Zayed says date palm is tree of life

President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan has used a new national book on the date palm to dub it the 'tree of life' and has called for preserving the native desert plant.

In the foreword to the book published by the Ministry of Information and Culture, the President said the date palm tree has been central to the UAE's culture and survival as the earliest inhabitants of the emirates used it for a wide variety of purposes, including building their houses and constructing fish traps.

"Above all of course, they relished the dates as a nutritious food," Sheikh Zayed wrote in the book Feast of Dates.

"For us, the date palm is, and always has been, truly the tree of life. We have grown up with this remarkable species and its many products and find it impossible to imagine life without it. When we admire a date palm, we are looking at the foundations of our civilisation and the sustaining force for countless generations."

Sheikh Zayed said a grove of date palms and a camel with an extended grazing area were all that local people of old required to co-exist in harmony with the desert.