TENDING AN OLIVE TREE by Michael Mersinis

An exploration of the entanglement of art, ecology, and geopolitical violence through the translocation of a Palestinian olive tree sapling to a Scottish gallery space. Drawing on many sources including Aristophanes’ Peace, Michael Mersinis positions the olive tree sapling not as an object of aesthetic contemplation, but as a living, contested agent that disrupts dominant narratives of peace and belonging.

For K., my instructor and aptly named friend. خليل

A seatbelt and 2 pieces of string

Is all one needs

 μὲν γὰρ Εἰρήνη τἄνθεα φέρει, τὰ σῦκα,
καὶ τὰς ἀμπέλους, καὶ τὰς ἐλαίας,
καὶ τὰς κωμάς, καὶ τοὺς χορούς,
καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἐν τοῖς διδασκαλείοις.
“For Peace brings the flowers, the figs,
the vines, the olives,
the village festivals, the dances,
and the children back to their schools.”[2]

Aristophanes’ Peace (Εἰρήνη)

A Tragedy Following Attacks

On the morning of October 7, 2023, the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted into a new and deadly phase. At approximately 6:30 a.m., Hamas launched a highly coordinated and unprecedented assault on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. The operation, notable for both its scale and surprise, marked one of the most significant breaches of Israeli territory by a non-state actor in recent memory.[3] Over 3,000 rockets were fired into southern and central Israel, striking cities including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. While Israel’s Iron Dome defence system intercepted many, others hit civilian infrastructure, spreading panic. Concurrently, hundreds of Hamas soldiers infiltrated Israeli territory by land, using explosives, bulldozers, and unconventional methods such as motorized paragliders and small boats.[4] They targeted army outposts, civilian homes, and the Nova music festival near the Re’im kibbutz. The attacks unfolded with speed and determination. Militants moved through towns like Be’eri, Kfar Aza, and Sderot, killing civilians, burning homes, and taking hostages. Graphic video footage documented shootings, kidnappings, and chaos at the Nova festival, where around 260 people were killed. In total, more than 1,100 Israelis—civilians, soldiers, and foreign nationals—were killed in the attack and its immediate aftermath. Around 240 people were abducted and taken into Gaza, including nationals from multiple countries.[5] The scale and coordination of the assault exposed a profound intelligence and security failure. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency, and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) responded with widespread airstrikes on Gaza, targeting Hamas infrastructure. Israel also imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity, fuel, food, and water to over 2 million people. In the days that followed, Gaza’s humanitarian situation rapidly deteriorated. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Airstrikes destroyed residential buildings, refugee camps, and markets, displacing hundreds of thousands.[6] Thousands of Palestinians were killed, including both militants and civilians—among them women, children, journalists, medical workers, and UN staff. Whole neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble, and shortages of water, power, and medical supplies intensified the crisis. The World Health Organization, UNRWA, and other NGOs warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe.

Hamas claimed the attack was a response to the blockade of Gaza,[7] repeated Israeli incursions into the West Bank, and actions at sensitive religious sites like the Al-Aqsa Mosque. While some in Gaza saw it as a symbolic strike against Israeli dominance, many feared the inevitable and devastating retaliation. International responses were swift and sharply divided. The U.S., U.K., EU, and other Western nations condemned Hamas and affirmed Israel’s right to self-defence. President Joe Biden described the attack as “sheer evil.” In contrast, states like Turkey and Qatar called for restraint and urged attention to the conflict’s root causes. Russia and China issued more neutral statements, emphasizing de-escalation. Human rights organizations condemned violations by both sides. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UN agencies denounced Hamas’s killings and kidnappings, while also criticizing Israel’s bombardment of civilian areas and its use of collective punishment through siege tactics. Accusations of breaches of international humanitarian law were levelled at both parties, with growing calls for investigations by bodies such as the International Criminal Court. In Israel, the attack triggered a profound sense of trauma and national grief. Mass funerals were held across the country. Survivors described harrowing scenes—hiding for hours in safe rooms, hearing gunfire and screams. Families recounted how loved ones were killed or abducted. Images of women being dragged into Gaza circulated widely, rekindling a deep sense of fear and a renewed support for strong military action.

Inside Gaza, the aftermath of the Israeli assault deepened existing despair. Decades of blockade, occupation, and displacement formed the backdrop to the violence. Airstrikes wiped out entire families. Schools, universities, and civil institutions were decimated. International humanitarian bodies warned that the conflict risked expanding into a regional war unless a ceasefire was brokered. Israel’s military campaign intensified in the weeks following the attack, with ground operations in northern Gaza aimed at dismantling Hamas’s military infrastructure and rescuing hostages. These incursions met fierce resistance. Diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. aimed to negotiate temporary humanitarian pauses and hostage exchanges. Some were achieved, but a full ceasefire remained elusive.

The events of October 7 sparked renewed global debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[8] Questions resurfaced about the viability of a two-state solution, the responsibilities of neighbouring Arab states, and the mechanisms for accountability under international law. While Hamas’s assault was widely condemned, many also acknowledged that long-term peace remains impossible without addressing the underlying grievances, systemic inequalities, and humanitarian suffering fuelling the conflict. The October 7 events and its aftermath marked one of the most consequential chapters in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. It exposed critical vulnerabilities, reignited old grievances, and placed immense strain on humanitarian norms and international diplomacy. The full political and human consequences of this escalation continue to unfold and are likely to shape the region’s trajectory for years and generations to come.[9]

The initial cautionary statements are turning out to hold. As of the day of this writing, there is neither reached, nor a decision for a ceasefire.  Ceasefire negotiations in Gaza have reached a critical juncture, centred on a U.S.-brokered proposal for a 60-day truce linked to hostage releases and expanded humanitarian aid. Diplomatic activity has intensified, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting U.S. President Donald Trump twice in Washington—signalling strong American engagement. However, Netanyahu remains constrained by political pressures at home and has reiterated several red lines. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff[10] has travelled to Qatar to address unresolved issues, most notably the status of Israel’s military presence in Gaza’s southern “Morag Corridor”.[11] Captured in April 2025, the corridor enables Israeli troop deployment in southern Gaza—an arrangement Hamas firmly opposes, demanding a full withdrawal. Progress on hostage negotiations has been uneven. Israel has agreed to release approximately 10 living and up to 18 deceased hostages, but internal disputes over prioritization have stirred tensions among families of captives.[12] Hamas has accused Israel of inflexibility but continues to signal willingness to strike a deal. The first round of indirect talks in Qatar concluded without agreement, hindered by gaps on key issues: military withdrawal, aid access, and sequencing of hostage releases. As part of the proposed framework, Israel would withdraw troops in phases and allow humanitarian supplies through EU-brokered routes via Egypt and Jordan. The EU, led by foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, recently secured a deal to expand aid flows, aiming to ease civilian suffering and push negotiations forward. Despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes—reportedly killing at least 20 Palestinians on July 9—diplomats remain committed to reaching an agreement. Israel insists[13] any pause be conditional on Hamas agreeing to eventual demilitarization. Observers see this moment as the most promising since the January–March hostage-ceasefire talks.[14] With broad consensus on hostages, aid, and truce duration, troop redeployment remains the key obstacle. Hardliners on both sides threaten progress: Israeli factions resist withdrawal, while Hamas demands total Israeli exit and UN-controlled aid. Until these final issues are resolved, any ceasefire remains tentative—offering little possibility of relief.

