With the support of the Bayt Mal al-Quds Agency, the "Aounah" olive picking campaign for 2024 has reached the village of "Um al-Lahm" in northeastern Jerusalem to assist farmers in ensuring a successful season, despite the difficult economic and social conditions facing its residents.
This support, provided by the agency this year to over 1,500 farmers in the Jerusalem governorate, is part of its social programs supervised directly by King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Jerusalem Committee, aimed at empowering active groups in the region.
For the third consecutive year, the Bayt Mal al-Quds Agency is sponsoring the olive picking season in partnership with the Jerusalem governorate as part of the "Aounah for Olive Picking" program, offering equipment and electric harvesting tools equipped with portable batteries, as well as ladders, tarps, rakes, and bags for transporting the harvest, in addition to other tools used in olive harvesting.
Support is distributed proportionately across 30 villages and towns in the Jerusalem governorate, specifically targeting "Kharab Um al-Lahm" in the northwest, "Mukhmas" in the center, and the "Wadi al-Houd" area of al-Eizariya, all of which have faced greater assaults this year.
The campaign's launch in "Um al-Lahm" was overseen by Abdullah Sayam, Deputy Governor of Jerusalem, and Ismail al-Ramli, the agency's program coordinator in Jerusalem, in the presence of Hani Dhiab, head of the "Um al-Lahm" village council, along with a group of farmers.
The head of the "Um al-Lahm" village council expressed gratitude to the Bayt Mal al-Quds Agency for its generous initiative to support olive picking in the village, noting that this is the first time in 13 years that the village has received similar assistance.
Olive farms in "Um al-Lahm" are located on lands separated by the separation wall from their natural extension, making them a target for settlers.
"Um al-Lahm," located in the far northwest of the sacred city, suffers like other rural areas in Jerusalem from the impact of the unstable political, economic, and social conditions in the city.
