastated daily by the crushed remains of their relatives, homes, and olive trees. It’s heartbreaking. And wrong. And knowing this and talking about it does not make me an anti-semite. Knowing this and talking about this doesn’t mean that I agree with what Hamas did on October 7. I don’t agree with it. It’s OK to be against both things. They’re both horrifying and unjust.

Wanting to learn more, I found that cut flowers have been grown professionally for a VERY long time on the land that was once known simply as Palestine - even under it’s occupation by British colonialists. Palestinians who were crammed into the West Bank and tiny Gaza strip after their forced relocation in 1948 carried on the tradition of growing flowers, too. And they were able to make flowers profitable crops until the Israeli occupation prevented them from exporting their goods and strangled the life from the few remaining flower farms.

In 1998, Gazans exported an impressive 80 million flowers to the rest of the world. They grew chrysanthemums, carnations, roses and many other kinds of flowers, mostly on family farms in northern Gaza - (now bulldozed and bombed to bits).

But, just 8 years later in 2006, the crops numbered only 45 million. When 2008 came around the Gazans were permitted by the occupation to export only 5.5 million cut flowers. The occupying state of Israel prevented their flower sales and crippled the industry.

This depreciated quantity supported a small number of farms. In 2008, there were about 100 small flower farms remaining in Gaza. And the families that ran the farms were still able to export their goods to Holland. But, as you can see, by that point, the industry was already in sharp decline due to blockades by the Israeli occupation.

By 2012 the affects of the closure of the Gaza Strip and Israel’s control over exports meant that Palestinian farmers in Gaza could not get the products they were capable of growing to the markets that would buy them. Israeli inspectors were accused of intentionally leaving Gazan agricultural goods out to spoil. The Palestinian farmers of Gaza could not even get their flowers and vegetables to other Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The occupation of Gaza is a form of collective punishment. And it also has to be called what it is: genocide. The brutal reality that the survivors of one genocide are committing genocide against another group is an embarrassment and stain on humanity. Nothing justifies the killing of a civilian population. Nothing justifies the bombing of hospitals, schools, and places of worship. Nothing justifies the murder of families fleeing to safe zones with white flags in their hands. The murder and maiming of countless children. The execution of doctors, paramedics, and volunteers. Nothing.

My English name is Linda. My Hebrew name was Leia (pronounced LAY-uh). I don’t practice a traditional “faith” anymore and haven’t for years. I’ve never felt further from the faith I once knew or more disturbed by its perversion by the far right nationalist agenda in Israel.

But I do still believe: Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself.

The garden is my cathedral now. It’s where true stewards of the earth recognize the right of all people to enjoy nature. It’s where we dream that one day the people of Palestine will see their flowers bloom again.

In Gaza, agricultural land is measured in dunums. 10 dunums = 1 hectare. 1 hectare = 2.47 acres. So 1 dunum = about a quarter acre (about half a soccer field). Understanding this unit of measurement helps us understand the scale of the family farms in Gaza. If you read the articles linked below you’ll find the above equation helpful.

Sources:

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights: Narratives Under Siege (5): Hassan Sheikh Hijazi Flower Farm

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights: Occupied Lives: Farming Without a Market

The National: An Israeli Group is Uprooting Palestinians, Not Planting Trees.

Nature Israel: Don’t Plant Any Tree in Israel

National Geographic: They Planted a Forest at the Edge of a Desert. From There it Got Complicated.

The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem/Society: Blossoming Spring in Palestine