This handful of Palestinian soil was sold as NFT by a Ramallah-based artist, to raise awareness about tensions in Sheikh Jarrah

What happened: Around the last week of May 2021, Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar sold an artwork, featuring Palestinian soil, named, ‘ If I Don’t Steal Your House, Someone Else Will,’ to an unknown buyer at $12,067.16, as a tangible asset, with a minted NFT artwork attached to it. Back story: The artist walked out to Kaubar, a nearby town, to collect soil as tensions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood grew when Israeli settlers took over the area in May 2021, Jarrar then returned home with the soil. The NFT, which is displayed alongside the tangible asset, is a digital artwork depicting the West Bank villages of Kobar and Jibiya, which are currently home to Israeli settlements. The artwork: The NFT, titled ‘If I Don’t Steal Your Home, Someone Else Will’, is a limited edition work which was sold through ‘OurZora’, a blockchain art group, in conjunction with SPSK. Why it matters: While the soil and artwork are a statement on the current state of land conflicts, they are also related to the region’s natural and agricultural sectors. The artist believes that the widespread planting of non-native trees in the area is destroying the ecology of the area.

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