Olive Picking Program 2009
Palestine
A program for Civil International Solidarity with Palestinians
17 - 26 October 2009
For the sixth continuous year, the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the East Jerusalem YMCA and YWCA of Palestine (JAI) and the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG) are organizing the sixth Olive Picking Program 2009 in Palestine from 17 to 26 October 2009. This agricultural event is of special significance to the Palestinian economy when all energies and efforts are mobilized.
Since the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000, the olive harvest has been overshadowed by the Israeli policies of repression, closure, blockage of streets, confiscation of agricultural lands, as well as repeated attacks against Palestinian farmers by Israeli settlers. Now with the construction the Apartheid Wall and the expansion of Israeli settlements at the expense of agricultural land in the occupied Palestine, many farmers are separated from their trees.
Buildings on experience from previous years, the JAI and the ATG have planned a program for civil international solidarity with Palestinian people and farmers. The objective of this program is to mobilize as many people as possible for olive picking, especially in areas that are situated in proximity to Israeli settlements and bypass roads, in order to help Palestinian farmers harvest their olive trees which they might be unable to do without international support. You are invited to participate.
Besides picking olives, the program will feature introductory presentations about the organizing institutions, the current situation in Palestine and the effect of the Apartheid Wall, tours in the old city of Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a tour of Hebron, cultural evenings and social gatherings.
A proposed schedule for the Olive Picking 2009 as well as further information about the event can be found on the website of the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the East Jerusalem YMCA and YWCA of Palestine (JAI)
