Will the Real Zionists Please Plant a Tree

This was the end of an exciting day for Amara, who heads a Jewish National Fund greenhouse at Golani Junction. [....]

Like a proud father who nurtured his children, he walked through the rows of seedlings.

"These are seedlings of high quality from every respect - thickness, shape, health, development of its roots," he said.

The seedlings originate from locations throughout the country where seeds were collected and were planted at the greenhouse under conditions favorable to their species.

A bumpy ride along a dirt path comes to an end at the foothills of the settlement of Ateret, at the edge of what will be Ruwabi. Dozens of people are there to plant, ranging in age from youth to people in their 60s, waiting for the truck with the seedlings.

Everyone brought tools from home. One person has a metal hoe with a serial number dating back to Ottoman times.

"This is a very old hoe which belonged to my grandfather," he tells the JNF people, who are amazed by the fact.

Michael Weinberg of the JNF acknowledges that there is a great deal of "professional pride in the project. We are helping in any way we can."

Kneeling to touch the earth, he is optimistic: "There are excellent conditions here."

A new Palestinian city takes root - with JNF trees

Are we Jews now building up our homeland for the Arabs?

After G-d, your G-d brings you into the land about which He swore to your fathers Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, to give you great and wonderful cities, which you did not have to build, houses full of good things, which you did not have to put there, and wells that you did not have to dig, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not have to plant, you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful not to forget G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Devarim 6:10-12)