FT Foundations Director Says Bananas & Palestinian Olive Oil Her Favourite FT Products
Zaytoun on November 18th, 2009With the love of Palestinian Olive Oil growing in the UK, it seems it’s quickly becoming everyone’s ‘favourite’ product. The Executive Director of Fairtrade Foundation, Harriet Lamb recently said Palestinian Olive Oil is one of her two favourite favourite Fairtrade products of the last 15 years. Read more here
Israeli Settlers Burn Olive Groves in ‘Price Tag’ Retaliation Attack - Times Article
Zaytoun on July 21st, 2009Israeli settlers on horseback set fire to fields of olive trees and stoned Palestinian cars in the West Bank yesterday, apparently in response to the Israeli army’s removal of an illegal outpost in the area.
At least 1,500 Palestinian-owned trees were destroyed and two Palestinians were injured in the attack, near the city of Nablus, by about 30 settlers, security officials said. Farmers fought fires late into the afternoon, as fears grew that the flames would spread across the dry summer fields.
Please follow this link to read the full article.
Justice and Couscous
Zaytoun on February 27th, 2009Life has never been easy in Ein al-Sultan camp, Palestine’s smallest refugee camp. Nestled at the foot of the Mount of Temptation, just outside the historic city of Jericho, the camp’s population currently sits at roughly 2,000. Established in 1948, the camp once accommodated 20,000 refugees, but the vast majority were forced to flee to Jordan during the hostilities of the 1967 war. Many of those who remained once relied on employment in Israel to make ends meet, but when the brutality of the occupation was intensified during the second Palestinian intifada most people lost their jobs because of the severe movement restrictions that were imposed. Today, poor socio-economic conditions, inadequate basic infrastructure such as roads and sewers, severe water shortages, all of which are compounded by the Israeli occupation, cause tremendous hardship for the refugees, who continue to be largely dependent on food rations and various other forms of international aid.
Read the rest of this article here
Zaytoun cous cous is sourced from the coop profiled in this article see our products page for more info
Prime Minister ‘Delighted’ As First Fairtrade Olive Oil Goes On Sale
Zaytoun on February 25th, 2009The Herald
The first olive oil to carry the Fairtrade mark, produced by Palestinian farmers, will be launched in the UK today, with the support of the Prime Minister.
Read full article here
Boycott: South African Dock Workers Refuse To Unload Israeli Cargo
Zaytoun on February 4th, 2009Bethlehem – Ma’an – South African dock workers announced their refusal to offload cargo from a ship carrying goods from Israel scheduled to arrive in Durban on Sunday.
It follows the decision by dock workers there to strengthen the campaign in South Africa for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against “apartheid” Israel, a statement said. Read more here
300 British Academics for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Zaytoun on January 17th, 2009300 Academics have written to The Guardian stating that:
‘We believe Israel should immediately and unconditionally end its assault on Gaza, end the occupation of the West Bank, and abandon all claims to possess or control territory beyond its 1967 borders. We call on the British government and the British people to take all feasible steps to oblige Israel to comply with these demands, starting with a programme of boycott, divestment and sanctions.‘
Read more here.
Demo Forces Israeli-Owned Shop To Close
Zaytoun on January 13th, 2009An Israeli-owned cosmetics shop in central London has been forced to shut after activists locked themselves to the door in protest at the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
Staff at Ahava, in Covent Garden, closed the salon’s doors to customers at around 11am on Saturday when three activists took over the store by attaching themselves to each other and to the inside of the door.
A group of 12 other pro-Palestine supporters stood outside the premises in Monmouth Street with banners and leaflets.
Joe Lee, spokesman for the activists, said it was an independent, “peaceful” protest against the Israeli government and Ahava’s own activities.
Ahava, which is based in Israel but has “boutiques” in London, Berlin and Singapore, produces Dead Sea mineral-based skin products.
The activists said they were protesting against the manufacture of products by Ahava on occupied West Bank territory.
Mr Lee, 24, of Islington, north London, said the action was timed to coincide with national demonstrations against the violence in Gaza and what the activists described as “the Israeli government’s deadly massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza”.
Ahava staff, who asked not to be named, said the store had been open as usual until the protesters arrived.
They said there had been no trouble but had called the police, who were dealing with the situation.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers were at the scene. “They will assess the situation and work out the best course of action to secure a peaceful resolution,” he added.
Original article here
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2009, All Rights Reserved.
Independent Article on Settlement Exports - November 08
Zaytoun on November 5th, 2008Britain to crack down on exports from Israeli settlements
Clips from Canaan Fair Trade, Jenin, Palestine
heather on May 28th, 2008
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/middleeast/ss/eaton_olive_oil_peace/
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/middleeast/video/olive_oil.html
Getting Nablus Soap to Market
heather on March 12th, 2007By Walid Batrawi
Al-Jazeera - March 10, 2007
Nablus is the West Bank’s biggest city and the capital of its economy but as with other centres throughout the Palestinian territories, to put it mildly, times are tough.
The city is known for, among other things, its soap, made from pure olive oil, but like so many other products, the problem is getting them to market. A usual business day in one of the most famous soap factories in Nablus, an industry that goes back to the 19th century all hand made, stacked in piles and wrapped. The tradition of soap making has, for long, brought income to the city, now marketing is limited.
“10 years ago we used to produce more than 500 tons a year, but now we are producing 320 tons. It’s very difficult to sell the products here in Palestine, due to the checkpoints and the long time we have to spend on the roads,” Nael Qabaj, general manager, said.
Nablus has long been considered the capital of Palestinian economy, but today the continuous Israeli incursions and the Israeli checkpoints around the city have crippled its economy. Palestinians were hoping that the checkpoints would be removed after the meetings between Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president and Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister.
Factories cut off
Typical of the Palestinian businesses which are being strangled by the checkpoints is a factory situation just 200 meters away from an Israeli checkpoint outside Nablus. The factory used to be one of the biggest on the West Bank. It produced 40 kinds of candies and snacks, now only one production line is running. Ghassan Shbaro, the factory’s deputy manager, said: “We face many difficulties getting to the factory, we hardly get permits to cross the checkpoint, it’s also hard to get the raw material.
“We used to export 70% of our products to Gaza, now it’s zero, even getting goods to other parts of the West Bank is very difficult because of the Israeli roadblocks”.
Checkpoints have become a routine in the daily life of Palestinians, who still hope that its removal remains a main item on the agenda of any future meeting between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
Nablus soap is available through www.zaytoun.org/products
