Temporal change in traditional knowledge and use of wild plants in Artas, Palestine

ABSTRACT

Traditional communities have wide knowledge and experience of wild plants as natural resources that have historically been important for food, medicine, spiritual and hygienic uses. These communities have over generations developed knowledge, skills, beliefs and practices related to the natural environment that they are a part of. This type of knowledge is defined as Traditional Ecological Knowledge and is critical in the understanding of cultural heritage. Palestine encompasses a unique cultural heritage regarding wild plant use. The village of Artas, south of Bethlehem, has been researched by ethnobotanists and anthropologists as early as the 1930s, where studies illustrate the profound rooted connection Palestinian villagers held with their natural surroundings, and how social coherence around the outdoor life was entrenched in the local culture. The results of this study indicate that foraging wild plants was traditionally a social activity, and the villagers attach a lot of meaning to these plants due to their medicinal and nutritional value, but also as a part of their surrounding environment around which their lives revolved. The Israeli occupation since 1967 progressively caused a shift from a centuries-old common-pool resource to a restricted area, which eliminated the access to ancestral land and will possibly diminish future levels of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Palestine cultural heritage
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• wild plants
• West Bank
• ethno-botany
• UNESCO

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the people of Artas, the Artas Folklore Center and the staff at the Palestinian Museum for Natural History in Bethlehem, especially to Ms Summer Shaheen.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Partial support for our work came from the EU Peace Initiative with a grant from the European Commission (ENI/2019/412-148).

Notes on contributors

Emily Mourad Hanna

Emily Mourad Hanna is an anthropologist and human rights professional working in international development cooperation in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-mourad-hanna-b889aa183/

Katrine Gro Friborg

Katrine Gro Friborg is a researcher, working with indigenous knowledge, deforestation-free forest management, food security and ethnobotanical relations.

Mazin B. Qumsiyeh

Mazin B. Qumsiyeh is a professor, founder, and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University, Palestinian Territories.