Zaytoun November newsletter

• Zaytoun on Channel Four

• Olive Harvest News Oxfam report

• Fairtrade Fortnight 2011

• Planet Organic – a special offer

• Product update

• Upcoming events

• Where to purchase our products

Zaytoun on Channel Four

Zaytoun were delighted with the coverage on ‘Food What Goes in Your Basket’ on Channel Four a couple of weeks ago. It gave time to both the long history and quality of the Palestinian olive oil and the arrival of an armed settler meant that the politics could not be ignored. Please do check it out

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/food-what-goes-in-your-basket/4od#3123776 (aprox 30 minutes in)

Olive Harvest News

There has been some disturbing news from Palestine this harvest season – the Guardian on October 24th included a double-page spread on the “most troubled harvest yet” with increased incidences of settler violence both to farmers and their trees, and on 31 October the Telegraph also covered settler violence. The link to both web articles are below, and we have also had comment from our Palestinian director Taysir Arbasi, with farmer comments. We hope to have some feedback from volunteer pickers recently returned – please check our website for these reports in the next few weeks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/24/west-bank-olive-harvest-attacks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8100459/Olive-tree-wars-Israeli-settlers-do-battle-with-Palestinians-over-olive-groves.html
Taysir says “It is not a matter of incidents happening here and there, news comes from everywhere in the Palestinian villages about settler attacks on farmers; cutting down of trees, burning of stores on the main roads, or releasing sewage waste into the olive groves in the season, stealing olives – and all this happening under the protection of the military forces to settlers.
The question here is not about what they want to achieve, nor is it a question of organized terror against the Palestinians or occasional incidents. Obviously it is organized to snatch empty lands from their owners – uncultivated and abandoned land is an easy target for confiscation and the expansion of settlements.
It may be that in a few years this situation will be a normal thing, where people expect that settlers are harvesting the groves and getting their hands on the land, and year by year there will be no right to say this is my land or these are my trees. This is how it is and how we are used to see things happening.”

Farmer reports gathered by Taysir: Bureen village in Nablus south district is surrounded by 4 settlements atop the 4 mountains around the village, and there are some very fundamentalist settlers living there who always attack the villagers and prevent the farmers to access their fields or harvest their olive groves, claiming that these lands belong to the settlements. Settlers come down to the fields with their weapons to evacuate the farmers from the lands that been cultivated by those village people and their grandparents for hundreds of years.

“On how many fronts do we have to struggle? We have been fighting poverty, trying to make a decent life since we were born, and now we are developing our olive oil and taking more care with the olive trees, but having to struggle and deal with the settler attacks that are almost on daily basis. They have burned 217 trees of mine and what is left for me and my family is only less than this number” said Abed Eid.

He added “On the southern mountain we have about 1000 dunums which are shortly going to be added to the thousands that are already confiscated to build settlements. These 1000 dunums have been surrounded by fences, planted with more olive trees by the settlers and provided with high agriculture technology. In a few years it will be a big farm for the settlers and they will claim that it was inherited from their grandfathers who lived here thousands of years ago”

The agriculture committee in the village and the village council are planning to start a weekly action of planting trees and reclamation of lands to keep the lands alive, and to prevent more theft and confiscation.

“We want, after the harvest season finishes, to start a campaign of land reclamation and tree-planting and non-violent presence in our lands that are close to the threat of settlers. It’s our life and we have to defend it, and we need every support possible, we will also call on the Palestinian organizations and government to stand with us in this situation where we are about to lose our homes” says Billal Ayad

“All this is happening around us while we are working hard to have a sustainable quality of our olive oil, we have been working for 3 years on quality control and we managed to extract high quality oil, and to compete internationally, our oil has been given an award in an Italian competition last year. We will keep this up, the settlers will not prevent us from approaching the world market and olive oil industry, to present our produce to the rest of the global community.” Says Abu Abdallah from Assira

Assira is a neighbor village to Bureen and they have worked together on activities to improve olive oil quality. They are also a target village to settlers attacks.

