Treehuggers, Palestinian stylee'

Palestine is the traditional home of the olive tree. It supports over half the population, dominates the agricultural landscape and Palestinian olive oil used to be considered by many as the best in world. But chances are you’ve never tasted Palestinian olive oil. This is because the conflict with Israel has almost completely obliterated olive oil production. Zaytoun is an organisation that is trying to change that by helping Palestinian farmers rebuild their livelihoods and find markets for their olive oil in the UK. Zaytoun olive oil is not only an ethical, righteous olive oil… it’s also well tasty.

We spoke to Palestinian olive tree farmer Taysir and this is what he told us:

In what ways are olive trees important to your tradition as a farmer and as a Palestinian?

The olive tree is the oldest plantation in this region and farmers have been depending on it since ancient times. Some of these trees are a thousand years old. We farmers rely on the olives as our household food and family income. The trees are tied into our culture –weddings and other celebrations are planned around the harvest because that is when the money comes in. At the harvest the whole family go out together to pick the olives and then we celebrate with a feast. The olive tree is the main productive agricultural tree in the rural area of Palestine, where about 65 percent of the population lives.

What are the problems you are facing as farmers and what are the threats to the trees?

The destruction of the olive groves by the Israeli army takes place on a daily basis. It destroys the culture and the life source of the farming community. Producing olive oil is the only source of income for many farmers to feed their children and to manage their lives. The newly built Israeli separation wall annexed the agricultural Palestinian lands and the water resources to the Israeli side.

The families who have their ancestral lands on the other side of the wall can only get access to them through gates built in the wall but the guards and the military who keep watch over them 24 hours a day constantly prevent them from crossing and collecting the olives and bringing them home. The farmers wait for the harvest season all year just in order to sell some olive oil to pay off the debts that they have built up.

Tell us about Zaytoun.

Four years ago Zaytoun was established for the purposes of marketing the olive oil production of the Palestinians in UK markets and since that time it has played a major role in supporting the farmers and helping them find opportunities to sell the oil that has been wasted for so many years. Our businesses had been virtually dead since the second Intifada in 2000.

Zaytoun has been crucial for us. It has helped us to sustain our way of life and the cultivation of these ancient trees some of which were planted over a thousand years ago.

BUY SOME! IT’S TASTY!

www.zaytoun.org