The Oldest Olive Tree in the World, Witness to the Development of 3 Religions

The Al Badawi tree in Al Walaja Village is one of a handful of olive trees in the eastern Mediterranean that is more than 2,000 years old. It might be difficult to ascertain the age of the tree.

Quoted from Atlas Obscura, in 2010, two teams: one from Italy and one from Japan, examined the carbon dates on the Al-Badawi tree. His age, it turns out much older in the range of 3,000 to 5,500 years.

Apart from that, the tree has religious, historical and cultural significance for the villagers, foreign tourists often visit the Al Badawi Tree, "Those who know the history of this tree, come," said Salah Abu Ali, owner of the olive tree garden, where the Al Badawi tree .

The olive tree in his village, named Al Badawi according to Ali, because it was a place of pilgrimage for Sufis. One of the Sufis who rested under the old olive tree was Sheik Ahmad al-Badawi, an Egyptian Sufi.

He spent a lot of time in the shade of an olive tree. The olive tree is also repeatedly mentioned in the Bible and the Koran, and its branches have become a symbol of universal peace.

But the Al Walaja olive tree has become something else for the residents of Al Walaja Village. The tree did not merely confirm the truth of the verses in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Koran, but became a symbol of resistance.

Quoted from The Guardian, Al Walaja Village indeed felt the bitterness of the Israeli occupation. Most villagers were forced to flee their homes in the midst of heavy fighting during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

The villagers took refuge around the tree, and from the height of the hill on the olive groves they watched Israeli soldiers practice war at the bottom of the hill. After the Arab-Israeli War ceased, Al Walaja Village lost 70 percent of its territory.

The city was increasingly eroded after Israel captured the West Bank during the Six Day War in 1967. Israel then expanded the City of Jerusalem, annexing about half of the remaining village territory.

When Israel built a dividing wall, the village of Al Walaja was again threatened to be divided in two. But the citizens won the battle in court, and the dividing wall finally circled the edge of the village. The wall now stands just below the Ali family garden, separating the new village from the old site, just across the narrow valley.

Despite winning the court, dozens of houses have been bulldozed to make way for the City of Jerusalem. Al Walaja is still isolated, surrounded by Israeli dividing walls and no longer able to access agricultural land and springs.

Now there is not much done by Ali and his family in farming. His main activity now is caring for the Al Badawi tree, which is in his family's garden. His sons help, and often sleep under a tree. He remembered, in childhood he did the same thing. After helping his father, he fell asleep under the Al Badawi tree.

The Palestinian Authority now pays Ali a small amount of monthly money to guard it. Palestinian authorities are worried that Israeli settlers and soldiers are burning and cutting down ancient olive trees in other parts of the West Bank. According to the United Nations, about 45 percent of agricultural land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip contains olive trees, providing income for around 100,000 families.

"Palestinians are attached to olive trees," Ali said. "The olive tree is part of our resistance and part of our religion. With olive trees we live, and without them we do not live. "

Olive trees have the ability to survive more than other trees. It can live on the Levant landscape - the rocky and rugged, Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Jordanian regions. This tree only needs a little water and care. And for centuries, people have relied on olive trees for food and oil, even since 8,000 years ago. However, a tree as big as Al Badawi needs special attention and more water. The atmosphere is increasingly difficult, because the region has decreased rainfall compared to previous years.

The past five years have been very difficult, Ali said, when he woke up to check the hose he used to pump water from the shallow springs above. Once a year, the tree was bare and did not produce anything.

Last year, with the help of a healthy rainy season, Ali was able to harvest 400 kilograms, or nearly 900 pounds of olives. "Whereas 20 years ago, there was more rain and produced 600 kilograms regularly," he said.

Source: tempo.co