J i am a farmer I dedicate my whole life to cultivating the land. I don’t like staying at home”, says Doha Asous with a big smile, as she stands in an olive tree on one of her plots in the West Bank village of Burin. It’s the first day of their olive harvest, which will last until November, a crucial period for Doha as it is for many Palestinian families.
Close to 100,000 Palestinian families they get their income from the olive harvest. This crop, which is thousands of years old in the region, accounts for about 20% of Palestinian agricultural production. Olive trees are ubiquitous in the landscape, nearly 60% of cultivated land is dedicated to them.
But harvesting fruit is not just an economic issue: olive oil is the food base. The olive tree is also a symbol of Palestinian resistance and identity. Since 1967, 800,000 trees have been uprooted by Israeli forces, according to a study published in 2012 by the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (Arij).