ISRAEL: Trees are often used as a screen to block out undesirable views, but in Israel they're about to planted as a screen against rocket attacks on Israelis living close to the border with the Gaza Strip

Record ID: 397695

  • Title: ISRAEL: Trees are often used as a screen to block out undesirable views, but in Israel they're about to planted as a screen against rocket attacks on Israelis living close to the border with the Gaza Strip
  • Date: 8th March 2013
  • Summary: CLOSE TO NAHAL OZ, KIBBUTZ, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 26, 2013) (REUTERS) RESIDENT OF NAHAL OZ KIBBUTZ, RACHEL BALA, SAT OUTSIDE HER HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) RESIDENT OF NAHAL OZ KIBBUTZ, RACHEL BALA, SAYING: "I think that it's a really cool idea. It's good for nature as well as cheap. I don't feel the safest with it but I think that having it is good. I'm all in favour." (SOUND
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Nature / Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HS96Y877ETT14HJ58TNAALN3
  • Story Text: Israelis exposed to the threat of militant rocket fire along the border with Gaza have gone back to nature in a bid to prevent further attacks. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) have joined forces with the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) to plant rows of trees along the border in an attempt to conceal the population, while providing cover for vehicles travelling along border roads.
    In a move that may impress environmentalists the IDF and KKL-JNF are planting eucalyptus trees. As well as being good for the environment and producing oxygen, proponents say the trees will attract bees, allowing communities to produce eucalyptus honey.
    But the byproducts are less important to KKL-JNF spokesperson Elisha Mizrahi who says that daily attacks on communities several years ago led residents to look back at their history books to find a way to deal with the problem.

    "Some of the old folks who used to live in those kibbutz in a moshavim came with the idea that we can use an old way of dealing with it, and then we went in to the old books" Mizrah said, "We take trees that can grow fast enough, like eucalyptus trees, plant them between the community, between the roads and the areas where threat is coming from."
    The project will see 12 kilometres of trees planted to protect 11 different Israeli communities. Eucalyptus trees were chosen for the project because they will grow to eight metres within a few years, and the rapid growth rate, they hope will offer protection after only one year.
    In Nahal Oz, a kibbutz close to the Gaza border, security officer Benny Selah welcomes the addition of the 'screen' of trees.

    "When they fire the bombs at us, they don't know where they fall, in residential areas or open areas, because of the trees, you can't see," Selah said. "For me as a security chief..it's good because they can't direct towards the houses where essentially is where people live, so they can't be harmed".
    In February 2011 a mortar bomb aimed at an Israeli border patrol force exploded inside the grounds of the kibbutz commune. Nobody was hurt but the incident raised tensions withi the community. The trees may provide a solution, although feelings are mixed.

    "It's good for nature as well as cheap," Rachel Bala said. "I don't feel the safest with it but I think that having it is good. I'm all in favour."
    Aviad Harlev, however, is not convinced. He says the trees are unlikely to stop rocket attacks.

    "The planting is good but only for snipers' fire, it doesn't play a role against rocket fire." Harlev said, "There are many children here, many residents, many students who love it here and want to live here. The planting in my view is only for the environment."
    Defensive forestation was a tactic used by the IDF when the modern state of Israel was first created until the 1960s. Attacks in recent years have meant the IDF have reintroduced the technique to use alongside more high-tech defensive measures like the 'Iron Dome' missile system.
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