Thread by @drghadasasa

I just read the new Haaretz article about how Israeli planted pines are suddenly dying en masse and it is absolutely worth dissecting. Here are a summary & my observations as a Palestinian scholar who writes on green colonialism. 1/

Israel boasts about having planted 250 million trees since its founding. 90% of those trees are not Indigenous. About 50% of the planted trees are "Aleppo pines" that originated in the south of Europe (mainly Spain) & North Africa. The article doesn't note they're invasive. 2/

Israel planted monocultures of these pines over the ruins of Palestinian villages to hide their existence, prevent Palestinians from returning, assert claim over the land, & greenwash its state image. I describe this weaponization of tree planting as green colonialism. 3/

The article shows pictures of pines dying in the Forest of the Martyrs from last month. Israel planted 6 million trees there to symbolize the 6 million Jews who were killed by the Nazis. What the author doesn't state, however, was they were planted over 5 Palestinian villages. 4/

Israel expelled hundreds of inhabitants from the 5 🇵🇸 villages of Dayr 'Amr, Khirbat al-'Umur, Kasla, Bayt Umm al-Mays, & 'Aqqur before destroying them & planting the forest in 1951. Every pile of stones was a home. Here is are pictures of 'Aqqur from 2023 with graying trees. 6/

Israel chose these pines since they grew quickly & Europeanized the land. Zionists also claimed these trees dominated 🇵🇸 when it fell under the control of the ancient Hebrews. However, the pines died quickly due to their flammability and susceptibility to pests & droughts. 4/

The Haaretz article reveals Israeli pines are now turning grey, completely drying up, & dying in the region around Jerusalem and even further in an-Naqab (the south of Historic Palestine), particularly Sansana Forest, Lahav Forest, and Yatir Forest, largely due to drought. 5/

Unrecognized Bedouin 🇵🇸 villages have also been destroyed to make way for the plantation of Israeli man-made forests in an-Naqab. Instead of "making the desert bloom," afforestation has been desertifying the region & increasing local temperatures due to high water consumption. 6/

Israeli pine monocultures have also been called "pine deserts," even by Israeli researchers, since they shed needles that acidified the land & eroded biodiversity, weakening the health of local ecosystems and making them more susceptible to disease. 7/

The article theorizes that the large fire that erupted last year in April near Jerusalem also contributed to the death of 1 million pines since it radiated heat & allowed pests to travel more easily. With the drying of pines & climate change, the situation is only worsening. 8/

My two main takeaways from this article are that 1) we are witnessing what may be called a land intifada. For decades, Israeli-planted pines couldn't adapt to the land & now they're collectively dying. The oaks, olives, oranges, & figs; the black goats & camels are returning. 9/

The ruins of the homes Israel desperately tried to conceal are revealed once more. And their original owners are able to return, rebuild their societies, grow trees that actually bear fruit, and tend to their lands in a sustainable manner. 10/

2) The Jewish National Fund (JNF) which is both the afforestation wing of the Israeli state & its precursor, is finally admitting that its project of "making the desert bloom" was a massive failure. That the desert landscape will return to an-Naqab. So will the Native flora. 10/

JNF chief forester is cited in the article stating, nationwide, "it will be a more open forest, less dense, more diverse forest, with more broad-leafed trees & fewer pines. This is the reality & it will happen without us." Decolonization is inevitable. 11/

It's not just about invasive species & climate change. Israel's genocide has caused severe pollution. Its displacement of Natives who developed ecological knowledge over millennia & extermination of nonhumans like black goats it deemed destructive also deteriorated the land. 12/

Similarly on Turtle Island, we see how the displacement of Natives, suppression of their fire practices, & plantation of Australian eucalyptus trees fueled fires. It is only through the return of lands to Indigenous peoples worldwide & abolition of capitalism the earth can heal.

I'm sorry I totally messed up the numbers of the tweets lol this was a long thread

A link to my freely accessible article on Israeli green colonialism, giving a comprehensive overview of the project for those who are interested 🙏
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02…

Please consider supporting our fundraiser for our family friend Majid in Gaza who is still struggling to survive the genocide and support his community. ✊
gofundme.com/f/help-majids-…

Link to the full article which is in Hebrew and behind a paywall.
haaretz.co.il/nature/2026-04…