A Celebration of Palestine 29 & 30 November 2008
A Celebration of Palestine
29th & 30th November
11am – 6pm
Free Entry
SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London, WC1H 0XG
A two day fair trade fair and celebration of Palestinian culture
This lovely song is on 2 CDs, as well as on Youtube in case any of you want to sing it! Liz Mansfield sings it on ‘Turning Silence into Song’ (Fuse Records CFCD 009) & Janet Russell sings it on ‘And They All Sang Rosselsongs’ (Fuse Records CFCD 012).
Many thanks to Leon for allowing us to post the lyrics here
SONG OF THE OLIVE TREE Leon Rosselson
My father’s father’s father planted here
In this now broken earth an olive tree
And as a child I sang to it my secrets
And as I grew I felt it part of me.
Its branches gave me shelter from the sun.
Its grey green leaves shaded my young dreams.
The fruit it bore was like a gift of hope
Of all the olive trees, I loved this one.
The settlers came, they beat us black and blue.
They said, Next time we shoot you. Understand?
But still we dared to come, we had no choice
We came at night like thieves to our own land.
Like ghosts we came, men women, young and old
To pick the crop as we have always done.
For centuries we harvested in peace
The oil we pressed was sweet, precious as gold.
Now look. This is a cemetery for trees.
Their great machines crushed hope into despair
They ripped the heart from every living tree
Except for one, my tree they chose to spare.
They dug it up, they smuggled it away
This ancient tree, they saw it as a prize
For some Israeli rich enough to pay
Five thousand dollars worth, that’s what they say.
Do you believe in ghosts? Last night I dreamed
My father’s father’s father came to me
He took my hand and held it in his own
And said, Take heart, here is my olive tree.
And when I woke it was a kind of birth
And in my hand I found an olive stone
And in the field where once my tree had been
A thousand shapes arose out of the earth.
I saw their faces, women, children, men
And each hand held a perfect olive stone
And each heart held a vision of to come
When all our olive trees will rise again.
November sale offer on organic oil and dates
Special offer for November:
Organic Olive Oil: 40% off (this applies to Sindyanna and PARC organic oil)
Dates: 30% off
The sale is on stock BBE December 2008 and only applies to orders over £550.
Product Feature: Zaytoun almonds
Zaytoun imports the finest kinds of almonds – Om Al-Fahem - harvested across 15 villages in the Jenin area of the West Bank.
Zabuba is one of many villages in the Jenin area which works closely with organisations such as the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC) to produce almonds for international markets. To read more about Zaytoun almonds see the link below.
www.zaytoun.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/almonds.pdf
Featured Seller – Infused oils
Carl Harwood runs Grace’s Little Shop www.graceslittleshop.co.uk in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Carl has been stocking Zaytoun oils and soaps for some time now, and has innovated with his own infusions of garlic, rosemary, chilli and other delicious additions to the oil.
All of the herbs that are used in the infusions are grown by Carl and his family, using only their own kitchen scraps and garden waste as fertiliser. What started as an interest in providing good, healthy, well-sourced food for his own family, soon expanded and Carl started experimenting with adding his bumper herb harvest to our olive oils.
Carl delivers nationally and internationally with sales coming from right across the UK. You can place orders via his website, or send an email for further information to info@graceslittleshop.co.uk
Harvest trips
Zaytoun’s volunteer harvest team have spent their first week olive picking in the villages of Immatin, Marda and Kufr Qdum, all in the Salfit/Nablus districts. We’re waiting for further updates on their progress but have heard that there have been several minor incidents with settlers arriving in the groves, and the Israeli army telling the pickers they do not have permission to visit the groves the next day. We hope to get some more reports soon and will post them on the journal page.
In the meantime, please check our journal page for details of a recent UN report about attacks on Palestinian farmers, and also the Maan news agency.
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=32281
FLO certification Update
Canaan Fair Trade in Jenin looks set to be the first organisation to receive the FLO Certification (Fairtrade Labelling Organisation is behind the recognised logo we see on UK fair-trade products www.fairtrade.net ). Not only will they be the first Palestinian organisation to carry this mark on their olive oil and olives, but it will also be the first time that FLO olive oil and olives are seen in the world market. This, we hope, will be a significant market boost for the Palestinian farmer cooperatives.
The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees have also applied for FLO certification for their olive oil and olives.
Upcoming Events
Zaytoun is planning to have a presence at many events this November, including those listed below.
