On one hand we have a group of tourists on a Holy Land Tour, and on the other we have a bunch of youth and children living and working on an olive farm that has recently been divided by the barrier wall, a 28′ high concrete barrier that not only encroached often on Palestinian land, but divided farmland in the process. The only way to get from one side of the wall to the other was to pass through a military checkpoint gate. Residents on the far side of the wall were cut off from hospitals, schools and from interacting with their former neighbours and friends. This was not the intent of the wall, but unfortunately, in many places, this was the result. At heightened times of security, access to schools and hospitals was prohibited to those on the Palestinian side of the wall.
If you open the link at the bottom of this page, you will see a picture of an example in an image of this.
I hadn’t really expected that researching a story involving a birth in a stable near present day Bethlehem would have taken me down such a sad route of awareness, but I could not ignore the obvious. In no way was this song-cycle written as a condemnation of Israel, or of those in Palestine who were not pursuing a peaceful solution to the inflamed issues that led to the construction of the wall. On a per capita basis, at the time of writing this song-cycle, there were more individuals belonging to peace advocacy organizations in Israel than in any other place in the world. I suspect this remains true today as well. It is not as if all citizens of Israel agreed with the construction of the wall, with the actual majority politically that saw this achieved very slim.
One of the unfortunate victims of the wall was the tourist trade in parts of Palestine, where it was no longer a simple process to travel between parts of Israel and Palestine. This is where this song’s origins lie.
The youth in the song are looking for a way to market the olives that the tourists would have often bought along with other produce at stands along their road. Their solution? A product for the global market!
Part of the challenge in writing this story was to keep it optimistic, upbeat and fun for all involved. Costumes and props were intended to help keep things light as well. There certainly was a lot of enthusiasm for this project, and the youth delighted in selecting some ‘with it’ farm clothes to wear.
Bumper Crop
Bumper Crop
We’ve got a bumper crop of olives
But the tourist trade is bust
The news has stories
Visions of glories
A bumper crop of olives
But that still won’t be enough
We need a new market
A global target
There must be a way
We can have a say
There must be a time
For what’s yours and mine
Now’s the time for something new
For there are things we all can do
Maybe it’s the way we look at it
That forces us to change
And if at first you don’t succeed
On trembling knees you learn to plead
“Give is one way here to find the answer
We’re all looking for”
A bumper crop of olives
But the hospital is closed
Don’t fall off ladders!
Think of what matters!
Life is better learning
But they’re closing all the schools
What does that tell us,
Now they’ve expelled us!
Maybe we could try
A recipe that’s right
Food for all to fill:
This could be our will
That could be the way
We all have a say
There must be a time
For what’s yours and mine
We’ll include the very best
Ingredients to pass the test
With a taste that’s irresistible
Imagine what comes next!
For if the word is spread around
he world will hear what has been found
And seek what’s in our recipe
To us they’ll find a way
And look to us one way
And look to us one way
Written by David A. Buckley (SOCAN) © 2006 all rights reserved
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CNN, July 9, 2004) — The International Court of Justice has said the barrier Israel is building to seal off the West Bank violates international law because it infringes on the rights of Palestinians.
In an advisory opinion issued Friday in The Hague, the U.N. court urged the Israelis to remove it from occupied land.
The nonbinding opinion also found that Israel was obligated to return confiscated land or make reparations for any destruction or damage to homes, businesses and farms caused by the barrier’s construction.
The court noted that Israel has argued that the barrier is “temporary” and its “sole purpose is to enable it effectively to combat terrorist attacks launched from the West Bank.”
For a picture of the barrier wall dissecting an olive farm outside of Bethlehem:
https://newint.org/columns/currents/2009/12/01/palestine