Lemon Tree By Eran Riklis

Lemon Tree by Eran Riklis is an Israeli feature film that tells a story of two women; a Palestinian one and a Jewish one. Salma is a widow and owns some lemon trees which are growing on the border of a Jewish settlement. Mira is the wife of the minister of defense and they recently moved into their new home in this Jewish community. The two women know of each other, yet their lives are split due to political and gender issues, as well as a fence. Salma, the Palestinian woman, is weak in a political and social manner but is still strong, determined and courageous. The Jewish woman, Mira, is strong politically because of her husband, but she is weak within. Although she doesn’t want to destroy Salma’s lemon trees, she is not in a position where she could stop it. She is weak in the face of her husband’s words. The two women can see each other’s homes, across the fence that divides them. Yet, they can’t mend the issues that are separating them. They are both

According to Eran Riklis, she is going on a journey for what is right. She is also a woman who has a strong connection to mother earth; a fertile woman. She is a mother. She is a grandmother. She is tied to the fruit of the land; her lemons. Yet, she is a woman who is trapped in an upsetting and unchangeable situation. Mira is also trapped, but in an unsustainable situation. In my opinion, security issues could not justify the destruction of Salma’s lemon trees. During Biblical times, Jews were forbidden to cut down fruit trees. Yet, the Israeli army has been cutting down olive trees in the West Bank due to “security reasons.” The olive tree/olive branch is a symbol of peace not violence. And still, the army thinks that olive trees must be cleared from the border areas due to these absurd reasons of security. In this film, Eran Riklis has chosen to use lemons instead of the olives. He does this to symbolize the dispute between Palestinians and