Palestinians dedicate West Bank olive grove to Jimmy Carter

TULKAREM, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian activists and residents of this northern West Bank town gathered on Monday to plant an olive grove in memory of the late U.S. President Jimmy Carter, describing him as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.

Abbas Melhem, executive manager of the Palestinian Farmers Union, said the 10 dunam (2.5 acre) grove, called the “Freedom Farm,” consists of 250 newly planted olive trees. The farm is to be fenced in to protect the trees from wild animals or extremist Jewish settlers, who have attacked Palestinian olive trees in the past, he said.

Carter’s legacy “will have been rooted among people, mainly in Palestine, because he was one of those only who stood firmly supporting the struggle of the Palestinians for independence and for freedom,” Melhem said.

The advocacy group, based in the West Bank, launched the project in collaboration with Treedom for Palestine, a U.S. nonprofit that promotes projects to empower Palestinian farmers by planting trees.

Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100, brokered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978. In his later years, he was highly critical of Israel’s rule over the Palestinians, saying the situation in the West Bank amounted to apartheid.