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For Israelis and Palestinians, a Battle Over a Humble Plant

undark.org · 2,476 words · saved by 1 readers

Israel says limits on akoub harvesting seek to protect the native plant. But many Palestinians say the restrictions threaten their cultural heritage.

F or just under three months a year, towards the end of the winter rains, Samir Naamneh and his wife Nadya get up at 4 in the morning, gear up in improvised camouflage, and pack into a truck headed from Arraba, their Arab village in Israel, to the Golan Heights. During this season, the volcanic plateau is carpeted with delicate wildflowers and dotted with hundreds of endangered gazelles. To the trained eye, the lush, grassy slopes are also bursting with an unassuming, wildly lucrative thistle known as akoub. “It’s healthy because it’s from the wild,” says Samir, who has been illegally foraging

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