‘Green gold’ is what farmers and traders in the city of Nablus call Gundelia which has an important position among the people of Nablus and in their markets. Looking for Gundelia many people spread everywhere. Collecting it is a seasonal and established profession and a source of livelihood.
The mountains of the northern Jordan Valley region is one of the areas that is rich for this wild plant which makes it a destination for many who want to make a living where they spread among its valleys and hills searching between thorns and grasses hoping to find some ‘green gold’ which means making some money.
The young man Fadi Bisharat points to the importance of picking the plant for him as many citizens flock to buy them regardless of price especially in the city of Nablus which is famous for this popular food.
Bisharat goes out most of the days to the Jordan Valley looking for this plant which generates a considerable profit. The price of a kilo of Gundelia at the beginning of the season is about 70 NIS in the markets of the city of Nablus. In the worst-case-scenario Gundelia maintains the price of 20 NIS per kilo at the end of season.
Bisharat succeeds at picking up at least three sacks of Gundelia a day before returning to the markets of the city of Nablus where a merchant buys the Gundelia to sell it in the market.
The journey of Bisharat in search of the plant is not easy at all. The dangers that threaten him can’t be imagined as picking up the plant from the point of view of the Israeli occupation forces and the so-called Israeli environment authority is prohibited and punishable by law thus anyone who gets captured doing so will face prosecution arrest and trial and high fines.
He notes “On different occasions we were hunted by the so-called environmental protection authority of the occupation and we miraculously escaped but many of us were caught arrested for several months and fined for vandalizing the environment.”
Bisharat is no different from Fathi Balawneh who also experienced being hunted in the mountains of Ain Albayda in the Jordan Valley where he found himself in one occasion being hunted by Israeli occupation soldiers who were accompanied by the Environment Protection Authority crews using helicopters.
In the opinion of Balawneh the profession of collecting and selling Gundelia does not conflict with the preservation and protection of the environment as these plants were created for the benefit of humans and the mountains are full of this plant that grows from time to time.
Balawneh justifies why many people collect and sell the plant as it allows for considerable seasonal profits. “The plant is free and the quantities are very large and there is constant demand in the market.”
Arif Daraghmeh of the settlements resistance committee in the Jordan Valley region comments on the so-called Israeli Environment Protection Authority and its pursuit of the Gundelia collectors “The occupation is most destructive to the environment. It turned the Jordan Valley into a field of shooting and training; the occupation destroyed many plants by driving tanks over them destroying the lives of many plants birds and animals because of its daily crimes in the region.”
“Collecting Gundelia is a source of livelihood. The occupation is the one that is destroying the elements of life in the Palestinian environment through levelling lands bombings building settlements spraying pesticides and other practices” Daraghmeh told the PIC.
