Palestinians dedicate olive grove to Jimmy Carter [Video]

TULKAREM, West Bank –

Palestinian activists and residents planted a grove of 250 olive trees in a northern West Bank town on Monday in memory of the late U.S. President Jimmy Carter, describing him as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.

The former president’s legacy is “rooted” among Palestinians and across the globe, said Abbas Melhem, executive manager of the Palestinian Farmers Union. Carter was one of the few world leaders who “stood firmly supporting the struggle of the Palestinians for independence and for freedom,” he said.

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Under clear winter skies, Palestinian kids helped a handful of adults place the trees into newly dug holes. Melhem said the 10-dunam (2.5-acre) grove in the city of Tulkarem, titled “Freedom Farm,” would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers, who have attacked Palestinian olive trees …