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 handicraft made by Arab women in the Galilee region.
Our EVOO was awarded four prestigious prizes for last three years, which are the Prestige Gold Medal of Terra Olivo in Israel in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 + 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
Terra Olivo competition - Prestige Gold medal for Sindyanna , June 2013
The olive oil marketed by Sindyanna of Galilee has won a Prestige Gold Medal in Terra Olivo competition 2013 in Jerusalem. It is the 4th time in a row that Sindyanna's fair trade olive oil wins this award in one of the most important olive oil competitions in the world.
This year’s competition was held in Jerusalem on 3-5 of June. 489 samples of olive oil were sent to the completion from 21 different countries all over the world, including Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, The United States, Greece, Uruguay, and Morocco. More than 25 tasters from all over the world judged in the competition. This was the first year in which Sinyanna’s representative was also on the tasters’ panel: food Engineer Hatem Khamaisi, who is in charge of the Quality Control at Sindyanna of Galilee attended throughout the competition and tasted no less than 100 samples.
Click for the winner's photos
Terra Olivo facebook
Arab-Jewish Basket Weaving Workshops
The goal of our basket weaving workshop and visitors center in Kufr Manda is to create a positive meeting point for Arabs and Jews through a wide variety of activities. One of these activities is the basket weaving course which is now in its third year.
Best Israeli Olive Oil at the BIOL 2013 Competition
Our olive oil also won the Israeli Olive Oil category at BIOL 2013 in Milan, Italy on May 20 2013. We're delighted with their continued recognition of our excellent olive oil.
You can download the BIOL 'Choose Your Olive Oil' 2012, the New Guide to the Best Organic Olive Oils in the world, where Sindyanna of Galilee is mentioned on page 24.
Silver Medal at the Olive Tokyo Competition
Sindyanna of Galilee's olive oil won a silver medal at the recent Olive Japan international competition.
Our partners in Japan, Palestine Olive, helped us by staffing a booth at the tradeshow.
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 Partnership 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.
Listen to interviews in Arabic and English from Partnership for Peace event in Jerusalem, 12 May 2013, and read the article describing the event on the EU web site.
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!
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.
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 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.
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...
