LIBERIAN PRESIDENT PLANTS TREE FOR PEACE IN JERUSALEM

KKL-JN

Liberian President George Manneh Weah plants an olive tree in the KKL-JNF Grove of Nations in Jerusalem, becoming the 112th head of state to do so.

President of Liberia George Manneh Weah, gives a speech at the KKL-JNF Grove of Nations in Jerusalem. (photo credit: KKL-JNF)

Liberian  President George Manneh Weah was greeted at the Grove of Nations in Jerusalem by KKL-JNF Director of Protocol Andy Michelson, who noted the symbolic importance in Jewish tradition of planting a tree.

“By planting a tree here today, in this grove, you are leaving a living thing here, which you will be able to come to see again on your next visit and see how it has grown,” he said. “For us, the planting of a tree is very important, and we plant trees for life cycle events such as weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.”The Grove of Nations is especially reserved for visiting heads of state from all over the world, who plant olive trees as symbols of peace. The grove symbolizes the aspiration for peace between the countries of the world and solidarity with the state of Israel and the Jewish people. Weah is the 112th leader to plant a tree there since it was inaugurated in 2005.

Liberia was one of the African countries that voted for the UN Partition Plan for Palestine in the UN General Assembly on the 29th November, 1947, in favor of an independent Jewish state.

“I am honored to be in Israel and today, we have seen so much,” said Weah, who, in addition to his wife, the First Lady Clar Weah, was accompanied by a delegation of seven ministers as well as the chairman of Liberia’s National Investment Commission and the mayor of Liberia’s capital city Monrovia, Mr. Jefferson Koijee. “We are believers and what we have seen today is so amazing. I hope that Israel will have the peace it is yearning for. God bless Israel.”