Women Beekeepers to Save the West Bank Lands

This beekeeping project offers a solution to two issues facing the West Bank of Palestine. First, it qualifies as land use that keeps West Bank land under the control of Palestinians. Second, it targets unemployed women for training in beekeeping and the marketing of bee products in order to combat poverty and food insecurity in the region. Palestine currently imports 150 tons of honey a year, making honey production an ideal field for local expansion. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugee in the Near East will lead the project in cooperation with local women’s centers, farmers, and beekeepers in Area C of the West Bank. Over the three years that the project will be running, participating women will increase their earnings, local women’s centers will be reinforced, and land in the West Bank will be kept under the control of Palestine.