The Harvest

2008 harvest trip

2008 dates to be confirmed

Every year, Zaytoun coordinates a team of volunteers to go out and help Palestinian farmers bring their valuable olive harvest home.

WE coordinate the placement of teams with the International Women’s Peace Service (LINK), who have had a base in the West Bank village of Hares for several years. They speak to farmers’ representatives in the most threatened villages in the Salfit and Nablus districts and organise accommodation for the international teams. In the UK we ask interested volunteers to complete an application form which is followed up by a phone interview. A training weekend is organised where the team can work on their understanding and practice of non-violence in the specific context of Palestine. There is also a debriefing weekend once everyone is back in the UK.

This work offers solidarity with the farming communities who are most at risk from settler and army violence in the West Bank. Both settler harassment and the military closure of their olive groves and routes to and from the fields makes it impossible for some farming families to bring their crop home. The role of international volunteers in these cases is to observe, note what’s happening and where invited by the Palestinians, to negotiate safe passage for the farmers and their crops.

Participation in the harvest is often life-changing. The opportunity to witness at first-hand the conditions for farming communities in the occupied West Bank enables better campaigning against the injustices and an understanding of the place of olive oil in the fragile Palestinian economy. Just as importantly, however, are the personal friendships struck up by our visit. Personal connections with the producers of the olive oil bring authenticity and passion to the articles and talks our distributors make, and make the product much more than a commodity.

Below you will find some journal entries and photographs from past team members. We welcome applications from people of all ages, backgrounds and with differing levels of experience in NVDA and the Palestinian context. Please email cathi@zaytoun.org if you are interested in joining us this year.

As part of Zaytoun’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, we encourage all harvest volunteers to balance the emissions of their flights to Palestine. We recommend www.atmosfair.de
Zaytoun's carbon off setting for trip olive harvest flights 2007.

Joining the Olive Harvest trips has been a life-changing experience I would recommend to everyone. Since returning I have taken time out from my job to put together my own film/DVD of the trip. This film would be an excellent preparation for anyone considering a trip to Palestine for the first time. These are also details of a project set up on behalf of the group to help Palestine. FFI visit www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk

“It is almost impossible to explain the depth of the Israeli control over the Palestinian farmers, both in getting to their fields and in selling their produce.  The power is absolute and is destroying lives.  But on the other hand, to work with families in the olive groves, to share their difficulties and be made welcome in their homes is a privilege and a pleasure – and, to add to the joy, the sun often shines!”

In 2006 I went to see with my own eyes the Palestinian olive harvest in the West Bank under occupation. As a country woman myself I could not believe how difficult the Israeli government has made it for farmers and the population as a whole to live a normal life and pick their own olives from their own trees.  The sufferings inflicted on ordinary families in that country are a disgrace and a cause for shame. I believe Israeli security depends on Palestinian economic viability and
we must work together to achieve this.

Our group of harvesters lived for a week in a West Bank village in the Salfit area, then a week in another a short distance away. Both villages struggle with difficulties that would be unthinkable in our affluent society: no refuse collection, schools enclosed by wire fences to prevent vandalism from the illegal Israeli settlements on the nearby hills, roads into the village blocked by mounds of earth, pregnant women giving birth at the checkpoints on the main road on their way to hospital. We were told that babies had died of cold in this situation.

Jane Garrett, 2005 and 2006 team member

'Team photographs'
http://www.simulacrum.org.uk/harvest2006/

from Iain Cavell, team member 2006

Film made by harvest volunteer:

Ed Hill, a seasoned olive harvest team member (this year will be his third) has made an excellent film and book about his experiences of life in the West Bank during harvest time. Called “Our sufferings in this land”, the film shows not only the reality of everyday life in villages which rely on the olive harvest, but also the impact on a British volunteer of witnessing the everyday oppression of a people he lived and worked alongside.
Proceeds from sales of the DVD go to the Bristol Computers for Palestine project – for further information about this exciting initiative, check out www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk. For sales and showings of the film and book, contact Ed at edwardhill1@yahoo.co.uk
Student film-maker, James Shaddick, has made a 5 minute short film based on interviews and Ed Hill’s footage from his time with the olive harvesting team in Palestine. It’s available on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKp9x88gr9A

The harvest is collected by hand and transported from the groves by donkey power!

Mr Zaytouni! Playing with Palestinian children is always a real delight for us

An agricultural gate in Deir Ballut – farmers are often prevented from gaining access to their groves, even though there are specified times when the gates are supposed to be open.

 
Even where there are no gates, the farmers often find themselves negotiating with Israeli soldiers in order to stay in the groves and finish their harvest. Our role is as observers, unless the farmers ask us to intervene.