Peace Oil Story

What People Are Saying About Peace Oil: Customer Quotes

I love the idea of fair trade, delicious olive oil from Palestine. Nice work!

I really wish all the best for this company and I hope the free bottle facebook event catches on!! It's rare to find companies with heart AND a good product. I swear, I never understood why people loved dipping bread into oil until I tasted yours, it's amazing!!

It’s you [David Sokal] who deserve the thanks for doing this.

I “discovered” Peace Oil — like Cristobal Colon “discovering” America — when, some time ago, Rabbi Brian Walt, a close friend of mine and founding director of Rabbis for Human Rights North America, gave me a bottle of some pro-peace olive oil.

… on April 25 The Shalom Center is honoring Tony Kushner and several other people as Prophetic Voices in the Arts, and yesterday as we ruminated on the dinner with some Middle-East food notes … I thought, “Hey, wouldn't it be cool to have olive oil that was Palestinian?” And I walked into the kitchen, got the bottle, and realized it was even cooler than that: Israeli and Palestinian together.

Some of the 24 bottles we ordered will be used in the cooking. Some we’ll put on the tables for soaking bread in, instead of buttering it. And we’ll give our five honorees a bottle apiece.

A nice conjunction of culinary and political/social values. I'm a serious amateur cook and use olive oil in cooking, salads, etc. and care deeply about the future of Israel and the relationships between Jews and Arabs, and between Israel and its neighbors - this seems like a small way to express that in a concrete way.

I am all too familiar with the fate of many Palestinian olive trees; indeed, I saw an entire grove cut down along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho during a brief tour with members of Rabbis for Human Rights, an organization whose work I greatly admire. Anything you and your colleagues can do to offset the damage being done in the Occupied Territories is also admirable and worthy of support.

Tell David [owner/operator, Olive Branch Enterprises] that the olive oil was a very big hit in Illinois among my friends. No one was that interested in my Northwest wines - but liked the idea of the blended olive oil [Peace Oil]. I was pleased.

I have been wanting to buy it since I found it several years ago. I think it is extremely important to support cooperative efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

I like the concepts (fair trade and collaboration) and the name. I’ve never heard of a product — particularly a highly useful product — that combines fair trade and cooperation between political adversaries. … this is a perfect holiday gift.

I decided that food (a consumable that everyone can use) that was part of a healthy diet would be perfect gifts for some of my staff and all of our family, and only use extra-virgin olive oil ourselves.  The Peace Oil has the additional benefit of supporting a peace and justice issue I feel passionately about.

It’s a small thing I can do towards making the world
a more peaceful place.

I’m not entirely sure how I saw the Peace Oil … one of my friends, clicking here, there … can’t remember, but when I see the word “oil” … I immediately want to take a look … because I’m a foodie.  Love olive oil, love salt, love spices, love spicey … so those things catch my eye.  Anything cooking … but also have an interest in politics and I am certainly a supporter of Palestine. That does not mean I am anti-Israel, however. May Peace Oil be blessed and may each hand that touches it and produces it, may those people be blessed as well.

I wanted to let you know how much I not only enjoy your olive oil as an ingredient, but What you do, and the “Why” and “How” by which you produce this quality product.

I found it [Peace Oil] because I knew I wanted to give a small, edible gift that would really speak to the hope that Christmas represents. Olive oil just seemed like such an obvious choice because it's healthy and precious and symbolic. And, I wanted to do something that would help people in the Palestine/Israel area.

Just a quick note to let you know we are enjoying the great Peace Olive Oil we recently bought from you at Pacific Foods.

What a great surprise to visit your beautiful site, www.peaceoil.net, and be inspired by the cooperative olive oil offering of Jews and Palestinians together. The gorgeous, symbolic bottle labels alone are going to inspire a lot of people. We’ve already sent you our order for Peace Oil to adorn our home and gift to our visitors. Your initiative is a great example of cultural creativity.

I just wanted to say congratulations on being able to place Peace Oil at the H & L Produce stand. I strongly believe in this project … I pray that you and your family have a peaceful and productive day.

In the Beginning: How Peace Oil Got Started

In late 2005 Dani Livney, an olive farmer in Israel, called his friend David Sokal in Seattle with an intriguing question: “would you be interested in importing a mix of Israeli and Palestinian olive oil?”

This struck a cord in David’s heart and mind. He had already been talking to others in the US about buying Palestinian olive oil as a way to build trust between Jews and Palestinians. Dani became hesitant due to the complexities of international trade, so David went online and found three fair trade sources of Palestinian olive oil. Two of the fair trade groups, Sindyanna of Galilee and Green Action, are Israelis working with Palestinians. The third, Canaan Fair Trade, based in Jenin Palestine represents 1700 farmers in the West Bank.

Peace Oil Fair Trade Sources

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Sindyanna of Galilee, a registered non-profit established in 1996, is led by women striving for social change. Sindyanna provides employment opportunities to Arab women and helps develop the olive industry, an important source of income in the Galilee Arab community. In these efforts, land preservation, environmental protection, and fair trade are high priorities. Sindyanna is a unique cooperative effort between Arabs and Jews, striving to strengthen the economy of the Arab-Palestinian population, both in Israel and in the Occupied Territories. Sindyanna is a member of WFTO—the global network of Fair Trade Organizations.		Green Action promotes socio-ecological change through direct non-violent action, community service, and youth empowerment. Green Action also promotes Israeli-Palestinian fair trade through SAHA. SAHA is the Hebrew acronym for fair trade and the Arabic word for “health” or “well-being”. SAHA Community Partners include the Zaytun Farmers Cooperative. Avi Levi, director of Green Action, regularly visits with West Bank farmers in small villages near Nablus to help them improve their products and expand their markets. Other than Jewish settlers and soldiers, very few Israelis visit the West Bank. Avi is truly building bridges between the two communities.		Canaan Fair Trade, based in Jenin, Palestine, sells the delicacies of over 1700 farmers organized in informal cooperatives in Palestine and represented by the Palestine Fair Trade Association. Canaan Fair Trade uses the fair trade concept to empower marginalized Palestinian rural communities caught in conflict so they can sustain their livelihoods and culture. Both Green Action and Sindyanna follow the guidelines of the PFTA. Since its inception in 2005, the Trees for Life project has planted 38,400 olive trees in Palestine. Canaan Fair Trade also provides 10 full scholarships for four-year degrees in Palestinian Universities.

 

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