Amos Trust 83 London Wall, London EC2M 5NDTelephone 020 7588 2638 Email info@amostrust.orgWebsite www.amostrust.org Charity no 292592

There are 10 million olive trees in Palestine which have been tended and nurtured for generations. Yet today, in the name of security, these ‘ancient witnesses’ are routinely destroyed, with families left destitute and with no legal recourse.

A just peace for Palestine means peace and security for Israelis.

Illustration Chantal Freeman

May the peace and simplicity of the child born amidst olive groves

greet you this Christmas.

We’ve come a long way from the baby born in Bethlehem’s olive groves, to our forced spruce miniatures, grown in their millions each year only to drop their needles on the carpets of our houses.

Yet there are olive trees in the Holy Land old enough to have seen the star over Bethlehem that first Christmas. They are the ‘ancient witnesses’, and the story they tell speaks of hope, patience, and fruitfulness.

So it’s time to get back to the roots of the story. To a tree with a whole lot more meaning. To make the olive tree our Christmas tree this year. To see the wood for the trees.