In rural Palestine, where olive trees have long sustained livelihoods and identity, a growing replanting movement is bringing farmers a renewed sense of hope
Tens of thousands of olive saplings are taking root in the conflict-scarred West Bank, funded by customers of the UK-based fair trade company, Zaytoun.
Olive trees have been the lifeblood of rural Palestine for millennia, but in recent decades they’ve also become a potent symbol of resistance. Since 1967, settlers and Israeli authorities have uprooted an estimated 1m trees amid the ongoing seizure of West Bank land.
“It’s a systematic act aimed at destroying a way of life and forcing Palestinians from their homes,” explains Zaytoun’s Palestinian director, Taysir Arbasim, who estimates around 25,000 families have been driven out of olive farming as a result.
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The Palestine Fair Trade Association – the country’s largest fair trade union – has been working to revive both livelihoods and landscape since 2006 through its ‘Trees for Life’ programme, which replaces lost olive, carob, fig and almond groves.
The initiative also supplies landrace seeds and promotes intercropping with fava beans, peas and clover – regenerative farming techniques which enrich soil health and boost future olive harvests. Olive saplings are grown in nurseries and distributed to farmers when they reach two or three years old. It can take another five years before they begin bearing fruit and the trees reach maturity at 15.
Zaytoun has sponsored over 300,000 trees since 2011. Donations for the 2025-2026 planting season topped £190,000 – enough to fund 40,000 saplings.
Trees for Life has provided hundreds of thousands of saplings to Palestinian farmers in the conflict-scarred West Bank. Image: Palestine Fair Trade Association
Under local laws, cultivated land is, in theory, protected from confiscation by Israeli authorities. “For Palestinians, agriculture is more than just a means of livelihood, it is deeply intertwined with their history, identity and resistance,” said a PFTA spokesperson.
“Farming holds profound spiritual and cultural significance, serving as a powerful act of defiance against the ongoing Israeli efforts to sever the connection between farmers and their land. Through cultivation, Palestinians assert their right to reclaim their lands, sustain their communities and fight for their freedom.”
Olive trees are considered part of the family, so it’s like getting a new family member
Despite the long wait for the trees to mature, planting brings an instant lift for farmers, as well as a sense of optimism, said Arbasim.
“You can see the happiness in their eyes,” he told Positive News. “Olive trees are considered part of the family, so it’s like getting a new family member.
“We have a famous saying: they planted for us to eat, and we will plant for them to eat. We are planting for the next generation. We are planting for hope.
Main image: Palestine Fair Trade Association
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