Witness: Olive market in Gaza .. Archaeological landmark and commercial mobility

The central olive market in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis has become a landmark for the city, which has been held annually for more than five decades, and has become a kiss for those looking for the finest fruits and oils of the blessed tree.

The market is open from mid-September to the end of November each year to dozens of olive oil and fruit vendors who display their goods in opposite rows to hundreds of buyers.

Ritual of sale
In the early morning hours after merchants and farm owners display their olive and oil goods, they are individually inspected by an old man, more than 70 years old, called the auctioneer.

After the inspection stage, the old "auctioneer" determines the price of the goods according to their class and quality, which distinguishes them well because of his long experience in this area and then sells the goods of each trader by auction.

The market does not close its doors after the end of this stage of sale, who buys the goods through the auction returns and sells them to other citizens or traders within the same market but without an auction.

Oil and olive trader Mohammed Abu Jazar (55 years) says he has been working in the market for 15 years, and that his work has earned him considerable experience in the knowledge of varieties of olives and oil of high quality and poor or adulterated species.

"The olive market was established more than five decades ago by chance when the production of olives and oil was very abundant and difficult to sell until one of the farmers decided to offer his olive farm at the current market place and followed by a number of farmers to show their production in the same place."

He explained that over the years, the market has witnessed a huge demand from farmers and traders who want to sell their goods until it became a central market and a landmark of the city of Khan Younis and that merchants and farmers who go to the market is increasing annually because of the popularity and popularity of customers.

Jobs
Abu Jazar pointed out that the market provides job opportunities for dozens of young Palestinians who buy olives from farms and find the market a special place to display, and says that the market pioneers of traders and buyers come from all areas of the Gaza Strip to take advantage of the presence of manual machines for pickling olives (turning it into pickles) .

Customers are turning to old and experienced vendors to buy the best varieties of olives and olive oil, ranging from "Shamlawi" to "Secret" and "K18".
Abu Jazar added that the market was affected by the difficult economic conditions in the Gaza Strip, which forced traders and farmers to reduce the prices of olives and olive oil, explaining that the price of a kilogram of olives ranges between 3 shekels and 6 shekels (one dollar is equivalent to 3.5 shekels) according to its quality.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza expects the Gaza Strip to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of oil and olives this year, according to a statement issued, saying that the area of ​​land planted with olives in Gaza is about 40 thousand dunams (dunums equivalent to one thousand square meters) of which 32 thousand dunums planted with fruit trees.

Palestinian consumption in the Gaza Strip of olive oil, according to previous data of the Ministry of Agriculture, about 4,000 tons per year.