Portugal Colonial - Historic Ramallah olive press joins modern production with local tradition

An olive press in Ramallah’s old town has returned to operation for the annual harvest, as it does each year in mid-October. Farmers arrive after days or weeks of picking, bringing sacks of olives from their fields for processing.

At the press, the sacks are carefully unloaded from vehicles into a large container inside the building. The structure dates to 1917, linking the present-day production process with more than a century of local history.

Farmers watch the successive stages of pressing closely as they wait to see the yield and quality of the season. Modern machinery now performs the work within the old stone setting.

Olive harvesting and pressing remain social as well as agricultural events in Palestinian society. Family members, often the men, accompany the crop to the press and hand it to the workers.

The workers at a press commonly come from one family. In this case, the operation belongs to the Al-Rantisi family, which bought the press in 1930.

The family later converted it into a modern facility. The current operation has been running since 1986, blending updated processing equipment with the traditions attached to the building and the annual olive season.

V.Dantas--PC