• home
• membership
• meetings
• coming up
• news & events
• committee
• links
• contact

February 2009 - Olive Harvest in Palestine

Albeit a week late, 24 WIB’s (as I affectionately refer to us) made it to our first meeting at The Cricketers Arms in Tangley. I think everyone would agree the venue was very pleasant, the food was very good and our speaker was superb!

I did feel a sense of irony that Sue Mowforth had travelled thousands of miles to Palestine before trawling through an occupied territory to bring us this month’s presentation, whilst getting to the other side of Andover was ‘mission impossible’ for most of us at first attempt. Neither did it escape the more astute members’ attention how coincidental it was that our rescheduled meeting landed on the very same day that elections were taking place in Israel. All meant to be it would seem…

Having enjoyed a hearty meal, we all sat back to hear about Sue’s adventure to the West Bank where she joined a local Palestinian family for the olive harvest and witnessed the problems they face going about day-to-day life. We listened (and some of us learned) how the land available to Palestinian families has receded and been segmented as a result of the conflicts with the Israeli people over decades. Olive farming is the main, if not only, source of income for many Palestinian families and Sue herself witnessed how difficult harvesting can be made by Israeli settlers in the West Bank along with the military.

Whilst many of Sue’s pictures and much of her story, told of an area of conflict, you could sense that she had also been touched by a number of things she had witnessed. In the villages on the West Bank there is deep sense of community which could be seen in pictures showing whole generations of families all pitching in to help with the harvest. It was also warming to see an example of solidarity between the two communities in a picture of some Israeli’s joining a Palestinian family for a few hours of harvesting. Brave in an area where integration between the communities is all but forbidden.

The presentation did leave many of us asking what we can do in our every day lives to help the families Sue shared her time with in the West Bank. Much of the produce we see in our supermarkets labelled ‘from the West Bank’ is actually produced by Israeli settlers rather than the Palestinian farmers. Sue described the issues which make exporting goods exceptionally difficult for the Palestinians and introduced us to the non-profit organisation ‘Zaytoun’ which export goods from genuine Palestinian farms. We were also privileged to have access to some samples of Zaytoun produce provided by Helen Carter from Fairs Fayre who specialises in fair trade foods and crafts in her shop at the Weyhill Fairground.

I would like to thank Sue for making our cold February meeting an enriching and thought provoking evening. For those WIB’s who were unable to attend, I would thoroughly recommend getting in touch with Sue to hear all about her trip.

Annette Hender
Vice-President

Next Meetings