The Gaza strip is for from being an isolated case. Several major conflict zones around the world have remained active over the past decade, contributing to global instability, humanitarian crises, and mass displacement. In Syria (2011–), a civil war continues with fragmented control, Russian and Iranian backing for Assad, and ongoing violence in the northwest. Yemen (2014–) remains in crisis due to the civil war between Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition. Ukraine (2014–) saw full-scale invasion in 2022 by Russia, resulting in ongoing war and mass destruction. Ethiopia (2020–) continues to face ethnic violence, especially after the Tigray war, with unrest persisting in regions like Amhara and Oromia. Democratic Republic of Congo (1996–) is gripped by renewed fighting in the east, particularly involving M23 rebels and various militias. Afghanistan (2001–) remains unstable since the 2021 Taliban takeover, with ongoing insurgency from ISIS-K military forces. In Myanmar (1948–), civil war deepened after the military coup, with widespread resistance by ethnic armies and pro-democracy militias. The Sahel region (2012–), is destabilized by jihadist insurgencies and coups, making it one of the fastest-growing conflict zones globally and Somalia (1991–present) continues to struggle against al-Shabaab insurgents. Sudan (2023–) is in the grip of a brutal civil war between rival military factions and Libya (2011–) remains fractured between rivals. Finally, Haiti (2018–) is undergoing near-total state collapse, with gang violence overrunning the capital and sparking international intervention plans. These prolonged and often interconnected conflicts reveal a global trend of weakened governance, proxy warfare, and humanitarian neglect. The events of October 7^th may well have led to renewed warfare, but they are hardly an isolated case. The world has not known peace for a long time, the image of it is reserved for historically determined positive and romantic notions that are far from a reality as we come to know it.

The Offer of Peace

In the Western Arts the representation of Peace is one that seemed to be trapped between the romantic and the wishful, both missing a point that was made long time ago by Aristophanes. Throughout Western art history, the representation of peace has evolved from mythological personifications and religious allegories to complex, often contested symbols reflecting society’s changing relationship with war, governance, and human rights. Peace has been portrayed as divine grace, political order, philosophical harmony, emotional serenity, and political aspiration. This rich visual tradition underscores peace’s enduring significance as both an artistic theme and a vital social ideal, continually reinterpreted to meet the challenges of each era, but it is one that has long departed from the pragmatic framework that the first play inspired. The shifting cultural, religious, political, and philosophical ideas across centuries may have affected formal concerns to occur with regards to the representation, they all remain however for the most part rooted in the romanticised ideation. Peace is not something that we are currently enjoying. Rather it is something that we find ourselves constantly aspiring to achieve. The symbolic language of the Greco-Roman culture here allows the important olive tree to occur. An olive branch is an offering – nothing more and nothing less. The promise that the bearer will prove true to their work and affect a state of the pausing of war and strife.

Perhaps is indicative that the olive tree branch came to it’s own political dimension (moving from mere symbolic gesture) in 1775,[15] where the American Continental Congress adopted the “Olive Branch Petition” in the hope of avoiding a full-blown war with Great Britain. In the escalating conflict between the American colonies and Great Britain at a critical juncture in an escalating conflict, old symbolism was resurrected as a means to signal hope. The petition itself was a carefully worded document, drafted primarily by John Dickinson, which expressed the colonies’ grievances, condemned the use of force against them, and implored the king to intercede on their behalf. However, it avoided any direct challenge to British authority, emphasizing loyalty to the monarchy and a desire to remain part of the British Empire. This delicate balance reflected the divisions within the Congress between moderates who hoped for reconciliation and radicals pushing for independence. Despite however the petition’s conciliatory tone and symbolic appeal, King George III refused to receive it, instead declaring the colonies in a state of rebellion. Both sides hardened their stance and paved the way for the Declaration of Independence the following year.[16]

The olive branch signals the offering as it suggests that the societies that choose to attain peace will flourish. The iconography promised peace as harmony and peace as a condition linked to order and plenty and carried over to the Christian tradition, albeit the child goddess of the Greco-Roman culture has evolved to a sprite that is linked with spiritual salvation and divine grace. Again in the iconography the future is promised as an objective that is to be met. The dove, drawn from the New Testament story of Noah and later Christian symbolism, emerged as a primary emblem of peace and the Holy Spirit. In these works, peace was often represented less as a political state and more as an inner, spiritual tranquillity or the promise of a future kingdom of God. In the Rennaissance and later during the Baroque and Rococo periods Raphael and Piero Della Francesca integrated classical symbols with Christian iconography and suggested that peace is something that can be fully attained through rational and logical approaches. Nicolas Poussin and Rubens suggested perhaps through the use of dramatic lighting and a context that is more akin to a theatre setting, that the divine arena of those before that that there may be perhaps be a tension with regards to values between war and peace that is not as easily resolvable, nor as easily attainable – not without a struggle in any case. The presence and contrast between the very masculine armour-clad Ares / Mar (God of War in the Greco-Roman Cultures) and the diminutive young goddess Peace hinted towards more than gender dynamics towards a precarious balance between conflict, harmony and ultimately – power. The dove re-emerges in the 20^th century in Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937) and was further adapted in re-iterations supporting nuclear disarmament and peace activism. Postmodern and globalized contexts emphasize peace not only as the absence of war but also as social justice, reconciliation, and environmental sustainability. Artists such as Ai Weiwei and Banksy incorporate peace into works that have apolitical dimension and are relying on already common and shared symbolism and allegory to speak through these issues. The wishful and positive thinking (and one that suggests that indeed the attainment of peace can only be a communal effort was first put forward by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes (Ἀριστοφάνης c. 446 – c. 386 BC) but the famous play Peace (Εἰρήνη[17]) this communal effort is subverted by a sarcasm that may be subtle, it does however allow the deadlock between the war-mongering politicians, who very logically understand that war indeed is a force that in not purely negative, and the idealistic farmers who are led by a war-weary Trygaeus riding his dung-beetle to free the goddess Peace from her imprisoned state. Aristophanes’ approach through the comedic medium is one that is pragmatic and idealistic in equal measure. The Return of peace is one that leads to the pleasures of ordinary life, a vision that Is both bucolic and hedonistic. Peace is fragile, and whilst the common effort is the one that will in the end allow her to escape the prison, the danger of a returned state of war and strife is lingering. Aristophanes may call the young goddess ‘Peace’, but in the arena of contemporary politics, we would really speak of a Truce – a fragile and tentative truce, and one that is effectively both at the mercy of the war-mongers, as it of the ordinary folk.

