As one of the top local advocates for peace and a ceasefire in the Middle East, the Jewish Voice for Peace’s Detroit chapter works constantly to find ways to help the battered Palestinian population.

A sample label from bottles of Palestinian olive oil being sold locally by the goup Jewish Voice for Peace.

One creative way to help out farmers in the West Bank is by purchasing olive oil from the organization through Barbara Harvey, who serves as a member of JVP’s coordinating committee.
The oil comes directly from Palestinian farmers and is just as good as certified organic products (although some farmers haven’t completed the necessary paperwork, they don’t use pesticides). The oil comes in 25-ounce bottles at a cost of $20.00 each, labeled with a “Made in Palestine” label in a green jar.

“It looks good, feels good, tastes good, and does good,” said Harvey.

Proceeds from the oil go to help offset the volunteer group JVP’s operating costs, and JVP will continue to purchase more and more oil from Palestinian farmers if demand remains high.

Harvey talked about how the idea came about through the organization.

“It all began with trips to the West Bank,” she said. “The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC) teaches Palestinian farmers how to use sustainable methods and to become more productive.

“All fair trade olive oil income goes back to the producers of the olive oil and it is really a boon for the local economy in the West Bank.”

PARC is a member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), and is the only Palestinian organization that has received the Palestine Standards Institution certification for its olive oil.

The olive oil is so good that it has even won awards in international competition.

“In 2007, it won first place in a competitive field of 300 producers including Italy and Spain, so it’s really good stuff,” said Harvey.

Harvey and other chapters of her group are selling the oil with the hopes of providing a pipeline to the United States for commerce with Palestine.

“With the continuing transformation, and at this point Palestine is already an apartheid state, Palestinians even in the West Bank can’t move around enough to maintain commerce in any kind of a normal way that is viable. With the checkpoints and Jewish-only roads, barriers to trade are insurmountable.

“This helps because it sends money directly to farmers and to PARC.”

Harvey has seen the seizing and misuse of farmland in the area directly and knows how devastating it can be. The group is planning to have an event on February 9 for the obscure Jewish holiday of Tu B’shvat and to tell the story of the Jewish National Fund.

“They collected quarters when we were little Jewish kids to plant trees,” said Harvey. “They collected the money in blue boxes and we had no idea that the money was spent to buy pine trees to hide destroyed Palestine villages and to mark land by putting trees on land Israel wanted to confiscate. Pine needles make the ground acidic and infertile.”

For more information on where the olive oil comes from, go to the Web site //www.olivebrancholiveoil.com/Where_is_the_Oil_From_.html.

Olive oil from the West Bank can be ordered by calling 313.567.4228 or 313.779.9837. Pickups are made in Detroit from Harvey’s office and other arrangements to have a pickup spot in Dearborn are also possible in the future if demand rises.