http://www.oliveaid.com/blog en-gbmyBlog - PHP Blog Solution - Design Lynx Ltd - http://www.designlynx.co.ukCharity OliveAid, preventing poverty in Palestine. Latest news. OliveAid Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:31:36 +0000 s.ballard@ballard.co.uk (Stephen Ballard) http://www.oliveaid.com/blog/index.php?showBlog=5&rss=1 http://www.oliveaid.com/blog/index.php?showBlog=5&rss=1 My wife Rita and I were visiting the Holy Land to celebrate Christmas 2006 in Bethlehem. We spent a day with the Parish Priest in Taybeh - a Village near Ramallah - an old friend. He was able to show us the benefits of the work he had inspired - a Pottery exporting Peace Lamps around the World, an Olive Press producing high quality Oil that complied with Fair Trade regulations and was exported to the EU - with the help of Italian supporters. He believed that Humanitarian Aid would never solve the problem of Palestinian poverty, and that economic help was the solution.Not easy in a Land with no free borders, no Port, no Airport, and under virtual blockade! Our subsequent visit to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, and our entry through the overpowering Security Wall, helped us to understand the poverty and the indignity of the conditions suffered by the Palestinians. After some searching the idea of planting Olive Trees to replace the many thousands of Trees destroyed by the Israelis in the construction of the Wall and the development of the illegal Settlements on the West Bank took root! We needed a partner in Bethlehem to handle the logistics of identifying suitable families and locations to benefit from donations we would raise in the UK, and we have been very fortunate to be able to involve Bethlehem University in the project. Read more on link General Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:09:33 +0000