War and Truce  – continuous catastrophes

The Gaza Strip is enduring a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe. Over two million people—over 90% of the population—are now without adequate food, water, sanitation, shelter, healthcare, education, electricity, and fuel. The UN estimates that nearly 470,000 individuals are in catastrophic food insecurity, with an additional one million facing emergency conditions.[18] Many families have exhausted their coping mechanisms and are on the verge of famine. Fuel shortages have critically impacted all essential services. Hospitals—like the main Al‑Shifa facility—are operating only hours at a time on dwindling generator power. Dialysis, incubators, and surgery units have been shut down, and emergency oxygen systems are failing. Water desalination plants are offline, sanitation systems have collapsed, waste is uncollected, and respiratory and waterborne diseases such as meningitis and hepatitis A are surging. Health infrastructure has been devastated to a concerning degree. More than half of Gaza’s hospitals are only partly functional, while a total of over 600 attacks against health facilities—affecting 122 centres—have been documented during the conflict. Medical evacuations have faltered, leaving critically ill patients with no safe passage to treatment facilities abroad. Schools and shelters have not been spared. At least 90% of schools are damaged, with 88% in need of full reconstruction. Over half a million students and 20,500 teachers have had their education disrupted. Many displaced families—now totalling around 714,000—including 29,000 newly uprooted in recent days, are sleeping outdoors due to shortages of shelter materials.[19] Flooding from winter rains has compounded the crisis, repeatedly damaging tents and causing infrastructure collapse in refugee camps.[20]  Aid delivery has been severely restricted. Since early March, the blockade has all but halted humanitarian convoys, with less than 100 trucks entering daily compared to over 600 pre-war levels. Aid distribution has been deadly: 640 people were shot at or injured near food distribution sites between late May and early July, overwhelming medical and Red Cross services. Separately, a UN convoy at Kerem Shalom was looted, further limiting food access. In Gaza City’s Khan Younis district, a major water reservoir has been rendered inaccessible due to displacement orders affecting around 80,000 residents, raising fears of a complete breakdown of water provision. In northern Gaza, access to clean water remains below 5 litres per person per day—well under emergency minimums.[21] UNRWA records over 52,900 deaths and 119,800 injuries since October 2023—15,000 of the dead were children. Around 17,000 children are unaccompanied, and another 35,000 are orphans. International agencies are warning the crisis is at a critical turning point.[22] The UN’s OCHA, Red Cross, WHO, UNICEF, and other humanitarian organizations have repeatedly called for urgent fuel deliveries, expanded aid access, and protection of civilian lives, warning that without immediate action, the humanitarian system risks total collapse. Gaza is facing multi-dimensional collapse: hospitals and schools are breaking down, families are displaced and unprotected, disease and malnutrition are rising, and the humanitarian system itself is faltering under blockade and conflict.

The offer for a show amidst global unrest

When the call to take part in a group show of the Reading Landscape Research group of The Glasgow School of Art arrived to have a show in the School, it came as an invitation to both mark an anniversary of sorts, but it also allowed a more experimental approach to take place with regards to work that was made and shown. Reading Landscape initiated in June 2014 by Susan Brind (Reader in Contemporary Art: Practice & Events, Department of Sculpture & Environmental Art) and Nicky Bird (Reader in Contemporary Photographic Practice, School of Fine Art).  The research group, based in GSA’s School of Fine Art (SoFA), provides a context for Fine Art practice and other cross disciplinary research interests through a programme of research seminars, and knowledge exchange in addition to practice-led research projects. Working through themes surrounding People and Place, the Landscape and the various approaches of Embodiment, considering both Wild and Urban Places, the history and contentious nature of them and how they form both the landscape around them, as well as play a significant part to the lives of people that inhabit them and come in contact with them, it is currently comprised by 29 members overall and is engaged in various projects that investigate through research (both Practice-led and Practice-Based) and collaborative ventures, events and publications our relationship to places and their histories.

The date for the show was set for April 22^nd 2025, and during the 2 months that preceded the show the period was marked by intensified military actions, severe humanitarian consequences, and significant international diplomatic initiatives. On April 12, Israel launched a major military operation in Gaza, resulting in widespread destruction and numerous casualties. By April 15, reports indicated that the Israeli military had declared large parts of Gaza, including Rafah and northern Gaza City, as no-go zones, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. This move was part of a broader strategy to exert control over the region and prevent Hamas from regrouping. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that by early May, approximately 70% of Gaza[24] had been declared off-limits, severely restricting access to essential services and humanitarian aid. Israel maintained an eight-week blockade on food, medicine, and aid entering Gaza. Aerial attacks continued to target residential buildings and shelters, exacerbating the crisis.[25] International organizations condemned these actions, with the United Nations describing the situation as the worst humanitarian crisis in the region’s history. Amid a continuous and escalating violence, diplomatic efforts intensified, but failed to reach any practical truce. On the day of the opening, April 22, a global “Day of Rage” was observed, with protests occurring worldwide in support of Palestinians. In response, Israel heightened security measures and urged vigilance ahead of potential unrest. There were intensified marches in most cities that asked for a truce and a solution to this on-going conflict, but they were largely ignored, despite diplomatic efforts being intensified. In France President Emmanuel Macron announced[26] that France would recognize a Palestinian state by June 2025, coinciding with the international conference. This move was welcomed by Palestinian officials but condemned by Israel, which viewed it as a reward for terrorism.

There is no denying about the collapse of considerations of peace – indeed there are severe reservations if indeed peace between Israel and Palestine can be ever obtained, since the Six-Day War where Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, the key conflicts are wide-ranging and go from the status of Jerusalem to the Israeli settlements and borders, and from security consideration in neighbouring states to then Palestinian Freedom of Movement and the Palestinian right to return.[27] The events of October 7^th further made relationships that begun in the late 19^th century in Europe hostile, when then Balfour Declaration of 1917,[28] which promised to support the creation of a “Jewish homeland” in Palestine. Following British occupation of the formerly Ottoman region during World War I, Mandatory Palestine was established as a British mandate, in 67 words the consequences were severe, allowing for international legal standing and placing Britain in administrative control of the territory after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. An ambitious language with regards to the rights of non-Jewish communities, is celebrated by many in Jewish communities and regarded by many Palestinians as a colonial imposition that disregarded their political and national rights and set the stage for future disputes and reached peaking point on October 7^th 2025.

In this climate there is little one can do that could reasonably resolve a situation that is determined by agendas that run deep and crystallise in the geopolitical arena so strongly. History is collapsing in on top of itself, in an era, where conflict seems to breed more conflict, and where strife leads to increased population migrations even more so than ever before. This is a struggle that goes beyond the land, into religion, rights to land that are historical and religiously determined and as such it presents itself as a wicked problem that is resisting representation.

