« Chêne d’Abraham » [“Abraham's Oak”]

In the Hain Mamre near Hebron, today only an allegedly 5.000 year old bushy “oak” thrives on venerable beauty, under which the great ancestor Abraham is said to have opened his hiking hut. That’s what the Holy Books say. In Hebron is also the tomb of Abraham and the Arabic name of the city, al-Khalīl (“the Friend [God]”), located in present-day West Bank, also refers to the common ancestors of the Jews, Christians and Muslims. Hebron is sacred to many, and where something is considered to be highly sacred and historical, it becomes a bit complicated. Once the “Oak of Abraham” was a tourist magnet. Jews and Christians, who were denied access to the cave, where the archfathers and mothers were buried, made their prayers there. At the beginning of the 20th century, branches were still carrying leaves. In 1996 the main trunk died off; since then heavy iron bar clips hold the rest together. Surveillance towers, walls, fences and checkpoints characterize Hebron’s cityscape today. In 1998, “Abraham’s oak” is said to have pushed the ground through a small shoot.