Sindyanna of Galilee is a women-led association that operates in the Arab population of northern Israel. We produce award-winning fair trade organic olive oil, za'atar spice mixes, carob syrup, almonds, honey, olive oil soaps and baskets woven using traditional methods.
Our EVOO was awarded three prestigious prizes for last three years, which are the Prestige Gold Medal of Terra Olive in Israel in 2010, 2011 and 2012 + the best olive oil in Israel (small producers) in “Rishon Hamasik 2012.'' Our organic EVOO received the silver medal of Biol International Olive Oil Competition in Italy in 2012.
We strive to strengthen the economy of the Arab-Palestinian population in general and to enhance the empowerment of Arab women in particular. Our organization is a unique Arab-Jewish cooperation which shows that a solution to the Middle East conflict begins with creating real economic opportunities.
Photo by Dotan Goor-Arye
New Delicious Honey Direct from the Nazareth Bee Hives
In these days of economic austerity, there's not better to sweeten your morning than our new fragrant honey produced by Ibrahim Kilani's bees out of valley flowers. Sindyanna's friends visited Ibrahim's beekeeping operation on May 15th at the height of the spring honey collection season, and learned all about producing honey and identifying fake honey. Read more about Mr. Kilani's honey.
Launching a New Fair Trade Products Line
At the opening event for the Partners for Peace project in Palestine & Israel - Sindyanna of Galilee Fair Trade, Bethlehm Fair Trade Artisans and COSPE with women artisans in Jerusalem al-Kuds on May 12th.
Interviews in Arabic and English from Partners for Peace event in Jerusalem, 12 May 2013.
Third Anniversary of our Organic Olive Grove
About 100 Arab and Jewish volunteers came from all across the country to celebrate the third anniversary of our organic olive grove in Roha on Saturday, April 13th. Read more on the project page.
RIP Hind Abu Hatum
We were deeply saddened to hear about the death of Hind Abu Hatum, who passed away Thursday morning, March 14, at the age of 85. Hind, who lived all her life in the fillage of Yafia (near Nazareth), was the owner of the land where Sindyanna of Galilee planted the first fair trade olive grove in Israel last September. Her dream was to see the olive trees flourish. We shall strive to make her dream come true. Read more about Hind.
Bread and Roses Exhibition (March 8-9)
2013 Bread and Roses exhibition in honor of Women International Day was a great success. This is a sale exhibition affordable to everyone. The revenues will be allocated to WAC-MAAN's projects empowering women and youth.
We have a new collection of Bread & Roses postcards. A package of 5 postcards is available for $2/8 i.s. (not inlcuding postage). If you're interested, please email us at sindyan@netvision.net.il.
International Women's Day March
On March 8 (International Women's Day) a group of Arab and Jewish women in white, and a group of men who think like them, marched together in the streets of Tel Aviv in one of the largest and most beautiful protest marches the city has seen on Women's Day. There was a lot of energy and calls for equality between men and women and against the exploitation of working women.
The organized called out Chauvinism and the marchers replied Irchal (go away in Arabic) - the same call made by the protestors in Egypt's Tahrir Square. This was repeated for worker exploitation, sexual assult, military aggression and so on until the march reached the end of the street.
A protest watch was also held in Nazareth where the group called for solidarity with women across the region, for peace and for the respect of working women.
Gold Medal for Sindyanna's EVOO 2013
Israel Olive Branch choose the winners for 2012 olive oil first harvest. Sindyanna of Galilee won the gold medal for small producers. Hadas Lahav, Sindyanna's CEO second from right. (read more in Hebrew)
Magasins du Monde article about Sindyanna (inFrench)
Magasins du Monde published an article about Sindyanna of Galilee ''une organisation judéo-arabe créée par et pour des femmes.'' To read the full article, please click here (PDF).
4th postcard collection from Bread & Roses
Sindyanna supports the Bread and Roses project and is involved in promoting the them of Women and Work all year long. We have just released our 4th postcard collection featuring pictures by Arab and Jewish women who participated in the exhibition. see more...
Children of Peace - Khawla Azzam's Story
Khawla Azzam is a member in the group of women that operates a professional basketry workshop at Sindyanna's Visitors Center in Kufr Manda. Read Khawla's story on the Children of Peace website.
Israeli-Palestinian Initiatives for Peace on the BTC Site
Thanks to support from the Trade for Development Centre of BTC, the Belgian development agency, Sindyanna of Galilee has hired a professional food engineer to set up a quality control system. It has also contributed to improving the quality and hygiene manual for workers responsible for za'atar raw materials production and processing, and ensured the transfer of information to consumers and the training of the people who will continue the work after the project ends.
Read more on their Israeli-Palestian Initiatives for Peace page.
Welcome, Artisanat SEL!
Artisanat SEL is a major French import company for Fair Trade products, both handicrafts and food. They started selling Sindyanna's olive oil and soaps earlier this year, and have now included us in their Christmas catalog. To read more, see the catalog, or view a video about Sindyanna in French, please click over to our dedicated partner page.