For my contribution to the Reading Landscape Show ‘Field Notes’, I chose to think through both the actual, the symbolic and the representational. How else can one that discuss the repercussions that the conflict of the land have on a local and global level if not by addressing these factors that are both particularly local and international both in a symbolic and representational level? How can one speak about a Thing without the Thing itself?

οὐκ ἔτι λέσχης, οὐκ ἔτι στρατηγεῖν,

οὐκ ἔτι ψήφων, οὐκ ἔτι καὶ λογομαχεῖν·

ἀλλὰ γῆν σκάπτειν μόνον καὶ τὸν βίον ζῆν[29].

“No more assemblies, no more generals,

no more voting, no more wrangling—

just digging the earth and living your life. “

Aristophanes’ Peace (Εἰρήνη)

A slender, root-bound sapling arrives in Scotland, its stem still green, its roots balled in soil wrapped in a plastic bag and cloth. It carries no passport, no phytosanitary certificate, no customs clearance. It does not arrive in Scotland formally, but rather without papers. ‘Sans papier’’—a migrant entity in the most literal and symbolic sense. The transport from Palestine to Scotland is a result of a favour. Many years ago, during a mandatory service in the Hellenic Navy, I had a Palestinian instructor – K. They are the world’s leading expert in hurling explosives over long distances with humble slings. He is the one who first talked to me about the significance of the Olive tree in Palestine and its precarious position. He comes from a family of olive tree farmers in Gaza, and knows first and what it is to be prosecuted and what it means for land that your own livelihood relies on is taken forcibly. When I first found out about the significance of the Olive tree to the Palestinian people, I did not question the worth of the tree to the land, nor its benefits to the economy or the culture. I come from Greece – the relationship of the country whose historical myths place the Olive Tree in a privileged position, a gift from the Gods (in a sense that transgresses the metaphorical and considering the deep effects to the livelihood of the people and the benefit to the agriculture moves towards the literal) is not lost to me. What I did not know back then, however, is the deep relationship of war to the tree itself.

In Palestine the Olive Tree is an aspect that is deflected onto the landscape and this deflection erodes the boundary between law and war. Dealing with issues of colonization, nationalization, and the way that these implicate landscape as a ‘natural occurrence’ and places the Olive Tree in the centre of a conversation that exceeds the mere botanical, and extends into the geopolitical. Since 1901, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), an organization established by the Fifth Zionist Congress to purchase land in biblical Israel, has planted more than 240 million trees (mostly pines) in Israel. This massive enterprise transformed the Israeli/Palestinian landscape in fundamental ways. Over the years, the pine has become the quintessential symbol of the Zionist project of afforesting the Holy Land into a European-looking landscape. One that is both manicured and considered, and one that in turn places notions of possession to that land that that it rests on. The division between a-people that identifies the pine and the people that call the olive tree their own is almost totemic in nature and characteristic of a bleeding of politics into nature.

In Palestine this also has its roots in the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Land Code that states that ‘everyone who has possessed and cultivated [Miri] land for ten years without dispute acquires a right by prescription [. . .], and he shall be given a new title deed gratuitously’.[30] [31] Even during the Six-Day War where Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967 there was a consideration of the Ottoman Land Code, that allowed the remaining of anyone who could prove that had strong attachments to the land through means of cultivation of Olive Trees. The particular cultural, historical and material understanding of what actually constitutes ‘cultivation of land’ and its consequences is indicative here, as it demonstrates a continuation of Ottoman Law, British Administration that is shared internationally.[32] During the management of Palestine, the British declared certain lands as forest reserves, thereby transforming them into state lands in Article 78.[33] What initially began in the years of the Ottoman Empire as an attempt to encourage agriculture in those areas that were distant from the direct control of the Ottoman Empire, mostly for the purpose of eliciting taxes turned out to be a point of contention, as both the Palestinians made use of Article 78 to continue to remain (and therefore legitimise their own claims to a land that was now contested), but also the Israelis placed forward similar considerations through their own claims. In fact, the cultivation of any tree in a contested territory is one that is determined (by law and otherwise) both in terms of encouragement and prevention. Ideas of labour here (as a manifestation of investment to the land one occupies), but also necessity (as the fruits of the land cultivated contribute towards the survival of the people who cultivate that land). One can see that the stakes are high and form a crucial framework that may not necessarily define a position, but it certainly reinforces it by right that has had historical and legal precedence – and as such is understood in both historical and practical terms to legitimise property fo land, but also through then formation of deep cultural roots allow for a consideration (and a definition) of home to occur. Of course, the legitimisation of land and home (whether temporary or permanent) is that this cultivation is a form to technology that links land to people. The more robust and well-defined is that link, the more direct and robust are any claims for legitimisation.[34]

My Palestinian instructor in the Hellenic navy was clear with regards to a continuous warfare that seemed to be ongoing, continuous and insidious. The land of his family and all the olive trees that were on it were frequent victims of attacks. Roots were uprooted, poisoned, trees were cut at the top (a gesture that makes the worth of the Olive tree to be very difficult, as the very nature of the tree relies on the long and thick leaves that collect sunlight to grow to the full capacity). During my talks with him, the difficulty in understanding the tragedy of the uprooting of trees that were always understood by me to be in a unique position to make the land tamer, more arid and richer in minerals were clear – there was no questioning of a value here of a tree that was mythical and established in symbolism. What was unclear became apparent during the preparation and the research that was necessary to think though a body of works that I would put forward for the Reading The Landscape Show at The Glasgow School of Art.

The years between my enforced time in the Hellenic Navy in Greece and my new life as an artist in Scotland turned out to be particularly harsh to K. Forced to move back to Palestine to take care of his family’s olive grove as a necessary move, and it followed an accident with incendiary devices that he had during his time as instructor in the Naval Base of S. This left him with a considerate disability in his right hand, and deep scars in his face, K moved back to follow a long family tradition. We stayed in contact, and as the events of October 7^th unfolded, this contact became more frequent. For the show – for me really – I decided to ask him a favour. To send to me, in Scotland, a young olive tree sapling. Close to the preparation for the show, what had been three hectares of old olive trees and a hectare of younger saplings was completely decimated. There were a handful saplings remaining and one of them found its way to Scotland to be alongside photographs of olive groves. K was adamant that this was a last resort to make sure that at least one would survive. A few were sent to Canada and Greece to distant family that is there. All were sent with a promise: to take care of that sapling and to make sure it would survive. For Greece I had no doubt that there would be little to do in terms of care, but for Scotland, things were more complex. The lack of sunlight alone, not to mention the wind and the rain, would make things difficult. I did not have to think long to arrange the shipment.

