He strikes one foot on the other in the footsteps of Al-Wathiq, and walks a king towards his land in the "Karm Al Khallah" without caring about his old age or the stumbling blocks of the road that the Palestinian pilgrim Farid Badran (Abu Nawwaf) preserved by default as he goes from it every evening and comes to it every morning carrying a small seedling and a few seeds allied with it The fortune to fall into his hand and will plant on his land.
In this case, the octogenarian farmer Abu Nawwaf spent his life building his land and visiting it daily, walking on his feet with what was reduced in weight from his agricultural equipment, and a stick he made from his trees to support his slender body and help him to meet his needs and kill every crawler that poses a danger to him.
Abu Nawwaf picks wild plants from among the rocks on his land (Al-Jazeera)
Image via Facebook
A coincidence that we knew with Uncle Abu Nawwaf, as the scene that he lives daily had an effect on one of the citizens in his village, Deir Al Ghusoun, near the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank, so he posted a picture of him on Facebook and commented saying that it is a daily scene that Abu Nawwaf lives throughout his life without fatigue or boredom.
The image of Abu Nawwaf received the attention of citizens, who commented on it on Facebook, expressing their admiration and appreciation.
Abu Nawwaf visits his land every day on foot (the island)
I teach the religion of my fathers to my children and grandchildren
We followed Abu Nawaf's story and walked with him to his land on the same road.
We carry the photographic kit while he placed something of his agricultural tools and a small almond seedling under his arm, then he told Al-Jazeera Net, saying, "I followed the religion of my fathers step by step in caring for it, and today I teach this to my children and grandchildren."
This education for young children is not limited to introducing the land to its location and position, but by pruning trees and planting new ones, especially the "economically viable" tree nuts, and cleaning them of weeds throughout the season.
Almond seeds were lucky enough to fall into his hand and will be planted on his land (the island)
Who instilled his hand
The grandfather informs his grandchildren who ran around him about the location of his agricultural equipment, which he could not carry, so he hid it under a "Roman" olive (attributed to the period of the Roman rule) to protect it from any tamper, so that he could bring it to him and, in turn, begin to finish his mission in his land, "Karm Al Khalah" before moving to another. , He owns 4 pieces and keeps their name and drawing;
“Karam Al-Khilah, Badora, Al-Khalah, and Al-Hariqa” and he divides his days by working there
And it has a share of its name, Deir Al Ghosoun (relative to a Christian monastery with olive branches hanging above it).
The village, which is inhabited by about 10 thousand people, is described as agricultural, and about 40% of its residents work in the cultivation of olives and vegetables.
As soon as Abu Nawwaf sets foot on his land, he gives it general gazes to know where his work will start and how. When we met him in the “Karm Al Khallah” he used to search for dry old almond trees to plant new seedlings in their place, thus renewing the vitality of the land and keeping it green in color.
These almond seeds were brought from his tree and he was cultivating them to become seedlings (Al Jazeera)
El-Implant stone pyramid
There, he took his planting and tucked it into the ground, then wrapped it with small stones in a pyramidal fashion to protect it from any human or animal attack, and to find out where it was among the dense trees, so he continued caring and watering it.
We found Abu Nawwaf with his thin body that conceals a mighty determination, and he began his work by pruning a palm tree to stretch it off the ground, then leaning on a stone wall and said that he works with his hand and planted (seed) its trees himself, then planted it with his land and watered it from the water of his well that his grandfather built and repaired he himself 50 years ago.
And he remains on reaching his land and does not go far from any of them, especially these days when there is a lot of weeds, and he does not keep him from visiting it except for rain, so he prays Fajr present and then goes to the ground and does not return from it until after the afternoon, so his land has become distinct among its peers.
Abu Nawwaf becomes a khumsa to his land, and a blanket of it comes out thanks to the wild plants that he consumes, especially during these times, such as fennel, “hibiscus” and “zemot”, and from what he planted with his hand from beans and thyme as well as almond kernels that ripened and fell among the weeds, some of which he ate and the other saved for cultivation.
Below these stones Abu Nawwaf hides his new seedlings to protect (Al-Jazeera)
The secret of walking down to earth
Deir Al-Ghusoun lost 18,000 dunams (a dunam equals a thousand square meters) of its 36,000 dunams of land after the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, leaving 18,000 dunams of land for the citizens.
Then the Israeli occupation re-isolated more than two thousand dunams by constructing the separation wall in 2002, and created gates for farmers to enter their lands through a mechanism of subjugation and humiliation, the most important of which is the determination of the time, the persons allowed to cross, and their numbers.
Abu Nawwaf does not want to suffer grief by losing his land again, as he was in the villages of Bethan and Bir al-Sikka inside the Green Line in 1948, and for this you find it with full activity and vitality as it moves from one land to another and is racing against time to cultivate it before the rains.
Walking to the land is a goal in itself for Abu Nawwaf, as it is a sport by which it relieves his health pains and keeps him full of vitality, and therefore you find that unlike other farmers, he refuses to ride any animal, and he refuses any calls from passing vehicles to drive him to his home.
He even gifted his plowing donkey to a friend.
Hajj Abu Nawwaf in Karm Al-Khalah in Deir Al-Ghosoun (Al-Jazeera)
They said about him
This is what made him the focus of attention of the people of his village, Deir al-Ghusun, their interest and their ideals in preserving the land, and here Aktham Badran wrote, who took a picture of Abu Nawwaf on his way to his land on his Facebook page: “I did not write about the person of Abu Nawwaf, but about his school and his style of love for the land And the sustainability of resources, and he taught me the greening of Palestine and how to grow seedlings, and that the millions of seedlings that died in their cradle did not pass through his school.
Hajj Abu Nawwaf removes weeds from among his olives (Al-Jazeera)
Earth Lovers and Guardians
Some of them, like the citizen Amer Ghanem, wrote that there are two icons in Deir al-Ghusoun, Abu Nawwaf and Umm Zuhair, a peasant who approaches Abu Nawwaf with a tooth and visits her land daily, "lovers of the land and its keepers."
Ahed Zanabit, Director of Agricultural Relief in Tulkarm - told Al-Jazeera Net- that Abu Nawwaf is a "sacred" example of rooting the values of belonging to the land and the Palestinian identity, adding that "Abu Nawwaf reflects the meaning of developing the land and steadfastness in it, and it is respected and appreciated by everyone." To honor him and other farmers for their efforts.
Abu Nawwaf teaches his grandchildren to work and love the land (Al-Jazeera)
Zanabit does not think twice about supporting any need for Abu Nawwaf and his ilk, especially by providing seedlings and seeds. Last year, they provided agricultural relief for 600 thousand varied seedlings in support of farmers, in a message to return to the land and to remain steadfast in it.
As we left the place, we followed the footsteps of Abu Nawwaf, our feet still remained, and we reached the highway safely, and there one of the vehicles stopped to take us in mercy with the old man, so the driver told us that this was his life for 7 decades and got out of his car and took a picture with Abu Nawaf and muttered, "These have become a rare currency."