On the 31st of October in Beit Jala, the Environmental Education Center (EEC) hosted, in cooperation with Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the 9th annual Olive Harvest Festival in the Bethlehem area. Every year, EEC is assigned the task of organizing this fun and supportive event in cooperation with local farmers, women’s cooperatives and craftsmen. Indeed, the festival is always a good opportunity to affirm Palestine’s rich cultural and environmental heritage, as well as to spread awareness by promoting fair-trade and organic farming.

During the whole duration of the harvest, EEC organized for the local farmers training workshops about environmentally-friendly methods to preserve their olive trees, harvest and press olives. In addition, many gifts were given to the farmers during the festival in Beit Jala and olive trees were sold for rock-bottom prices.

Taking place this year in the Arab Orthodox Club, the Olive Festival was a great success. While many officials attended the opening ceremony in the morning, the multifaceted program brought a varied audience during the all day. The numerous musical and dance performances, displays of traditional arts and crafts, made the festival a joyous and enjoyable event for all involved, while helping local farmers to sell their goods and to maintain their traditional lifestyle.

After this successful festival, the EEC could only look forward to Ramallah Olive Harvest Festival that will take place November 17th and we went back to work the batteries recharged by the numerous smiles seen in the lovely courtyard of the Arab Orthodox Club.