de:		Stephanie Struck, USCPR <contact@uscpr.org>
responder a:		contact@uscpr.org

Meet Ahmad, a Palestinian farmer from the West Bank

Plant an Olive  in Palestine Today!

Dear Kathryn,    With our annual Rooting Resistance campaign underway, we only have a few weeks remaining to plant as many olive saplings in Palestine as we can. Before I share more about our campaign, I have a story from Palestine to share with you today:

From Palestine: Ahmad, Returning to his Roots

In the West Bank, 29-year-old Ahmad Ziyoud is the sole provider for his family of four. After working in construction for years, he suddenly lost his job after October 2023, alongside hundreds of thousands of others, due to Israel’s apartheid movement restrictions and work permit cancellations.   Determined to build his own path in the face of an uncertain future, Ahmad made the decision to return to his roots to support his wife and two young daughters.    He invested his personal savings to purchase uncultivated land, and through hard work and perseverance, he was able to reclaim nearly 6 acres.    In 2024, Ahmad turned to the Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA) for support with expanding his farm. He applied for their Trees for Life program, which is fueled by donations from partners like USCPR. The program not only provides Palestinian farmers like Ahmad with olive saplings, but also a meaningful, sustainable source of income to strengthen enduring hope.    Over the course of the last two seasons, he received 60 olive saplings and 60 almond trees made possible by partnerships with the PFTA. Earlier this year, he received an additional 300 olive saplings, along with almond, grapevine, fig, and carob trees, equipping him to expand and strengthen his farm this year and beyond.

Today, Ahmad continues to invest in his land with hope and determination. His journey reflects the resilience of a new generation of farmers—one that, despite economic hardship and Israel’s oppression, is choosing to rebuild livelihoods from the soil.   Kathryn, you can support Palestinian farming families like Ahmad’s today by planting an olive tree in Palestine today through our annual partnership with the Palestine Fair Trade Association.

Plant 1 Olive Tree!  Plant 5 Olive Trees!  Give another amount!

With this year’s olive harvest in Palestine underway, you may have heard that Israeli occupation forces and settlers are escalating their targeted attacks on Palestinian farmers across the West Bank.    Earlier this month, Israeli settlers pepper-sprayed, ran over, and struck farming families picking olives together in their groves in the villages of Rantis, Sebastia, Beit Imrin, Deir Sharaf, Aqraba, az-Zawiya, Ramin and Arrabuna. In the village of Sinjil, settlers stole freshly harvested olives, along with tarps and ladders used to collect olives from the groves. Only 20 miles north, in Jabal al-Armah, Israeli occupation forces fired tear gas directly at farmers as they attempted to pick olives off the trees.1   Despite these violent attacks, Palestinian farmers and their families persist, because the olive harvest is more than a source of income. It’s tied to Palestinian history and identity, and it drives the struggle against Israel’s deliberate attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their homes and their land.    Ahmad’s story is one of Palestinian sumud, or steadfastness, and of rooting resistance. This is why as a US-based advocacy organization, we partner with the Palestine Fair Trade Association each year to support at least 5000 new olive saplings. Donations support this ongoing partnership, putting olive saplings in the hands of Palestinian farmers, while also supporting the work we do here in the U.S. to fight the occupation that’s destroying olive trees across Palestine.   Your support today will make a difference for families in Palestine, helping them rebuild their livelihoods and planting hope for future generations. Chip in $25 or more to plant an olive tree in Palestine and power USCPR’s organizing work here in the U.S.

Plant 1 Olive Tree!  Plant 5 Olive Trees!  Give another amount!

With your donation today, you’ll join hundreds of other supporters of Palestinian rights in planting seeds of resistance in Palestine while deepening the solidarity movement here in the U.S. Thank you!   In solidarity,

STEPHANIE STRUCK Development Director

P.S. You can help increase the impact of USCPR’s partnership with the Palestine Fair Trade Association by making your own fundraising page to plant olive trees in Palestine! As a peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraiser, your support will help root resistance for generations to come and power the movement for Palestinian liberation here in the U.S. Set up your personal fundraising page today, Kathryn!

1 Palestine weekly: Olive harvest opens under assault, Al Jazeera

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