How Olives Came to Be Synonymous with Palestine: A Story of Roots, Resistance, and Resilience

Few symbols capture the soul of a land quite like the olive tree in Palestine. Gnarled, enduring, and deeply rooted in the soil, the olive tree is more than just a crop — it is a living testament to the Palestinian people’s heritage, identity, and steadfastness. This blog explores how the olive tree became synonymous with Palestine, tracing its history, cultural significance, and its enduring symbolism amid conflict and struggle.

A Tree as Old as Time: The History of the Olive Tree in Palestine

The olive tree is one of the oldest cultivated trees in the world, with evidence of its use in the Levant — including present-day Palestine — dating back over 6,000 years. Ancient olive presses discovered in archaeological sites around Jericho and Bethlehem point to a thriving olive oil industry in Canaanite times.

Palestine’s Mediterranean climate and fertile soil make it an ideal environment for olive cultivation. By the time of the Roman Empire, olive oil from Palestine was being exported across the Mediterranean. Through centuries of changing empires — Byzantine, Umayyad, Ottoman — olive trees remained a constant, quietly growing through cycles of history.

More Than a Crop: Olives in Palestinian Culture

In Palestinian society, the olive tree transcends agriculture. It is interwoven with family traditions, community life, and even spirituality. Harvesting season, typically from October to November, is a time of collective labor, storytelling, and celebration. Families gather to pick olives by hand, often accompanied by songs passed down through generations.

The oil produced is not only a staple in Palestinian cuisine — used for everything from breakfast dishes like za’atar and olive oil to stews and pastries — but also serves medicinal, cosmetic, and even religious purposes. In Christian and Muslim traditions, olive oil is used in rites of blessing and healing.

In rural areas, some olive trees are said to be hundreds, even thousands, of years old, and many families proudly identify themselves by the number or location of trees they own. These trees are more than plants; they are kin.

The Olive Tree as a Symbol of Resistance

Over the past century, particularly since the Nakba (the Palestinian exodus of 1948), olive trees have taken on a new and powerful meaning — that of resistance and resilience. As land disputes and occupation have intensified, the act of planting, tending, or even clinging to olive trees has become a form of nonviolent defiance.

Thousands of olive trees have been uprooted, burned, or destroyed by Israeli settlers or military operations — not just as collateral damage, but as deliberate acts meant to sever Palestinians from their land. In response, Palestinians continue to replant, often with the help of NGOs and international activists, treating each sapling as an act of reclamation.

In Palestinian art, poetry, and political discourse, the olive tree is a central motif. Mahmoud Darwish, the national poet of Palestine, famously wrote:

“If the olive trees knew the hands that planted them,
Their oil would become tears.”

The olive tree, then, is not just a witness to history — it is history, carrying the weight of memory and the hope of return.

Global Solidarity Through the Olive Tree

Around the world, Palestinian olive oil has become a symbol of solidarity. Fair trade cooperatives, diaspora networks, and advocacy campaigns often use olive oil sales to support Palestinian farmers and raise awareness of the struggles they face.

Buying Palestinian olive oil isn’t just an economic transaction — it’s a political and cultural statement, a way of participating in the preservation of a people’s identity and livelihood.

More Than a Tree

In Palestine, the olive tree is more than a source of oil or income. It is a living symbol of endurance, a cultural anchor, and a reminder of ancestral ties to the land. To walk among the ancient olive terraces of Palestine is to trace the story of a people who, like their trees, have weathered storms yet remain rooted in their soil.

As the world discovers the flavour and richness of Palestinian olive oil, it also discovers a deeper narrative—one of resilience, resistance, and connection to the earth.