If you are planning a stall to sell Zaytoun produce at an upcoming event be sure to email us on contact@zaytoun.org so we can include the event in our newsletter.
Upcoming events are:
20 November to Sunday November. Ethical Christmas Emporium at the Oxo Tower, South Bank
22 Nov 08 - Christmas Fair, Midhurst Methodist Church, Midhurst, West Sussex (10am to 12noon)
29 & 30 November – A Taste of Palestine – a 2 day event selling and showcasing products of Palestine. Maramia Café selling delicious Palestinian food will also be there. 11am-5pm, free entry, SOAS Main Building, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London, WC1H 0XG (Volunteer help needed at this event, please contact heather@zaytoun.org )
29 Nov - Arundel Fairtrade Fair, Arundel Castle, Arundel, West Sussex (10am to 5pm)
6 Dec - Horsham Fairtrade Fair (10am to 5:30pm) see www.fairtradehorsham.org.uk
Latest products and prices
For our latest products and prices see www.zaytoun.org/products
Thanks for your ongoing support,
ZAYTOUN CIC - fairly traded produce from Palestine
Britain to crack down on exports from Israeli settlements
for soloists & audience
Special guests to be announced.
St James church, Piccadilly, Wed. 26th November, 7.30pm.
Traditional carols with untraditional lyrics, interspersed with poetry and prose readings, to highlight current reality in the Holy Land.
Tickets: £10, £6 (concessions) available from TicketWeb: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=296279 08444771000 or on the door.
Proceeds to go to Medical Aid for Palestinians & Open Bethlehem.
Palestinian Christmas gifts and Zaytoun olive oil will be on sale afterwards.
Supported by: British Committee for Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), Global Women’s Strike, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), Jews Against Zionism, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), War on Want, Zaytoun.
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A report from the UN declares that there has been as many attacks on farmers so far this year, as in 2007 all together. Even Israeli politicians have declared that the situation is getting out of control. Prior to the olive harvest season, Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed that the Israeli defense force would prevent the settlers from assaulting farmers during their olive harvest. Instead, the Israeli soldiers accompanied settlers in harassing farmers in several occasions during the last two weeks. Farmers are being forced to start their harvesting before the actual season has started, or will have to leave their trees half-full of olives. According to the Israeli High Court ruling of 2006, it is a violation of the law for soldiers to obstruct farmers from harvesting. - http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=32281
- http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3735&Itemid=1 |
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Joint Advocacy Initiative |
Zaytoun is very sorry to learn of the death of Irene Bruegel, on October 6th 2008. A co-founder of Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Irene was a supporter of Zaytoun from the beginning, and we owe much to her work in publicising the plight of Palestinian farmers amongst the Jewish community and others. Her family and friends are in our thoughts.
Guardian obituary: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/15/women-highereducation
Dear Zaytoun customers and supporters
For those of you who have been fasting, we wish you “Eid Mubarrak” and hope you enjoy a festive time with friends and family.
مبارك عيد
كل عام و انتم بخير
Sale offer on organic oil and dates
Special offer for October:
Organic Olive Oil: 30% off (this applies to Sindyanna and PARC organic oil)
Dates: 20% off
The sale is on stock BBE December 2008 only.
Harvest trips
The Zaytoun harvest team will be in Palestine from 17th October to 2nd November, providing accompaniment and witnesses to the farmers and their families who will be harvesting olives in the Salfit and Nablus districts. This year the team is big, around 24 people and as before, coordination and local liaison will be provided by the International Women’s Peace Service. We’ll post team members’ reports and pictures up on our website as soon as we get them.
The producer tour will be held from 9th to 15th November, visiting Bethlehem, Nablus and Jenin as well as the groves and presses in the rural regions and finishing off with a celebratory harvest gathering with traditional food and dance.
During this time we will be focusing on the harvest, so may not be able to answer your queries and respond to orders as quickly as we’d like. If you have any urgent orders coming up, please get them to us in good time so we can meet your deadlines.
FLO certification
We are keeping a close eye on the Fair Trade certification process that is currently happening for many of the Palestinian olive oil cooperatives with which we work. We are due to start work on our own licence as fair trade importers very soon, too. Fair Trade Foundation are working hard alongside our plans, to market this oil, and we’ll keep you up to date with the news on next year’s Fair Trade launch.
