Harvesting the Land

This image by Palestinian photographer Khalil Raad (see Khalil Raad, Khalil Raad’s Lens: Scenes from Pre-Nakba Palestine, and A Photograph Is “Not Just Memory”) depicts Palestinian farmers peacefully harvesting olives in a rural olive grove in Jerusalem during the 1930s. Several people stand on wooden ladders to reach the higher branches of an olive tree, while others—mostly women—sit or kneel on the ground below, gathering olives into baskets. Capturing a moment of communal agricultural labor, the image illustrates the central role of the olive harvest in Palestinian rural life and economy during the early 20th century.