Tens of thousands of olive saplings are taking root across the West Bank through a replanting movement that offers Palestinian farmers more than agricultural restoration—it provides renewed hope and connection to ancestral lands.
The Trees for Life programme, operated by the Palestine Fair Trade Association since 2006, has emerged as a powerful response to widespread tree destruction in the region. An estimated one million olive trees have been uprooted since 1967 amid ongoing land seizures, according to Taysir Arbasim, Palestinian director of Zaytoun, a United Kingdom-based fair trade company funding the initiative.
"It's a systematic act aimed at destroying a way of life and forcing Palestinians from their homes," Arbasim explained. He estimates approximately 25,000 families have been displaced from olive farming as a result of these losses.
Agricultural Revival Through Fair Trade
The Palestine Fair Trade Association, representing the country's largest fair trade union, coordinates the replacement of lost olive, carob, fig, and almond groves. The programme extends beyond simple replanting by incorporating regenerative farming techniques designed to strengthen long-term agricultural sustainability.
Farmers receive landrace seeds and training in intercropping methods using fava beans, peas, and clover—practices that enrich soil health and enhance future olive harvests. Nurseries cultivate saplings for two to three years before distribution, though farmers must wait an additional five years before the trees bear fruit. Full maturity arrives at fifteen years.
Since 2011, Zaytoun has sponsored more than 300,000 trees through customer donations. The 2025-2026 planting season attracted contributions exceeding £190,000, sufficient to fund 40,000 saplings.
Cultural Significance Beyond Economics
Under local regulations, cultivated land theoretically receives protection from confiscation by Israeli authorities, adding strategic importance to the planting efforts. However, the programme's significance extends far beyond legal considerations.
"For Palestinians, agriculture is more than just a means of livelihood, it is deeply intertwined with their history, identity and resistance," a Palestine Fair Trade Association spokesperson stated. "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."
Arbasim emphasized the immediate psychological impact of planting, despite the lengthy maturation period. "You can see the happiness in their eyes," he observed. "Olive trees are considered part of the family, so it's like getting a new family member."
He referenced a traditional Palestinian saying that encapsulates the intergenerational perspective driving the initiative: "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."
Sustaining Communities Through Cultivation
The Trees for Life programme represents a convergence of agricultural restoration, economic development, and cultural preservation. By enabling farmers to reclaim their lands and sustain their communities through cultivation, the initiative addresses both immediate livelihood needs and longer-term questions of identity and belonging.
For rural Palestinian families whose livelihoods have centered on olive cultivation for millennia, each sapling planted carries dual meaning—practical sustenance for future harvests and symbolic affirmation of enduring connection to the land. The programme demonstrates how agricultural intervention can serve as both economic support and assertion of community resilience in contested territories.