Where there is life, there is hope, and in Biblical tradition, the olive tree represents peace and comfort.
It thus comes as no surprise that it is the ancient olive tree that dozens of activists and kibbutz movement members chose to plant Wednesday as a sign of renewal and hope in Israeli communities evacuated along the southern and northern borders.
“This year’s Passover holiday is all about hope for the return of the abducted, for the safety of the security forces and for the rehabilitation of the communities that were abandoned and evacuated,” said Lior Simcha, secretary-general of the kibbutz movement.
The activists and kibbutzniks were joined by representatives from the evacuated kibbutzim.
The list of communities in which the olive trees are expected to sprout new life is long:
Be’eri, Nahal Oz, Mefalsim, Givim, Dan, Dafna, Goshrim, Kfar Blum, Lehavot Hashan, Yiftah, Snir, Hanita and more.
Among those listed were many that were decimated during the October 7 invasion and massacre by thousands of Hamas-led terrorists from Gaza.
Following October 7, the government evacuated 43 communities located up to five kilometers from the Lebanese border, including approximately 61,000 residents, along with several thousand more who decided to evacuate on their own.
About 80,000 people were evacuated from the decimated communities along the Gaza border and other nearby communities that were spared.
However, not all communities chose to evacuate, and in some cases, some people stayed behind even in those that did, in order to tend to their fields, their orchards and to care for their cows, goats and other animals.
The Israeli government has extended the evacuation period until July/August 2024, according to the Alma Research and Education Center, at which time the situation will be re-evaluated.
Lebanon’s Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, is continuing with multiple daily attacks on Israel’s border communities, proving the evacuation plan was one that saved many lives.
Although the attack capabilities of Gaza’s Iranian proxy, Hamas and its ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have been significantly degraded as a result of the IDF operations in the enclave, four terrorist battalions remain to be eliminated and still manage to fire rockets at southern Israel intermittently.
