A Donation from The High Wycombe Muslim Community
saleh on October 26th, 2005All of us at Zaytoun would like to say a big thank you to the muslim community in High Wycombe and the Wycombe Islamic Society
With the help of Zafar, a volunteer, they’ve raised over £1000 in ‘Zakat’ donations to help the Al-Zaytouna farmers cooperative in Palestine puchase essential basic tools. Under Islamic law, Zakat is the compulsory giving of 2.5% of one’s wealth each year to benefit the poor.
Zaytoun in Palestine
saleh on October 26th, 2005The Zaytoun team are now in Palestine helping farmers with the annual olive harvest, this usually involves picking olives, carrying olives and escorting families & helping to carry their olives back to the villages, often through Israeli security checkpoints and settlements.
Keep an eye on the journal for our reports from Palestine.
Zaytoun Olive Oil in Oxfam
saleh on October 26th, 2005We’d like to thank Oxfam Ireland for stocking Zaytoun olive oil.
A harvest report from Bil’in
heather on October 12th, 2005This Sunday the Bil’in villagers harvested their olive groves which are now being torn up by the construction of the Wall.
The annual harvest of olives is both vital to the livelihood of the Bil’in community, and being made increasingly difficult to perform. Israel demands that olive farmers in the West Bank apply to them for “permission” to harvest their own crops. The people of Bil’in are adamant that this demand will not be met. For them it cannot be met. “Where?”, they ask “…is there an authority that can legitimately grant (or withhold) such permission.” They know that when Israel has granted “permission” in the past and when it is not suddenly and without warning withdrawn, that it is often only for some small percentage of the farmers and for a fraction of the time required to harvest their crops.
On the way to their groves, accompanied by internationals from ISM and IWPS, and members of Rabbis for Human Rights, the men, women, and children from Bil’in crossed the Israeli construction site. By the time their trees produce another crop it is likely that an impenetrable barrier will stand here severing the connection between Bil’in and its farmlands permanently. Making their way out to the limits of their land, or at least to those olive groves of theirs which have yet to be consumed by the growth of the neighbouring settlements the villagers set about their work with urgency. Some hit the branches with sticks knocking the olives to the ground, and releasing clouds of dust into the air. The trees here are covered in a layer of dust which has been created by the construction work, and which the villagers believe has damaged the process of cross-polination this year. Some climbed the trees to pick the olives higher up, others gathered those that had already fallen to the ground. All focussed on the work at hand undistracted by the huge cranes above, at work expanding the hilltop settlement there, undistracted by the passing army jeeps and humvees on the road below, and undistracted by the roar of the construction and excavation equipment nearby.
Finally, with their bags full of olives everyone stopped to enjoy lunch, shaded by the trees from the midday sun. Then, choosing to walk back to the village along the route of the wall construction, the people of Bil’in passed the many diggers uprooting their trees and gouging away at the hillside. Followed closely by Israeli soldiers the Bil’in villagers’ message was clear - the land was there’s and they needed no-ones permission to work it.
Download films of the Non-Violent demonstrations in Bil’in:
http://www.archive.org/details/bilin20
http://www.archive.org/details/BilinWallDemo040505
