Thousands of tiny, hard, unripe green olives are hiding between the slender leaves of the olive trees in the joint Jewish-Arab “Oasis” grove in the Wadi Ara region. In 2014, four years after it was first planted, the orchard is expected to produce enough fruit to manufacture organic olive oil. With a little luck, it will enjoy the same success as another, similar orchard, known as the “Scottish Grove,” in the Jezreel Valley. That one was planted in late 2011, but the Jezreel Valley is blessed with good soil, while the land in Wadi Ara is harsh and unyielding. That is why the younger grove is already producing a crop while Oasis is still struggling.
Both orchards are agricultural projects operated by the nongovernmental organization Sindyanna of the Galilee Fair Trade Association. The group was created in 1996 with the goal of “promoting economic opportunities and places of employment for Arab women, while maintaining a commitment to the values of peace, equality and the welfare of everyone.” The group hopes that the oil from Wadi Ara will win international prizes, just like its younger Jezreel Valley counterpart, which has also been named Israel’s best boutique oil producer for two years running.
The Oasis olive grove is considered something of a miracle in modern Israel. Hundreds of Jewish and Arab volunteers work there every year. The grove itself lies in the "roha" (ghost) lands of Wadi Ara, which have not been cultivated since 1948 and serve as a military firing range. As a result of the Roha Agreements of 2000, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) returned about 11,000 dunams (2,700 acres) to the land owners. These owners went on to found in cooperation with the Sindyanna Association the Al-Juzur group, an ambitious coexistence project on 100 dunams (25 acres) of the returned lands: a modern, organic olive grove.
According to Hadas Lahav, CEO of Sindyanna, a bulldozer was brought in to remove thousands of tons of rocks, because the ground could not be broken up with spades. Another member of the association added that an expensive water pump was also brought in to subdue the harsh conditions in the area.
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