Olive Harvest
Olive trees have been cultivated in the region for many thousands of years, with some evidence of olive groves and olive oil technologies dating to the Chalcolithic period, between 3600 and 3300 BCE.[1][2] Later in the Bronze Age, olive fruits were widely traded, as shown by the Uluburun shipwreck – which may have been carrying an olive shipment from Palestine.[2]
Olives and olive oil had a significant role in all of the major religions which developed in the region. In the Jewish scriptures, olives were seen as part of the blessings of the Promised land and were a symbol of prosperity. In the New Testament, the Mount of Olives has an important role, and the anointing with oil is part of Christian[2] and Islamic religious practice.[3]
In the period between 1700 and 1900, the area around Nablus had developed into the major area for olive production,[4] and the olive oil was used in lieu of money. The oil was stored in deep wells in the ground in the city and surrounding villages, which was then used by merchants to make payments.[4]
By the late 19th century, cash crops in the region were being rapidly expanded to the extent that by 1914 there were 475 thousand dunam of olive groves (about 47.5 thousand hectares or 112 thousand acres) across the area that is now Israel and the Palestinian territories.[5]
In the late Ottoman period before the First World War, olive oil produced near Nablus was hard to export due to its relatively high acidity, high price, and limited shelf-life.[6]
During the British Mandate era, production of olives more than doubled from the 1920s to the 1940s.[7]
After the occupation of Palestine, Israeli forces targeted olive trees as a primary form of land acquisition and began to uproot Palestinian olive trees in 1967, with an estimated 830,000 olive trees uprooted between 1967 and 2009.[8]
The olive harvest was the primary source of income for Palestinians during the first Intifada, and was so essential for the Palestinian communities that public institutions, universities, and public schools closed for the olive season so as many people as possible could help with the harvest.[9]
In 2014, UNESCO designated Battir as a World Heritage site because of its agricultural significance, as its olive production characterizes the landscape through "extensive agricultural terraces, water springs, ancient irrigation systems, human-settlement remains, olive presses, and an historic core."[10]
Currently, olive oil is an essential export for Palestinians in the West Bank. Marketing consultant Robert Massoud states, "There is very little Palestinians can export but olive oil."[11] This dependence on olive oil exports is widespread throughout the West Bank to the point that, to most villagers, olive oil represents economic security.[9]
Olive trees are a major agricultural crop in the Palestinian territories, where they are mostly grown for olive oil production. It has been estimated that olive production accounted for 57% of cultivated land in the Palestinian territories with 7.8 million fruit-bearing olive trees in 2011.[12] In 2014, an estimated 108,000 tonnes of olives were pressed, producing 24,700 tonnes of olive oil – which contributed US $109 million in added value to the crop.[13] Around 100,000 households rely on olives for their primary income.[14]
The olive tree is seen by many Palestinians as being a symbol of nationality and connection to the land,[15] particularly due to their slow growth and longevity.
The destruction of Palestinian olive trees has become a feature of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with regular reports of damage by Israeli settlers.[16] In May 2023 a United Nations report stated that some 5,000 olive trees had been vandalised by settlers in less than 5 months.[17]
The vast majority of the olive harvest is pressed in the West Bank, mostly around the town of Jenin, where most of the olive oil presses are located.[13]
Olive oil produced in Palestine is primarily consumed locally.[18] The natural olive tree cycle of high-yield years followed by low-yield years has caused large fluctuations in production, but on average there is an excess of around 4,000 tonnes of olive oil produced per year. Of this, the biggest market is likely to be to Israel – although the data is not collected, making the destination of the oil hard to assess. The rest is exported to Europe, North America, and the Gulf states.[18] The International Olive Council estimates that the average production of Palestinian olive oil was 22,000 tonnes per year with 6,500 tonnes exported in 2014/15.[19]
| Palestinian olive press statistics 2014[13] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total olives/ tonnes | Total olive oil pressed/ tonnes | Total added value/ million US $ | |
| Palestine | 108379.1 | 24758.2 | 109 |
| West Bank | 88356.4 | 21241.5 | 91 |
| Gaza | 20022.6 | 3517.0 | 18 |
- ↑ Liphschitz, Nili; Gophna, Ram; Hartman, Moshe; Biger, Gideon (1991). "The beginning of olive (olea europaea) cultivation in the old world: A reassessment". Journal of Archaeological Science. 18 (4): 441–453. doi:10.1016/0305-4403(91)90037-P. ISSN 0305-4403.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kaniewski, David; Van Campo, Elise; Boiy, Tom; Terral, Jean-Frédéric; Khadari, BouchaÏb; Besnard, Guillaume (2012). "Primary domestication and early uses of the emblematic olive tree: palaeobotanical, historical and molecular evidence from the Middle East". Biological Reviews. 87 (4): 885–899. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2012.00229.x. ISSN 1469-185X. PMID 22512893. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Viktoria Hassouna (2010). Virgin Olive Oil. BoD – Books on Demand. pp. 23–. ISBN 978-3-8391-7505-7. Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Beshara Doumani (12 October 1995). Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700–1900. University of California Press. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-0-520-91731-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Dāwid Qûšnêr (1986). Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period: Political, Social, and Economic Transformation. BRILL. pp. 195–. ISBN 978-90-04-07792-8. Search this book on
- ↑ Mustafa Abbasi; Ami Ayalo; David De Vries (1 August 2011). Haifa Before & After 1948: Narratives of a Mixed City: Part 1. Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation. pp. 101–. ISBN 978-90-8979-092-7. Search this book on
- ↑ Charles S. Kamen (15 July 1991). Little Common Ground: Arab Agriculture and Jewish Settlement in Palestine, 1920–1948. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. 205–. ISBN 978-0-8229-7672-1. Search this book on
- ↑ "Olive Trees - More Than Just a Tree in Palestine" (PDF). Miftah. 2009.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Abufarha, Nasser (3 Jun 2008). "Land of Symbols: Cactus, Poppies, Orange and Olive Trees and Palestine". Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. 15 (3): 343–368. doi:10.1080/10702890802073274. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ "Executive Summary". whc.unesco.org. 2014.
- ↑ Twair, Pat McDonnell (Dec 2007). "Palestine in a Bottle". The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. 26 (9): 64–65.
- ↑ The Besieged Palestinian Agricultural Sector (PDF). United Nations Conference on Trade and Development - UNCTAD. 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016. Search this book on
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Main Economic Indicators for Olive Presses Activity in Palestine by Governorate, 2014". Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
- ↑ Lodolini, E.M.; Ali, S.; Mutawea, M.; Qutub, M.; Arabasi, T.; Besnard, Guillaume; Neri, D. (2014). "Complementary irrigation for sustainable production in olive groves in Palestine". Agricultural Water Management. 134: 104–109. doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2013.12.006. ISSN 0378-3774.
- ↑ Barbara Rose Johnston; Lisa Hiwasaki; Irene J. Klaver (21 December 2011). Water, Cultural Diversity, and Global Environmental Change: Emerging Trends, Sustainable Futures?. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 496–. ISBN 978-94-007-1773-2. Search this book on
- ↑ Bowen, Jeremy (2014). "Israel and the Palestinians: A conflict viewed through olives". BBC. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
- ↑ Amira Hass, '5,000 Trees Vandalized in Palestinian West Bank Villages in Less Than Five Months,' Haaretz 10 May 2023
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 The State of Palestine National Export Strategy: Olive Oil (PDF). ITC and Paltrade. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-05. Retrieved 2016-03-24. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) Search this book on
- ↑ "World Olive Oil Figures". International Olive Council. 2015. Missing or empty
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