Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 21 June 2019
Israeli frankincense farmer cashes in on rare honey

By ILAN BEN ZION States. "I've started a wait-
Associated Press ing list for orders," he said.
ALMOG, West Bank (AP) Yet politics always looms in
— An Israeli farmer has the background. Erlich said
cashed in by making ex- a global, Palestinian-led ef-
otic honey from a rare tree fort to boycott settlement
that produces frankincense goods has taken a toll on
— the resin once worth its his business, with a major
weight in gold and vener- American investor jumping
ated in the Bible. But the ship a couple of years ago
farm's location in a far-flung out of concern about the
West Bank settlement has boycott threat.
left a bitter taste in at least The European Union, Isra-
one investor's mouth. el's largest trading partner,
Guy Erlich's Balm of Gil- does not allow settlement
ead Farm is home to 1,000 products to say "Made in Is-
threatened Boswellia sacra rael." While it does not ban
— the perfume-producing them, it requires that pro-
desert shrub mentioned in duce, including honey, be
the Bible. He hopes these accurately labeled.
and his cornucopia of Despite international anti-
other medicinal plants will settlement sentiment, Erlich
yield remedies for human said he hopes to foster co-
ills — and even the conflict In this Monday, Sept. 17, 2018 photo, Guy Erlich holds jar of Frankincense honey at his farm near operation with his Palestin-
with the Palestinians. Almog, an Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley, in the West Bank. ian neighbors and turn his
But the farm's West Bank Associated Press farm into a research cen-
address, 6 kilometers (4 ter for medicinal plants. He
miles) from the Dead Sea, ued in the region for mil- tian church ceremonies. operation. also is growing 10,000 Com-
could hinder his project to lennia as a highly prized The alleys around Jerusa- His first batch of single- miphora gileadensis, the
cultivate and study threat- aromatic used in medicine lem's Church of the Holy source honey made from fragrant biblical "Balm of
ened desert plants. The and rituals. Sepulcher, where many the desert plants' tiny Gilead" shrub and name-
Palestinians and the vast It was burned as part of re- Christians believe Jesus was flowers sold for $1,000 a sake of the farm.
majority of the international ligious ceremonies through- crucified, entombed and kilogram (nearly $500 a "I would be very happy to
community consider Israeli out the ancient Mediterra- resurrected, are redolent of pound). one day see this as an inter-
settlements in the occu- nean world, and was one the frankincense that ven- The amber-hued, excep- national project," he said,
pied West Bank, along with of the ingredients men- dors burn to entice pilgrims tionally sweet honey has the Palestinian city of Jeri-
their use of local natural re- tioned in the Bible for the to buy chunks of the yellow earthy undertones and a cho behind him in the dis-
sources, to be illegal. incense sacrifice in the an- resin. slightly astringent finish. In tance. "We're sitting at a tri-
Ehrlich rejected such criti- cient Jewish Temples. It was While his Boswellia trees are less than a month, Erlich angle of borders: we have
cism, saying his work is for famously given as a gift to still too young to produce says he exhausted his ini- Palestine, we have Jordan,
the benefit of everyone. the newborn Jesus by the frankincense, Erlich struck tial four kilogram (9 pound) and we have Israel.
"I focus on plants that few Magi, and still plays a cen- upon honey as a possible stock, selling most of it to "If my plants can also serve
other people in the world tral role in Orthodox Chris- source of revenue for his customers in the United as a catalyst to unite Israe-
cultivate. That's how I have lis and Palestinians, and
a chance to succeed in perhaps other neighbors
the years to come," he said. around, then I am all for
"These are also very impor- it," he added. Jericho's Pal-
tant plants, and if they're estinian governor, Majid
not cultivated they'll disap- Fityani, dismissed such a
pear." notion, saying the issue is
Boswellia sacra is native to political, not economic.
the deserts of northern So- "Israeli settlements are the
malia, Yemen and Oman, embodiment of the Israeli
and is threatened by over- occupation of our land,"
harvesting of its precious Fityani said. "This settler has
resin, according to the In- stolen Palestinian land and
ternational Union for Con- if he is honest he would
servation of Nature. Mature have left our land and re-
Boswellia trees are scored turned to his country, Israel."
to extract the resin, which Erlich and others are start-
hardens into lumps ranging ing to look to the Boswellia's
from white to pale green medicinal properties.
in color. Top grade frankin- Besides aromatic com-
cense can sell for hundreds pounds and the halluci-
of dollars per kilogram nogen incensyl acetate,
(pound). frankincense has an anti-
Most frankincense comes inflammatory compound
from trees tapped in the called boswellic acid, said
wild, rather than grown on In this Sept. 17, 2018 photo, frankincense trees bloom on a farm, founded by Israeli Guy Erlich near Jason Eslamieh, an Arizona
plantations. The tree is not Almog, an Israeli settlement and a kibbutz near the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea in the botanist and author of sev-
indigenous to the Levant, Jordan Valley, in the West Bank. eral publications about the
but its resin has been val- Associated Press plant. q