UK magazine buys trees 'in Palestine' for subscribers
The campaign aims to repair "enormous destruction... inflicted on the olive groves of Palestine."
By JONNY PAULpalestinian olive trees (photo credit: AP)
The New Statesman, a respected weekly current affairs magazine, is offering readers the chance to sponsor "the planting of three new olive trees in Palestine," as incentive to take out a subscription to the magazine.
Those who participate in the offer will receive a certificate to mark support for the campaign, and the promise that the magazine will provide updates on the progress of the trees.
The offer, in conjunction with a Manchester-based fair trade nonprofit organization called Olive Cooperative, states that "each tree represents a long-term source of income for Palestinian families, who have been harvesting olive oil, fruit and wood for generations."
Also with subscriptions, the magazine offers membership in a campaign called Trees for Life, which it says aims to "help to repair the enormous destruction years of war have inflicted on the olive groves of Palestine."
To date, the publication has had 150 responses, which translate into the planting of 300 trees. For seasonal reasons, the trees will be planted in February of next year.
John Kampfner, editor of the New Statesman, said that the offer was just one of the many marketing strategies the magazine provides on a monthly basis.
"Usually it's books; sometimes it's activities relating to NGOs. This came about, and I was very happy to support it as it seems to be a very valid economic based initiative with which very few right-minded people could take issue," he said.
Kampfner, who has just returned to England from a trip to Israel, began editing the publication just over a year ago. He calls himself a strong advocate of the "two-state solution as the core of a bigger Middle East peace settlement."
