60 Minutes recently produced a segment looking into the obstacles blocking the formation of a Palestinian state and peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Correspondent Bob Simon visited the West Bank and Israel interviewing Palestinians, settlers, and Israeli politicians. The segment is very well done and accurately reflects our understanding of the situation after living in the West Bank and Israel–we hope you will take the time to watch it!
Comments (0)Earlier this week, my Arabic teacher, Elias, took us to see his village, meet his family, and see a modern olive press in operation. Olives have played an important role in the lives of people in this region for more than 2,000 years. Almost every family has olive trees and many people return to their family land to help harvest the olives. After the olives are harvested, some are pickled to be eaten later, but most are taken to an olive press to make olive oil. Here, at Nazareth village, we have a replica of a first-century olive press. It would have been shared by the residents of Nazareth and used every autumn during the olive harvest. Many things have changed since then, but the ritual of harvesting olives and taking them to a common press remains the same.
Here is an illustrated guide to the process of making olive oil 2,000 years ago and today.
The olives being picked at Nazareth Village.
Inside the first-century olive press building at Nazareth Village
The olives are placed on the crushing surface and the donkey walks around in circles rolling the stone over the olives.
The olives are crushed into a paste (also called mash).
The paste is put into a basket under the beam on the left. A worker turns a crank pulling the stones up off of the ground.
The bags of olives are crushed by the beam and the oil flows into a container in the floor.
Here is a video of the donkey-powered olive press in action!
Here is the process of pressing oil today (the picking process is exactly the same).
First, the olives are dumped into this machine which moves them up the conveyor belt and removes any remaining leaves and branches.
Here are the olives after they have had the leaves and branches removed and they are cleaned in water.
This machine smashes the olives into a paste (also called mash).
The mash goes into the press. This separates the liquids (water, oil) from the solid.
This is the solid olive mash after the liquids have been removed. This is later used as fertilizer and fire starter.
This is a centrifuge that separates the oil from the water.
Pure olive oil flows into this container.
The olives begin the process on the left, moving rightward until the only thing remaining is the oil.
My Arabic teacher, Elias (on the left), speaks with a worker about the process.