The arrival of the young sapling in Scotland came as a surprise. The sapling belongs to the ‘Olea’ genus and ‘Europaea’ species, named by Carl Linnaeus.[35] The name alone is interesting, as it denotes a heritage that distinctively belongs to the Classical World. Despite botanical classification, the belonging is unquestionable, but cannot be proven. Technically speaking the sapling was without any form of identification or papers that proved its origin. In the eyes of those who patrol borders not just of people but of plants, ecosystems, and biosecurity this could potentially be regarded as a transgressive act. The reasons are that the UK, like most nations, maintains strict rules around the importation of plants and plant products. In the post-Brexit context, this is even more heavily policed. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Forestry Commission enforce these laws in England and Wales, while in Scotland, Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) has jurisdiction. DEFRA’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) handles the inspection and risk management protocols associated with plant imports. The purpose of these regulations is to prevent the accidental introduction of invasive species, plant pathogens, and soil-borne contaminants. The migrant sapling becomes a figure of risk, a potential harbinger of unseen and unwanted ecologies. What for me was a rescue action, the taking care of a migrant seed, was not allowed to touch Scottish Soil, for fear of consequences of contaminating the land. I understand the reasons behind this, as well as the politics that are implied. Perhaps through a complex process of anthropomorphisation, the refusal (indeed the prohibition) to allow the tree to touch the Scottish soil is one that is not only an act of compliance, but it is also one of a recognition that is ritual. The pot alone is a sign of both the desire to find root, as well as the complex mechanisms[36] that prohibit it.

The sapling arrived wrapped in a plastic bag and it was clear that the journey to Scotland was not easy. The body was bent, the roots were packed in a rush and the top of the tree was cleanly cut.  K. explained that this happens frequently. As the Israeli Military is cautious of Olive Trees being used as a sniper cover, almost all Olive Trees are cut to the exact height of 1.60 meters. High enough to still be considered to be in the eyes of the law a sapling, but not high as to harbour danger. The olive tree’s leaves are thick and long and they provide excellent cover from the sun. The cover comes with additional qualities. A mature olive tree could do a very good job in providing cover from heat seeking instruments, making them ideal for sniper nests. My sapling is too weak to do that. I must reinforce the trunk with braces to allow the sapling to stand- to survive. Each root must be washed, and cleaned, then quickly moved to soil, and frequent injections with mineral rich water must be provided. There is nothing that can be done about the top. The cut was so severe that there is no crown of the tree to speak of. Looking at it in a temporary flower pot this is nothing like the olive trees I am used to. This young sapling is fragile, the branches are so dry and thin that they disintegrate to the touch, the outer bark is compromised, the roots all but broken. The support in the pot cannot be made of metal says K, as this will stem the growth and the requirements for sunlight are strict: as much as possible. The water must be carefully monitored and the mineral must be plentiful and constant if the sapling is to stand any decent opportunities to survival.  My sapling is so weak that it can not possibly be suspect. I am completely aware that The Forestry Commission regulates the movement of wood and bark, monitoring against invasive species, timber pests, and fungal disease, and I respect the laws. After all I am a migrant myself here. I plant the sapling in its new home, brace it on a found reed, making sure that all braces are coloured cable and that no exposed metal is touching the trunk.

As I prepare for the show – I am considering the place of the sapling in the gallery space. A migrant seed that was never really ‘at home’. This Palestinian Olive Tree, contrary to the Israeli Pine tree is one that by law definitely belongs in the category of fruit, whereas the pine is a forest. Olives trees are not decorative (they are certainly not in Greece or Palestine) and I feel that the tree in the gallery will fall victim to a complex set of preconceived notions or fall victim of decoration. The only potential I can see here is to rely on what is essentially a totemic presence, and to allow that presence to speak across to the peculiar relationship that it has with its people. And to hope that the rest of the elements of the works will allow these connections (symbolic, pragmatical, literal and poetic) to occur and be amplified. The fact that there is a history here, as well as a story that does not have (indeed it cannot have) any official documentation does not concern me. I decide to give this young sapling papers, so I dig deep into the history of the Olive Tree and make a corresponding bookwork, that puts together all references from the Classical Word to the Quran that concern the Olive Tree. Putting these references together is akin to gathering testimonies for something (- someone?), that should be understood. These references are printed now away from the dusty volumes that contain them. They are fragmented, particular, with a purpose. These testimonies are as overt and as literal as they are poetic. From the theatre to the holy text, these testimonies carry a weight of Classical Era[37] that I hope is historically and culturally robust enough to make a case for that young sapling – like most immigrants a case seems to be needed to be made as of late. To be understood and to be helped to survive the Scottish weather. I intend to make the papers that come with the Olive tree inn an edition of 100, in an effort to collect funds for the humanitarian relief in Palestine. As the days go by the news is relentless. The images from a starving and bombed population equally distressing and relentless. My attention is on Gaza, on K, and on a world that is increasingly unravelling.

The sapling was stabilized in the pot, and I take all the necessary steps to treat it like it should be treated – a living organism. The concoctions that I prepare for the young sapling are made of filtered water with an infusion of mineral deposits. Nitrogen and phosphorus, calcium by crushing food supplements alongside potassium and magnesium. The soil in Gaza is rich and as the sapling is young in years, it knows to expect particularly high dosages of magnesium. As the days for the opening are approaching I am aware that this work has really a very tentative connection with the image as such. Are we not seeing enough images already? And are they not from the places that actually matter? This work is really far off the known and very romantic (perhaps even overly positive romantic) notions of depictions of a very plump, very healthy and very white dove yielding an olive branch. Certainly peace is on my mind, but somehow the tree has its own mind and I am forced to keep two images in my mind: one of a ravaged immigrant sapling and the other one of mature and cared-for olives in a land that has not seen open warfare for close to two centuries. The texts I am collecting for the bookwork have nothing of the Romantic era of the 17^th century. Instead they are from botanists of the Classical Era, law makers, and Aristophanes, the great comedian, who put out works that are sarcastic in tone, bordering sometimes to bitterness. The images he conjures of the character Peace are ones that serve one purpose: to critique and chastise the State, as he knew it in his time. The very age of Peace (a young girl) is one that was put together in the text as a mechanism to underline an antithesis of innocence to the corruption of the politicians who pursue their own agendas. In a sense, like all other theaters of war Peace is putting up her own modes of resistance and persisting. Her age a formal marker (a side-effect even) of her innocence. My concerns, and the concerns of the olive tree sapling are different. Sulphur and magnesium are common materials for incendiary devices. Every time I water the tree, I can not help but to think of K and his family. K. Who is missing a couple of fingers from his right hand and who has to wear exceptionally strong sun-block to avoid aggravating the scar tissue in the right side of his face. If one comes close to the top of the soil in the pot, one can smell it. The smell persists, and I can smell it throughout the day.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The tree will not be alone in the gallery. I am making a series of works that depict olive groves that are not ravaged, and where the trees are healthy and uncut. Unviolated and in full bloom. The images are there to form a counter point to the tree in the gallery. A balancing act in any case, they allow a pictorial reality to position itself in a wishful act. This could be how things could be. But they are not. And they have not been for a long time. This young sapling, one of the last remaining young saplings before the final act of extinction is a body that I can not help to give a conscience to. It is hard not to think of young sapling as a person – a young and helpless person – especially as I need to take care of it for the foreseeable future. I am fully aware that this may well not be long. The Scottish climate is not one for Olive Trees. But as I promised to K that I would – I will. Judith Butler considers the French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy’s ideas on rethinking of the body not as a private, self-contained object, but as a site of exposure, relation, and openness to others and the world. In the critical engagement with Nancy, Butler recognizes his rejection of the classical notion of the body as an enclosed, individualized substance. Instead, Nancy describes the body as “being-with”,[38] always already entangled with others through shared embodiment and sense experience. I am in the presence of that young Palestinian olive tree many days now. Our co-existence – in such close quarters is something that concerns me, and also one that troubles me. We are both reliant on each other it seems. Somehow the care of this olive tree is something that questions Butler’s idea that bodies are fundamentally social and relational, never fully sovereign or isolated. I am in complete agreement here with Butler that we cannot continue to ignore bodily precarity and that community, ideas of evaluated resistance and clearly defined notions of identity begin with an openness to the body, but somehow the cynical nature of Aristophanes’ comedy seems to linger – perhaps because my close proximity to the language of it, and to the person to whom I promised the sapling’s safety. Certainly, the body of that sapling has placed a tremendous amount of responsibility here on me, and one that was not clearly thought through. Even the idea of bringing the tree in the gallery seems to be almost lacking respect to the tree itself.

