Permaculture in Palestine: Bustan Qaraaqa Greens the Hills Outside Bethlehem

For a group of British ecologists working in development organizations in the West Bank, researching the sorry state of the Palestinian environment became, at some point, rather unsatisfying. “We wanted to move from writing reports on environmental destruction and stagnating development to actually doing something about it,” says Alice Gray. Over two years later, the group, along with a handful of volunteers, is creating an ecological oasis in almost impossible conditions. Bustan Qaraaqa (literally “Tortoise Garden”) is a Permaculture paradise in the making.