Paul Calvert spoke with the Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative about their aim to provide work for Palestinian people and bringing the community together.



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We are also trying to keep olive wood handicraft going because this kind of work is our tradition, but the problem is the competition when people start to compare it with the Tunisian olive wood or with the Chinese. The raw material is expensive and the problem is that people are working without thinking about the price, so they feel that they are losing money. They need to learn how to calculate the price.

Paul: How old are some of these handicraft industries here like the wood work factories and mother of pearl.

Basma: The olive wood is from many centuries ago, about 400-500 years and the mother of pearl was started by the Franciscans, who came from Italy I think.

Paul: Are you making a difference in the community?

Basma: Yes because we are fair trade organisation. When we are buying their products we are giving them a fair price and we are trying as much as we can to give gender equality. Women in Palestine are very active, in many other Arab countries women are not able to do a lot of things, but in our country, as an occupied country, the woman in many cases is the only one with an income. The men may have depression or they are not able to move, so in many cases the women have been empowered, but we still need to improve it.

Paul: What is your prayer for the Palestinian industries?

Basma: I thank God that I am always optimistic. If we are going to face this, I think the first thing that we can do is think about peace and our rights and I am sure that it will come soon. I think that our opportunities will be better and things will change here because it's not easy, it's really not easy for us to feel that someone coming from outside of Palestine has more rights than us. People that are coming from outside are able to move all over the world but we have restrictions. I am sure that all these kinds of things will change and we have to work with it, we have to work with the change. CR

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