I am acutely aware of the origin and the significance of it. I am not thinking here about the well-established qualities (the root-laying, the fruit-bearing, the fruit and the oil, the wood itself) and how these qualities have found a utility. This is well established, common ground and even if it were not, late-stage capitalism would make it be. I am thinking here rather about the political consequences. The regulation and monitoring of trees in Gaza (in and of-itself a project that has been going on with increased intensity for more than 50 years) vis-à-vis the regulation of migrant seeds across borders. The freedom of movement that is a privilege that should not be taken for granted, the right to return home. If I do manage to help that young sapling survive, will it even have a home to return to? And if this is the case than how will I even bring it back? The ramifications are harsh and strict, following borders, the openness and inaccessibility of them. There is no question about the significance that this migrant seed has had for K. or for the Palestinian people in general. Culturally and in terms of symbolism it is one of the two trees blessed by Allah (the other on being the fig), economically it is one of the few fruit bearing trees that exhibit a resilience to survive in the most arid climates, and one that can tame the harshest lands. From root to crown, the Olive has properties that nourish land and people in literal and metaphorical terms. Since by law I am not allowed to have the tree touch Scottish soil, the laying of the roots must then be a tentative act. An act of necessity. An act that is temporal. In all case the consequences are distinct and strict.

The work as I understand it is part history, part love letter, and part quiet protest. Looking at the final proofs of the bookwork (it’s size close to the plant passport that would have been available if times were different) language in the work (even the absence of it is as important as the images are. They both frame the sapling, point to its history and to a context that is suggested, but never fully stated. Whilst the tree itself will be exhibited in the gallery, it still resists the object-ness of it all. The trunk is stabilized further by a three concrete bases – a defiant act (as well as an act of necessity). The bases make sure that the cycle of non-disturbance is complete. The sapling should really remain as still as possible to allow the memory that is in the trunk to carry over to the bark and to make for a repair of sorts. The bases also suggest a forceful and defiant act of place -finding. Like the legs of a tripod (used for photographs or the measuring of land itself) they establish an arrival, they hold a position. The tree is making a case to remain, to find a place, to lay a root and to bear fruit. A case to survive and continue being. The politics of the root are important here, as it places questions to the parameters that are put in place and that determine what is allowed to embed, to co-exist, what is allowed to belong, and what the conditions of this belonging are. It may well be the case that this foreign plant can never be naturalized, or that it may even fail to do so. The notion of return is never far from the indication of the arrival. Both are precarious states. Temporal, and thus subject to change. As Iconic as Palestinian Olives are to their homeland, dispossession, uprooting, and diaspora become factors that make the return difficult if not entirely impossible. The fact that strict laws prohibit this sapling to lay root speaks both for the state of international politics, as it does for landscapes that are (by design) kept as close as possible and for as long as possible to the idealized notions that mechanisms of state determine that should be upheld. A migrant seed (regardless where its origin is) is one that potentially introduces unknown quantities. One that has the potential to introduce unknown, uncontrollable factors. One that has the potential to disturb – even by sheer virtue of difference. In both fields of ecology and foreign politics the notion of xenopolitics (from the Greek ‘ξένος’ –the stranger, the radically other and ‘πολιτική’ the ideas of governance and rule) is never far away, and neither are it’s potential consequences and repercussions.[40] 

As the show opens, I realise that despite all reservations, the heart of the work relies in the care of the sapling. Across the gallery’s opening hours, I must continue to monitor the tree, to tend to it, to water and feed it. To make sure that I do everything possible in order for the tree to survive. As I move across the gallery space, the very height of it (despite the arbitrary cut) allows the tree to escape the status of an object and becomes a subject. A subject with a definitive past, a fragile body and an uncertain future. There is hope there however. Olive Trees are resilient and they can live long past humans if allowed to and taken care of. The Palestinian Olive tree sapling now is held in a container, and the link to the ground is be severed. At the moment of the exhibition the dislocation is both literal and apparent. It is in a suspended state, in a containment vessel awaiting to be processed. Planted. Accepted. If the attempt can keep the sapling alive, it may well be proper to be returned, regardless, to Gaza. All these steps are for the future. Right now, the next order of affairs is to think and speak about this attempt to salvage one of the last remaining saplings of Gaza, to keep in communication with K. and to make sure that all copies of the bookwork are used to raise funds for relief. It may well be that there is no solution on the horizon, but the attempt must be made regardless.  I am planning on taking care of that Olive Tree for the duration of a calendar year. It is unlikely that the tree will be able to return to a land that is not ravaged by war.

The photographs around the Olive Tree in the gallery frame and surround it both literally and conceptually. The work itself may have really nothing to do with peace, but peace is, of course, always a welcome thought. The glass on the front of the photographs of the olive tree grove allow for reflections to occur. The tree in the gallery, alongside all other works from the Reading landscape Research Group disrupt a most formal image, and allows me to think again about a form. The form of the work, the form of the tree, the form of the situation and a world, where a tree is treated as a dangerous weapon. Or one perhaps, where a tree can be seen for a symbol not of future peace, but of a current and contemporary protest. The tree is almost asking to be approached like a photograph does. To be approached critically, to be looked at, and be thought about beyond the form. And to consider its potential and consequences.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

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ENDNOTES

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[1] Reines, Ariana. A Sand Book. Tin House Books, 2019.

[2] Aristophanes. Peace. Edited and translated by Jeffrey Henderson. Loeb Classical Library 478. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. Lines 520-523 – I am basing the commentary on this text on both this edition as well as these in the Greek and English languages: Aristophanes. Εἰρήνη [Eirēnē]. Edited by F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart, Oxford University Press, 1907. Oxford Classical Texts and Aristophanes. Εἰρήνη. Edited and translated by Panagiotis Th. Vassilopoulos, Kaktos, 1990. Αριστοφάνης: Άπαντα τα Σωζόμενα Έργα, Τόμος 6.

