The day we met was my daughter's birthday. She got a book from friends called SITTI'S SECRETS, by Naomi Shihab Nye. The story is about a Palestinian girl that lives in the States, and goes to visit her grandmother on the other side of earth. She talks of a lemon tree in the book (which is beautiful and I would recommend it to you to read.)
That reminded me of another story I heard on the radio last independence day. The story is a true story. It started years ago, when a Palestinian child played in his yard, and accidentally an Israeli explosive exploded in his hands. Some damage was caused to his hands, and I think to his vision as well, but I am not positive. Years after he became a terrorist, and eventually was deported from Israel along with his family, and his house was taken by an Israeli family. Years later again when the parents of the Israeli family died, their daughter decided to look for the family that used to own their house, so she could give it back. She found out that the Palestinian family can't come back to the country. So first they came with the idea of selling the house and giving them the money, but the Palestinian family felt that this was not an appropriate solution, so they decided inside to make there a Palestinian pre-school, and since there is a lemon tree in front of that house they call it THE LEMON TREE HOUSE. I think this is a very unusual story, and it really moved me. Besides, my grandmother used to have an amazing lemon tree in her yard, which we enjoyed for years and years, until her house got a direct hit from a missile during the Gulf war...

All of this together, made me want to make a lemon tree. Our kids wanted to have two kids working together, my husband wanted the sun for what it symbolizes, and my brother-in-law added the book, for all the history we share together.

Tamar Nissim, Seattle Washington USA