YMCA-YMCA Joint Advocacy – Olive Picking Campaign in Palestine

YMCA-YMCA Joint Advocacy – Olive Picking Campaign in Palestine

YMCA-YMCA Joint Advocacy – Olive Picking Campaign in Palestine

YMCA-YMCA Joint Advocacy – Olive Picking Campaign in Palestine

Every year at the beginning of October, the annual olive harvest begins in Palestine. This year’s harvest was the joint effort of the farmers, the Joint Advocacy Initiative, EEC, the ATG and the community. The survival of tens of thousands of Palestinian families is more dependant than ever on their ability to harvest their olives and market the oil they yield.

They were joined by 34 international volunteers, who will spend 10 days in the fields, as a form of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Olive Tree Campaign seeks to replant trees in areas where they have been uprooted and destroyed or in areas where the fields are threatened to be confiscated by the Israeli Occupation Army or settlers.

The campaign goal is to replant 50,000 olive trees in the Palestinian Territories with the sponsorship of YMCAs and YWCAs, as well as churches and other groups and individuals around the world. Through replanting olive trees, Palestinians will be encouraged to keep hope alive and to reaffirm their commitment to work constructively toward peace-building.

Click on the links below to read about this year’s harvest.