Peace Oil (UK)
Encyclopedia
Peace Oil is an initiative of the Charities Advisory Trust , a UK-based registered charity, led by Hilary Blume which supports fund-raising by other charitable organisations. The charity describes the olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...

 as "produced in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 by Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

, Arabs, Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...

 and Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...

 working together ...(it) encourages co-operation between communities". The olives are grown in the foothills of the Carmel Mountains
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel ; , Kármēlos; , Kurmul or جبل مار إلياس Jabal Mar Elyas 'Mount Saint Elias') is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations on Mt. Carmel...

 and pressed within hours of picking to produce extra virgin olive oil. The project has been running since 2006 when the oil was launched at an Israel Expo Day organised by the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, which promoted it as a way "to support Israel’s vibrant trade...to make a difference to the actual future of Israel."

Criticism

Olive trees and oil have been central to disputes in the Israeli-occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...

 with documented accounts of the destruction of Palestinian olive groves, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/873850.html,http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,473147,00.html.
The Charities Advisory Trust has been asked to explain which disadvantaged communities benefit from this enterprise and to justify their claims about the benefits of Peace Oil. A competing Palestinian company has suggested that the oil is a distraction from fairly traded oil being produced by Palestinian farmers in the occupied territories.

An unrelated product, marketed in the USA as Peace Oil, is produced from Palestinian olives, and marketed in cooperation with Israeli and Palestinian Fair Trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...

groups. According to supporters, "Unlike the London version, it is mostly olive oil from the West Bank where economic assistance is most needed".
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