Olive tree blossoms, near Tuwani village in the rural West Bank, Palestine. April 2008. Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshhough/2747405691

Olive oil in Palestine

Cookbook references: King hummus; Slow-roasted tomatoes; Creamy garlic mushrooms; Homemade felafel

Many of us keep olive oil in our kitchens, even if we may use it sparingly due to the cost, perhaps sloshing a little into a salad dressing or some home-made hummus. The politics of olives and olive oil are less visible. While the olive tree has long been a symbol of peace in Greek mythology, the politics of olive oil production and consumption in the Levant have been fraught, especially in Palestine, and it even has been said that Palestinian olive oil is the most political food in the world.

Olives and olive oil are integral to Palestinian culture. Olive trees (collectively known by the Arabic word zaytūn) have traditionally been a source of food, medicine, soap, wood for carving, and fuel for candles, and the olive harvest is a time of celebration.

However, the joy of tending olive groves has been threatened by Israeli settlers and soldiers. Since the 2023 invasion of Gaza, most olive trees have been damaged along with almost all infrastructure. By January 2025, over two million trees had been destroyed, many of them hundreds of years old.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers routinely uproot, poison and burn olive trees, or steal the olive harvest. Palestinian growers who live near illegal Israeli settlements are compelled to apply for permits to enter their own land and care for the trees, and often these are denied. When farmers are prevented from practising centuries old agricultural practices, this endangers community traditions and Indigenous knowledge.

The systematic theft and destruction of Palestinian olive trees is part of an Israeli project to claim olives both as symbols and as sources of sustenance. In 2021 the olive tree was chosen as the State of Israel’s national tree.
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Nonetheless, olive trees remain a symbol of resilience for Palestinians, and a link to the land that has been stolen from them.


Links and references
Is this olive oil the most political food in the world? | Life and style | The Guardian
Gaza and West Bank farmers salvage olive harvest amid displacement, destruction and Israeli settler violence
Palestinian olive harvest under threat from Israeli settler attacks and restrictions
Agriculture and food in the West Bank after October 7, 2023 - Qassis - 2024 - Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment - Wiley Online Library
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