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  • Essay / The challenges facing Palestinians as highlighted in the film Lemon Tree

    The Lemon Tree offers a very interesting perspective on the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. While most material on the subject focuses on hard-line politics and justifications from both sides regarding legal and historical considerations, this film stands as a statement from a somewhat different perspective. The argument put forward here is not political or legal, but rather moral. It depicts the plight of the Palestinian people from an emotional and spiritual perspective through the protagonist's struggle to preserve her lemon orchard. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay The film follows Salma, a Palestinian widow living on the border between the West Bank and Israel. Her son is in the United States and her only companion is an elderly man who helps her tend her lemon orchard. The grove lies right on Israel's border and is its most prized possession. When the Israeli defense minister moved in next door, he viewed the grove as a threat to his security – as well as the security of the nation of Israel – and ordered its removal. Salma teams up with a lawyer named Ziad and attempts to take legal action to preserve her lemon orchard. After a lengthy and highly publicized legal battle, the Supreme Court rules that the grove will be pruned so that it no longer poses a threat. Ultimately, Salma finds herself dissatisfied with this decision and laments the loss of her precious lemon orchard. It’s clear to see what the lemon orchard means to Salma. It is his only link with his old way of life. She no longer has her husband, her father, nor her son, so the lemon tree is a symbol of the pleasant moments of her past. This is indicative of the struggle of the Palestinian people as a whole. They saw their land and way of life stripped away by the Israelis, and to this day they remain spiritually persecuted as the Israelis build fences around them. So, for Salma, the lemon orchard is not only her last connection to her family, but it is also the last connection she has to her rightful homeland. This is why she remains so defiant in the face of what seems like an insurmountable force. That's because the Israelis have already stripped most of what she owns, and if they take over the lemon orchard, she'll have nothing left at all. We see the connection to this well illustrated in the flashback scene where she remembers playing in the grove with her father. Immediately afterwards, the film cuts to shots of the wall under construction. The juxtaposition of these two images shows to what extent the Israeli presence in his country is killing his spirit. This film succeeds in providing a very nuanced view of the role that the contemporary Israeli plays in all of this. The Minister of Defense (aptly named Israel) considers the Salma Grove a threat to his security. His view of something as innocuous as a lemon orchard posing a serious threat to the nation of Israel is representative of the geopolitical stance taken today by Israeli officials toward the rest of Palestinian land. Palestinians own only a fraction of the land they once inhabited and very few resources compared to Israelis. Yet they are still considered a very real threat from a strategic perspective and are increasingly isolated and persecuted. The defense minister may have a significant advantage with a guard tower, barbed wire, surveillance and troops stationed around his house, but in.