[3] See Beaumont, Peter. “How Hamas Breached Israeli Defences and Shocked the World.” The Guardian, 8 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/how-hamas-breached-israeli-defences-and-shocked-the-world. Accessed 10 July 2025. and Sherwood, Harriet. “Hamas Fighters Took Israeli Hostages into Gaza after Deadly Attack.” The Guardian, 7 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/07/hamas-fighters-take-israeli-hostages-into-gaza-after-deadly-attack. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[4] Siddique, Haroon, and Amy Walker. “What We Know So Far on Day One of the Hamas Attack on Israel.” The Guardian, 7 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/07/what-we-know-so-far-on-day-one-of-the-hamas-attack-on-israel. Accessed 10 July 2025 and Beaumont, Peter. “Israel Declares War after Hamas Attacks – What We Know So Far.” The Guardian, 8 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-declares-war-after-hamas-attacks-what-we-know-so-far. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[5] McKernan, Bethan. “Israel Reels from Unprecedented Hamas Attack as Death Toll Rises.” The Guardian, 7 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/07/israel-reels-from-unprecedented-hamas-attack-as-death-toll-rises. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[6] See Beaumont, Peter. “Israel’s Intelligence Failure: How Could It Not Have Seen Hamas’s Attack Coming?” The Guardian, 8 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israels-intelligence-failure-how-could-it-not-have-seen-hamass-attack-coming. Accessed 10 July 2025 and McKernan, Bethan, and Peter Beaumont. “Gaza Braces for Israeli Ground Offensive as Death Toll Rises on Both Sides.” The Guardian, 9 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/09/gaza-braces-for-israeli-ground-offensive-as-death-toll-rises-on-both-sides. Accessed 10 July 2025. Also Beaumont, Peter. “Israel Declares War after Hamas Attacks – What We Know So Far.” The Guardian, 8 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-declares-war-after-hamas-attacks-what-we-know-so-far. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[7] Beaumont, Peter, and Bethan McKernan. “What Triggered the Israel-Hamas War?” The Guardian, 10 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/what-triggered-the-israel-hamas-war. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[8] Sherwood, Harriet. “UN Calls for Humanitarian Corridor to Gaza amid Fears of Catastrophe.” The Guardian, 10 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/un-calls-for-humanitarian-corridor-to-gaza-amid-fears-of-catastrophe. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[9] “The Guardian View on Hamas’s Attack: A Shattering Blow to Peace Hopes.” The Guardian, 8 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/08/the-guardian-view-on-hamass-attack-a-shattering-blow-to-peace-hopes. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[10] Allam, Hannah, and Barak Ravid. “Scoop: Secret White House Meeting on Gaza Raises Hopes for Ceasefire Deal.” Axios, 9 July 2025, www.axios.com/2025/07/09/gaza-ceasefire-meeting-witkoff-israel-qatar. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[11] Federman, Josef. “First Session of Indirect Hamas-Israel Ceasefire Talks Ended Inconclusively, Palestinian Sources Say.” U.S. News & World Report, 6 July 2025, www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-07-06/first-session-of-indirect-hamas-israel-ceasefire-talks-ended-inconclusively-palestinian-sources-say. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[12] Sonne, Paul, and Rory Jones. “Israel Struggles with Painful Decisions in Hostage Talks.” The Wall Street Journal, 9 July 2025, www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-gaza-hostage-deal-decisions-2a39baf0. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[13] Beaumont, Peter. “Netanyahu Returns to White House Holding All the Cards in Gaza Talks.” The Guardian, 7 July 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/07/netanyahu-israel-iran-gaza-white-house-analysis. Accessed 10 July 2025. and Hagar, Ramon. “Gaza Truce Possible in One or Two Weeks but Not in a Day, Israeli Official Says.” Reuters, 10 July 2025, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-truce-possible-one-or-two-weeks-not-day-israeli-official-says-2025-07-10. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[14] Loveluck, Louisa. “Israel, Hamas Move Closer to Ceasefire after Breakthrough in Hostage Deal Talks.” The Washington Post, 9 July 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/07/09/israel-hamas-gaza-war-ceasefire-talks/a1e914ec-5cf2-11f0-a293-d4cc0ca28e5a_story.html. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[15] See Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard University Press, 1992.

Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789. Oxford University Press, 2007.

[16] See Mark, Harrison W. “Olive Branch Petition.” World History Encyclopedia, 16 Jan. 2024, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2351/olive-branch-petition/.World History

“Congress Adopts Olive Branch Petition.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-adopts-olive-branch-petition.History

“Petitioning the King and Parliament.” American Battlefield Trust, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/petitioning-king-and-parliament.

[17] Aristophanes. Peace. Edited and translated by Jeffrey Henderson. Loeb Classical Library 478. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. Lines 520-523 – I am basing the commentary on this text on both this edition as well as these in the Greek and English languages: Aristophanes. Εἰρήνη [Eirēnē]. Edited by F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart, Oxford University Press, 1907. Oxford Classical Texts and Aristophanes. Εἰρήνη. Edited and translated by Panagiotis Th. Vassilopoulos, Kaktos, 1990. Αριστοφάνης: Άπαντα τα Σωζόμενα Έργα, Τόμος 6.

[18] See “Details of the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza.” Reuters, 1 May 2024, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/details-humanitarian-crisis-gaza-2024-05-01. Accessed 10 July 2025. And “Gaza Health System Overwhelmed by Casualties at Aid Distributions, Says Red Cross – as It Happened.” The Guardian, 8 July 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jul/08/iran-killed-war-israel-gaza-middle-east-crisis-live. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[19]  See “Palestine.” European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, European Commission, 2025, civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/where/middle-east-and-northern-africa/palestine_en. Accessed 10 July 2025 and

“Crisis Response in Gaza.” UNOPS, 2025, www.unops.org/crisis-response-in-gaza. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[20]  See “Humanitarian Situation Update 269 – Gaza Strip, March 4.” Water Justice in Palestine, 4 Mar. 2025, www.waterjusticeinpalestine.org/blog/2025/3/7/humanitarian-situation-update-269-gaza-strip-march-4. Accessed 10 July 2025 and “The Unfolding Crisis: Palestinian Life, International Response, and the Enduring Conflict Since October 2023.” EJ SALIA, 2025, www.ejsalia.com/post/the-unfolding-crisis-palestinian-life-international-response-and-the-enduring-conflict-since-octo. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[21] See  “Fuel Shortage Threatens to Turn Gaza’s Biggest Hospital into Graveyard, Doctors Say.” Reuters, 9 July 2025, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/fuel-shortage-threatens-turn-gazas-biggest-hospital-into-graveyard-doctors-say-2025-07-09. Accessed 10 July 2025. And “Gaza Aid Workers Overwhelmed by ‘Mass Casualty Incidents’ at Food Distribution Sites.” The Guardian, 9 July 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/09/gaza-aid-workers-overwhelmed-by-mass-casualty-incidents-at-food-distribution-sites. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[22] See “Stories from Palestine.” United Nations in Palestine, 2025, palestine.un.org/en/stories. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[23] Reines, Ariana. A Sand Book. Tin House Books, 2019.