Jerusalem Post Article About Sindyanna
Jerusalem Post journalist Tali Hardevall stopped by our visitor center to interview our team. Read the full article.
Our Fair Trade Olive Oil in LUSH's Gift Pack
Check out LUSH's Olive Branch Shower Gel and Happy Hanukkah Gift Pack. It is our duty to show the bright side of our region - use olive oil, not weapons!
Stop the War on Gaza now!
The independent trade union WAC-MAAN calls for an end to the war on Gaza, an end to the Israeli occupation, and a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.
It is in the tradition of the labour movement that we stand against war and for the brotherhood of Palestinian and Israeli workers. We call upon the international labour movement to take the lead in demanding a cease fire in Gaza; to take a firm stand against the Israeli occupation; and to demand progress toward a peaceful solution based on the establishment of a an independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. Only when these demands are met will we be able to build our two countries, providing people with decent jobs, education and health, no longer spending billions on wars that lead nowhere.
You can read the entire article on the WAC-MAAN website. The Italian translation, created by our partners at Libromondo, can be found here.
Sindyanna Newsletter October 2012
Dear friends of Sindyanna, It has been another very busy month for us here in the Galilee. To our friends and partners in the US - we stand with you in solidarity during these difficult times following hurricane Sandy. We sincerely hope your life gets back to normal as soon as possible.
On our end, olive season recently started and all the farmers are in their groves collecting the latest crop of olives. After being picked from the tree, the olives are sent directly to the olive press to ensure that extra virgin olive oil is produced.
In the next few days the latest batches of Sindyanna's olive oil will begin arriving at our Kufr Kana factory, which will soon be filled with a fruity green aroma. We encourage all our customers to quickly order olive oil from the new stock before it runs out! Read more...
Basket weaving course in Wadi Fouqin
A unique event took place in Wadi Fouqin, near Bethlehem, last October: a three day workshop in which ten local women were guided in the art of basketry by the sure hands of three members of Sindyanna of Galilee’s basket weaving team from our visitor centre in Kufr Manda. The three women, Awatef Mussa, Khasna Khalaila and Sarwa Khusan stayed in the village as guests of the Project for Community Development in Wadi Fouqin, which is a United Methodist sponsored project. Read the full story...
First Harvest at the Oasis Olive Grove
On Saturday, 20th of October 2012, dozens of volunteers, Jewish and Arab, from Tel-Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa nad Nazareth arrived to take part in the first harvest at Sindyanna of Galilee’s organic olive grove. The grove is the first multicultural plantation in Israel, promoting fair trade and Arab-Jewish solidarity. Read the full story.
Empowerment in Nablus
At the beginning of September 2012, a week-long encounter took place between a group of women from Kufr Manda in Israel and a group of women from Nablus in the West Bank. Read more.
CLARO’s bi-yearly fair in Switzerland
Roni Ben Efrat, one of the founders of Sindyanna of Galilee and its coordinator for international relations, participated in CLARO’s bi-yearly fair in Switzerland, at the first week of September. Read more.
Planting the Scottish Olive Grove - Take 2
On September 28, a delegation from the Scottish Church came to finish planting all the trees in our new organic grove. Our Manda team worked tirelessly alongside the delegation to ensure that all the trees are planted and can now begin to grow. We're looking forward to harvesting our first crop in a couple of years!
Planting the Scottish Olive Grove
On September 15 volunteers planted more than 800 olive trees at the first Fair Trade grove in Israel - the new Scottish Olive Grove in Nazareth. Take a look at our album and read more about the event and the project.
Fair Trading and Cooperation at Sindyanna
Sindyanna of Galilee was featured in an article on ESRA MAGAZINE - ''A joint project of Jews and Arabs, that gives Arab women ways to produce, earn and progress''. Read the article.
Sindyanna's New Product Flyer
We recommend a personal gift basket - an artistic basket filled with the products you select. Please contact us directly if you are interested in our products (contact info in the flier).
All of the beautiful photos taken by Dotan Goor-Arye.
Sindyanna Renews WFTO Fair Trade Certification
It is our pleasure to announce that Sindyanna of Galilee has been recertified as a registered member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) based on their continuous monitoring of our organization.
Prestige Gold Medal - Third Time in a Row!
Sindyanna's fair trade olive oil won a Prestige Gold Medal at the international Terra Olivo 2012 competition. This is the third time in a row that we have won medals at Terra Olivo where we are up against excellent olive oils from around the world, including Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and many more countries.
For more information, go to the Terra Olivo web site. Below are pictures of our delegates at the ''Olive Oil Revolution - Quality, Culinary and Health'' conference Terra Olivo held in Tel Aviv.
BIOL Silver Medal to Sindyanna's Organic Oil
With great pleasure we inform you that the organic olive oil of Sindyanna of Galilee has been evaluated both in terms of chemistry and sensory panel by the territorial and international jury of BIOL 2012, the international competition held on March from 15 to 17 in Puglia, Italy. This judgment of BIOL jury has allowed Sindyanna to obtain a recognition of high quality ''SILVER MEDAL''. read more on BIOL prize...
