Olive harvesting: a family affair

Today we enjoyed helping a Palestinian family harvest olives, sharing dinner with them and sleeping in their home. We also saw where the crop is processed and learned how it is sold.

Jalameh Checkpoint

To go to Jenin in the occupied territories (West Bank) from Nazareth in Israel, we had to pass through the  Jalameh Checkpoint. It was the first time all week that we had to show our passports, but we were waved through. We saw a few pedestrians coming out through the facility that according to the sign was upgraded by USAID. By law Israelis are not allowed to enter Zone A, but Palestinian Israelis do (not Jewish Israelis).

In the village of Burkeen near Jenin four members of our 32-member IFPB delegation joined Hatem Salamah, his brother Nasser, and several other members of their family to gather olives for about two hours. It was truly a family affair, with the men and boys beating the trees with poles while the women picked with their hands and the children helped gather olives from the tarps spread under the trees. The family harvests and prunes about 8 or 9 of its 80 trees in a single day. Unlike some other olive growers, they are not harassed by Israeli settlers damaging trees.

Nasser Abufarha with olive oil from the high-tech press

They deliver their olives for pressing and processing by Canaan Free Trade, which has a state-of-the-art plant with Italian equipment right in their town. The family benefits from the Palestinian Free Trade Association, which organizes cooperatives for 1500 small farmers to work collectively on organic quality, certification, and marketing in Europe and North America. Nasser Abufarha, director of Canaan and founder of PFTA, told us that Israeli authorities arrested him this year for  "organizing an illegal disturbance" at a fund-raising, awareness-building, tree-planting marathon. He says the olive farmers' main challenge is scarce and expensive water, because Israel refuses to grant permits for new wells in the West Bank, while Israeli farmers have cheap running water at all times. He adds that Israel's policy of creating a two-kilometer buffer zone around Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with many Palestinian olive trees in the zone, invites damage by settlers. Nasser says the farmers replace more trees than the settlers destroy, but they are hurt financially because it can take up to 15 years for the new trees to bear as much fruit. Export costs are higher because Israel forces the cargo to be offloaded from a Palestinian truck at the border crossing and transferred to an Israeli truck to go to the port.

Besides olive oil, the PFTA promotes exports of almonds and products made by women's cooperatives, such as couscous, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, and soap.

Hatem's mother Nabuha

We had a delightful experience of typical Palestinian hospitality by an extended family of about 25 persons at dinner tonight. The matriarch was Hatem's mother Nabiha, who is about 100 years old. Several of them spoke English, and we spoke a bit of Arabic, so we had a great time. They told us they love the American people, but wish our government would provide  treat Palestinians better. We promised to do our best to spread the word.