What it's like for workers at one of the 2 remaining West Bank olive oil soap businesses

Now, a once thriving industry is struggling to stay afloat.
We went inside the Nablus Soap Company to see how traditional Palestinian olive oil soap is made, and how workers are coping with a changing industry.
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This is how olive oil soap is made in the West Bank.

It's being poured on the floor to cool and solidify.

The Palestinian tradition goes back over a thousand years .

But while the West Bank once had nearly 40 soap factories, Nablus Soap Company is just one of two still operating .

And today, a once thriving industry is struggling to stay afloat.

Nablus soap is made from just three ingredients: olive oil, baking soda, and water.

Eirik Moe AS

Ahmad al-Fakhouri, Nablus Soap Company supervisor: "They turn into a beautiful-smelling soap that lacks any chemical ingredients. There's only one natural ingredient, the olive oil."

The first step is to cook all three ingredients together in a huge stainless steel pot.

Al-Fakhouri: "It takes about 5 tons of olive oil."

"To cook soap, you need to add the oil and baking soda and let them soak for a day. The following day you continue the cooking process."

When it's ready, workers carry out the boiling-hot liquid one bucket at a time. They pour the liquid soap onto the floor, where it cools.

Next, they measure out and mark the soap with an outline of the distinctive Nablus bar shape.

Al-Fakhouri: "And how do you recognize it? By the way it looks. Keeping its square shape is what has preserved its market and brand."

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And it takes one or two days just to cut the soap and pile it up. Then, it's left for 40 days to dry before it's packaged and sold.

While the Nablus Soap Company carries on this tradition, the soap-making industry in the West Bank has dwindled from nearly 40 factories at its height in the 19th century to just two working factories in Nablus.

Long-standing Israeli restrictions on trade and movement of goods in the West Bank have limited exports of the soap to other countries.

Plus, demand for the soap among Palestinians has dropped off.

Al-Fakhouri: "Thirty years ago, we used to produce 3 tons of soap daily. Today, we sell 200 or 500 kilograms of soap."

That's because many customers are choosing their soap based on price rather than quality.

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Al-Fakhouri: "The Nablus soap is expensive. The price of olive oil is high, same with baking soda. Workers' wages are high."

"If you have the choice between buying one piece of soap for 3 shekels, while you can buy five pieces of soap coming from Turkey or China for 3 shekels, they would rather buy the five soaps."

Despite the downturn, the Nablus Soap Company still employs 10 permanent workers and hires up to 10 more temporary employees as needed.

Al-Fakhouri: "This soap has been my source of income. I was able to afford getting married because of this job. I still work here, thank goodness."

And for Ahmad, producing Nablus soap is essential to keeping a thousand-year-old tradition alive.

Al-Fakhouri: "We are preserving our grandparents' legacy by continuing to use the old ways to cook the soap. If we change their way, then we risk losing our tradition."

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