Ramallah– The farmers and exporters of Palestinian oil abroad are now worried, fearing the inability to export it, as has been the custom for many years.
Fears stem from the threat to a major source of income for thousands of families who are impatiently awaiting the season to make money and realize their projects, such as construction, marriage, university expenses, and others.
The reason is that the Israeli occupation continues to close the commercial side of the “Al-Karama” crossing, which is under its control and the main outlet for the Palestinians of the occupied West Bank, to Jordan and abroad.
Since last September 9, the crossing, located east of the city of Jericho, has been closed to truck traffic, after three Israeli security personnel were killed there by the bullets of the Jordanian truck driver, the martyr Maher Al-Jazi.
Official data
According to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, the number of olive trees in Palestine is estimated at about 9 million and 300 thousand trees distributed over 920 thousand dunums (a dunum equals a thousand square meters).
At the beginning of this October, the olive harvest season began in the West Bank, with production estimates exceeding 22 thousand tons of oil, compared to pessimism about the season in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a devastating war for more than a year.
The Ministry estimates the volume of fruit production this year at about 81,000 tons, of which it is expected that about 17,700 tons of oil will be produced, and about 8,000 tons of olives will be pickled.
According to the Ministry, the annual consumption of the Palestinian governorates is estimated at about 11 thousand tons, while between 5 and 6 thousand tons are exported, noting that there are 276 olive presses, including 6 traditional presses.
She stated that due to war conditions, more than 75% of the 1.3 million olive trees in the Gaza Strip were destroyed.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the olive oil industry constitutes 25% of the agricultural income of the occupied Palestinian territory, and contributes to the livelihoods of approximately 96,500 families.
According to a Palestinian expert, the United States, Europe, the Gulf states, and Jordan are major destinations for Palestinian oil.
Fayyad Fayyad, a farmer and owner of a press, and Director General of the Palestinian Oil and Olive Council, says that his personal estimates indicate a quantity ranging between 20 to 22 thousand tons of oil this year.
Oil export destinations
He added, in his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net, that the total amount coming out of Palestine is estimated at about 7 thousand tons, going to three destinations: the first in the form of deposits for Palestinian families residing in the Gulf states, and these are without taxes or customs, and there are 16 companies that have obtained transportation permits for a long time.
The second destination is Jordan, and it is organized by a cooperation protocol between the Palestinian and Jordanian Ministries of Agriculture that allows each family to transport 4 oil tanks annually (a tank is about 15 kilograms) during the period between November and January of each year.
The third destination is commercial export, where about two thousand tons are exported, and the United States leads the importing countries with about half the amount, followed by most European countries, especially Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and from Asia, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia, with a total revenue estimated at about 16 million dollars.
But with the continued closure of the Karama crossing, Fayyad expects negative effects on Palestinian farmers who are waiting for the season to sell their product or gift it to their relatives abroad.
He explained that exports to Europe and the United States often take place through Israeli airports and ports, while oil must be transported to Jordan and the Gulf through the Karama crossing.
Fayyad called for international pressure on the occupation “to expedite the solution to the problem of the crossings. If it is not solved, the Palestinian farmer who depends on the season to provide food for his family throughout the year will be harmed, especially since a large segment of the workers who were working inside Israel were busy with the olive season this year.”
Fayyad advises farmers not to rush to sell oil “until the crossings are opened and prices stabilize, for fear of selling it at a price lower than the market or less than it is worth, in light of the insane rise in global olive oil prices.”
High cost
The Palestinian National Union of Transport Workers estimates that about 300 trucks transport goods from the Karama crossing to parts of the West Bank daily, but they have stopped working since its closure.
The crossing is a major lifeline for the West Bank, through which Palestinian goods are exported abroad and also imported through the Jordanian port of Aqaba.
For his part, Hajj Hilmi Mahmoud, who has been working for many years in exporting Palestinian oil to the United States through his company, “Al-Mutawakkil Ali Allah,” says that farmers have fears of their inability to sell their produce.
He added that exports to the United States will not be affected because they take place through Israeli ports and airports, but he expected an increase in the cost.
He added, “Export to the Gulf countries will inevitably be affected by the continued closure of the Karama crossing, in addition to the decline in prices due to the lack of demand.”
The “Al-Karama” crossing, in the Palestinian name, is “Allenby” in the Israeli name, or “King Hussein Bridge” in the Jordanian name, and it is not used in trade exchange between Jordan and Israel.