[24] “UN Chief Urges ‘Irreversible Action’ on Israel-Palestinian Two-State Solution.” Reuters, 29 Apr. 2025, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-chief-urges-irreversible-action-israel-palestinian-two-state-solution-2025-04-29.

[25] “Israel Has Turned 70% of Gaza into No-Go Zones in Maps.” Al Jazeera, 6 May 2025, www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/6/israel-has-turned-70-of-gaza-into-no-go-zones-in-maps.

[26] Macron, Emmanuel. “Macron Says France Will Recognise a Palestinian State.” The Times, 25 Apr. 2025, www.thetimes.co.uk/article/macron-says-france-will-recognise-a-palestinian-state-jfs9wgv8b.

[27] “No Mercy: Israel Keeps Blocking Aid amid Systematic Destruction of Gaza.” Al Jazeera, 24 Apr. 2025, www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/24/no-mercy-israel-keeps-blocking-aid-amid-systematic-destruction-of-gaza. See also “Israel Urges Vigilance Ahead of ‘Day of Rage’ against Jewish State.” JNS, 21 Apr. 2025, www.jns.org/israel-urges-vigilance-ahead-of-day-of-rage-against-jewish-state.

[28] See “The Balfour Declaration.” The National Archives (UK), www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/balfour-declaration. Accessed 10 July 2025. See also Schneer, Jonathan. The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Random House, 2010.

[29] Aristophanes. Peace. Edited and translated by Jeffrey Henderson. Loeb Classical Library 478. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. Lines 520-523 – I am basing the commentary on this text on both this edition as well as these in the Greek and English languages: Aristophanes. Εἰρήνη [Eirēnē]. Edited by F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart, Oxford University Press, 1907. Oxford Classical Texts and Aristophanes. Εἰρήνη. Edited and translated by Panagiotis Th. Vassilopoulos, Kaktos, 1990. Αριστοφάνης: Άπαντα τα Σωζόμενα Έργα, Τόμος 6.

[30] See the incredible work on the legal framework in: Braverman, Irus. “Uprooting Identities: The Regulation of Olive Trees in the Occupied West Bank.” Political and Legal Anthropology Review, vol. 32, no. 2, Nov. 2009, pp. 237–264. American Anthropological Association, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24497464. Accessed 10 July 2025.and Braverman, Irus. “’The Tree Is the Enemy Soldier’: A Sociolegal Making of War Landscapes in the Occupied West Bank.” Law & Society Review, vol. 42, no. 3, Sept. 2008, pp. 449–482. Cambridge Core,https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2008.00348.x. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[31] See Al-Hatimi, Abdullah, et al. “Oppressive Pines: Uprooting Israeli Green Colonialism and Implanting Indigenous Ecologies.” European Journal of International Relations, vol. 28, no. 3, Sept. 2022, pp. 487–510, https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957221122366. Accessed 10 July 2025.

[32] In fact the very concept of ‘effective occupation’, developed during the late 19th century (notably in the Berlin Conference of 1884–85), held that states could claim sovereignty over terra nullius (land belonging to no one) if they demonstrated actual use, administration, and cultivation of the territory. Cultivation—along with settlement, economic activity, and governance—was viewed as proof of effective control and persists in various legal forums. For example, in disputes before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), states have used evidence of cultivation and land use to support claims of sovereignty or historical title. Similarly, under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), indigenous communities may assert customary land rights based on long-standing agricultural and cultural practices. In this way, cultivation is not only a symbol of presence, but a legal expression of identity, ownership, and territorial legitimacy. It shapes access to resources, political recognition, and the exercise of self-determination under international legal norms. See for example: Anghie, Antony. Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law. Cambridge University Press, 2005. (a foundational text exploring how colonial powers use cultivation to legitimize territorial claims), Fitzmaurice, Malgosia. “The Identification and Protection of Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights in International Law.” Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, vol. 41, 2010, pp. 89–119 (a discussion of land cultivation that legitimizes territorial claims) and Johnson, Harold. Two Families: Treaties and Government. Purich Publishing, 2007.

.

[33] Similar practices occurred in other colonies (see for example Thirgood’s 1987 depiction of Cyprus), and especially in India (Guha & Gadgil 1989) See for a more imp[atrial report here and see for a perspective that clearly favours the Palestinian right to Land : Al-Hatimi, Abdullah, et al. “Oppressive Pines: Uprooting Israeli Green Colonialism and Implanting Indigenous Ecologies.” European Journal of International Relations, vol. 28, no. 3, Sept. 2022, pp. 487–510, https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957221122366. Accessed Accessed 10 July 2025

[34] Braverman, Irus. “Uprooting Identities: The Regulation of Olive Trees in the Occupied West Bank.” Political and Legal Anthropology Review, vol. 32, no. 2, Nov. 2009, pp. 237–264. American Anthropological Association, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24497464. Accessed 10 July 2025

[35] See Linnaeus, Carl. Species Plantarum. Vol. 1, Laurentius Salvius, 1753, p. 8.

[36] Agamben would probably call these mechanisms ‘apparatuses’ – the potential here is an oblique reference to the structures of power that exists within each mechanism, whether it is one in the world of actual politics, or any one really that through Agamben’s definition is a network of power. See also Giorgio Agamben’s writings  in Agamben, Giorgio. Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Translated by Daniel Heller-Roazen, Stanford University Press, 1998. and Agamben, Giorgio. What Is an Apparatus? and Other Essays. Translated by David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella, Stanford University Press, 2009.

[37] See Calvino’s points in the (continuing and ongoing) importance of the Classical World – for example the identification of heritage, the sense of discovery, the construction of a personal canon the tracing of enduring significance and the open-ended qualities that allow a continuing significance to the contemporary to take place: Calvino, Italo. Why Read the Classics? Translated by Martin McLaughlin, Vintage Classics, 2000.

[38] See Nancy, Jean-Luc. Corpus. Translated by Richard A. Rand, Fordham University Press, 2008. See also

Butler, Judith. “Bodies in Alliance and the Politics of the Street.” European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies, Sept. 2011, https://eipcp.net/transversal/1011/butler/en., an extension of Butler’s thought in: Butler, Judith. Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. Verso, 2004.

[39] Reines, Ariana. A Sand Book. Tin House Books, 2019.

[40] See for example Quijano, Aníbal. “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America.” Nepantla: Views from South, vol. 1, no. 3, 2000, pp. 533–580 and Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. 4th ed., Aunt Lute Books, 2012 as two possible references in an increasing large library of decolonial approaches