If you are interested in coming to Palestine for the olive harvest next year please check back on our harvest page http://www.zaytoun.org/harvest/about-the-harvest/

Oxfam report

Zaytoun were pleased to read Oxfam’s latest report on obstacles to development of the olive farming industry in the West Bank. Suppliers and farmers were consulted, and Zaytoun had some input. Please check the report out – available from the link below
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/trade/road-to-olive-farming-west-bank.html

Fairtrade Fortnight 2011

It’s coming up again! We’re starting to think about possibilities for Fairtrade Fortnight 2011, after a great set of tours last year despite difficulties with visa applications. Next year we will be hosting Vivien Sansour, Media and Promotions Manager from Canaan Fair Trade along with a farmer from the Palestine Fairtrade Association. We’ll also be bringing Taysir Arbasi over – many of you have enjoyed his talks in the past – and are thinking about bringing over a woman farmer, Lina, from Sir cooperative – she applied for a visa to come last FT14 and was refused. Please indicate any interest in hosting events or fundraising for Taysir and Lina’s costs to cathiATzaytoun.org – we’ll begin to put together a schedule early in the New Year.

Planet Organic

Planet Organic are generously extending a 20% discount offer on your first order to all Zaytoun friends valid until the end of December 2010. Go to http://www.planetorganic.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=zaytoun and enter “Zaytoun” as your discount code.

Product update

We’re waiting on the arrival of our first organic almonds, we will have them by mid November along with a new batch of succulent sundried tomatoes from Canaan Fairtrade (250g jars). We’ll be adding these to our price list in the next couple of weeks, so do remember to ask for an updated list if you’re interested to order these products.
New season dates are also en route to arrive mid November.

Upcoming Events

Zaytoun will have Palestinian produce for sale at the following events. We are always looking for volunteers to help on stalls, please contact heather@zaytoun.org if you are interested in helping out on stalls.
Preview Tuesday 2 November 6pm-9pm (£25) Wednesday 3 November 10am – 4pm (£5) GIFT of SIGHT FAIR 2010 CHELSEA OLD TOWN HALL, KINGS RD, SW3 5EE
http://www.stjohneyehospital.org/events.asp?id=31&catid=31&topnavitem=Events

5-7th November and 3-5th December Real Food Market, Southbank London
Zaytoun has a new regular stall at the Real Food Market on the Southbank. Come down and say hello and have a taste of our products. It takes place on the first weekend of every month, giving Londoners the opportunity to buy fresh, high quality, affordable products, direct from over 40 carefully selected Real Food producers. The Markets will showcase all that’s regional, authentic, seasonal and sustainable.
http://www.realfoodfestival.co.uk/content/view/493/147/

3-5 December, Excel London, Taste Of Christmas
So much to taste and a good new forum for us to offer a taste of Palestine
http://www.tasteofchristmas.com

Christmas Fayre on Saturday 30th November at the Corran Halls in Oban
Zaytoun goods will be on sale at Oban for Palestine Stall at the Argyll Animal Aid
Saturday, 4 December, 2010-10am until 4pm Overton Christmas Market
St. Luke’s Hall, 49-55 Winchester Street, Overton, Hampshire RG25 3HT
Please do send us details of your stalls and events to contactATzaytoun.org so we can advertise them on the web and in the next newsletter.

Where to Purchase Zaytoun Products

Zaytoun is delighted that we now have nationwide coverage for our range of Palestinian products.
The products can be obtained through a number of outlets:
Regional distributors remain the back bone of Zaytoun, both in terms of distributing products and also in terms of spreading the message of issues faced by Palestinian farmers. To find your nearest distributors please see:
www.zaytoun.org/distribution/regional-distribution
Online and retail distribution for the products has grown really well this year and this link lists online and retail outlets for Zaytoun products:
www.zaytoun.org/distribution/retail
Wholesale all Zaytoun’s products are now available through wholesalers so if you don’t see the products at your local retailers please let them know they are available through the following wholesalers:
www.zaytoun.org/distribution/wholesale
Please note these lists are regularly updated with new and changing outlets so please do check back and let us know if you would like to add new listings to this list by emailing contactATzaytoun.org

Thanks for your ongoing support,
Cathi, Manal, Rachel and Heather
ZAYTOUN CIC – fairly traded produce from Palestine
You can now follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Or simply join our Facebook Group.
www.zaytoun.org
Order & general enquiries call
Phone: 0845 345 4887/ 0207 609 5699
Email: order@zaytoun.org
Registration number: 507 8436
Please note our new address: Zaytoun CIC, Clarendon Buildings , Cabin Q, 25 Horsell Road , London , N5 1XL .

Disclaimer: This message has been sent to you because you have expressed an interest in Zaytoun. If you do not wish to receive further emails please send an email marked “unsubscribe” to contact@zaytoun.org

Posted in Uncategorized