We’re hopeful that the Coop will take a quantity of the certified oil, having received samples and pricing. If you are a member of your local Coop board, or if you are a regular shopper in a Coop store, please do add your voice to others to express the demand for Fair Trade Palestinian olive oil to be stocked in every store!
Volunteer calls
Designer
Occasionally we have need to design a beautiful advert for a new publication. We usually manage this ourselves, using Word and saving to PDF. However, we’re not professionals, and we know how much difference can be made to our adverts by experienced designers who can add true pizzazz! If you have experience designing adverts for publication, and would like from time to time to jazz up our draft adverts, please let us know.
Event volunteers
Revert2Reality is a support network that seeks to bring about authentic understandings of Islam to others. They have organised a charity/fashion show event in Walthamstow, London on 12th October from 6-10pm, sponsored by Muslim Aid and Interpal. Zaytoun have been offered the chance to sell our products at this event, which includes a presentation, poetry and songs, a fashion show, 3 course meal and an auction. It is a women-only event, and no children over 5 years old are admitted.
If you could help us by running the stall here, please let us know on cathi@zaytoun.org or 0845 345 4887.
If you would like to reserve a ticket for this event please call their booking line on 07976 807 268. Tickets are available for £25 per person, and all proceeds raised go towards relieving the sufferings of Palestinians.
Tasting Session
We have been invited to do olive oil tasting in Budgens in Crouch End; a great opportunity to promote the oil and to encourage this retailer to stock Palestinian produce. If you live locally and would be interested in running a tasting session please contact heather@zaytoun.org for further details (we would provide oil and za’atar and cover travel costs, the tasting session are for 2 hours).
Events
Zayoun will have stall at the following events. If you would like to volunteer at any of the London stalls please contact heather@zaytoun.org or 0845 345 4887
Thursday 2 October, Kensington Town Hall, Hornton St, London W8 7NX
Admission £5. 10am – 5pm. The Gift of Sight Fair (in aid of St John’s eye hospital Jerusalem)
Tuesday 7 October is World Day for Decent Work. The TUC is organising a major event at Congress House in Central London. Civil society organisations are being invited to participate in or otherwise support the event. It promises to be the largest ever UK gathering on the Decent Work agenda of trade unions, development charities, campaigning NGOs and fair trade companies, development and gender centres of academic institutions, and think tanks. Activities will occur over the course of the day, commencing at 9.30am and finishing at 5pm, with a solidarity Rally and social afterwards in Congress Hall.
The event is free to attend, but registration in advance for individual attendees is essential. http://www.tuc.org.uk/wddw
Saturday 11 October 2008 – Day for Palestine. Doors open 1.30pm at Friends Meeting House, Ordnance Rd, Southampton. Seeking Justice for Palestinians after 60 Years films; live music, speakers, dance, food & stalls
Contact for more information - Jon : Tel. 023 80 220 273 Email pscsouthampton@googlemail.com
Satrurday 18 October Zaytoun and Palcrafts stall at Guildford Cathedral Fair, held in the Cathedral nave from 11.00 until 3.00pm.
Saturday and Sunday 25 & 26 October The Global Peace and Unity event is the largest multicultural gathering in Europe - expected to attract more than 60,000 people over two days in October at Excel in London.
If you are planning a stall to sell Zaytoun produce at an upcoming event be sure to email us on contact@zaytoun.org so we can include the event in our newsletter.
Latest products and prices…
New product – 500ml extra virgin olive oil with za’atar sachet around neck – now in stock.
Zaytoun will have a stall at this event, please come along:
The global trade union movement is holding a World Day for Decent Work on Tuesday 7 October. To mark the event in the UK, and in support of the Decent Work, Decent Life Campaign, the TUC is organising a day of activities at Congress House, London, focusing on rights at work and ending inequality in the workplace.
The event promises to be the largest ever gathering of international development and labour-related organisations in the UK concerned with the Decent Work agenda.
Over the course of the day there will be over 50 workshops, films, exhibitions and stalls from UK development charities, trade unions, organisations concerned with fair and ethical trade, and academic institutions focusing on the development and gender dimensions of livelihood and income generation issues.
The event is free to attend, but registration in advance is essential. You can register your details online
Zaytoun products will be on sale at this event…
12noon-9pm
Sunday September 21st 2008
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square. London WC1R 4RL
Free
Everybody welcome.
CAMDEN PEACE FAIR
12-5pm
UPBEAT IN HARMONY 7.00 - 9.00pm
Supported by London Borough of Camden