Shunned by youth, Morocco cosmetic oil craft faces uncertain future

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A tourist buys a bottle of argan oil at a shop near Morocco's western Atlantic coastal city of Essaouira, on October 15, 2022. (AFP)
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A tourist buys a bottle of argan oil at a shop near Morocco's western Atlantic coastal city of Essaouira, on October 15, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 03 January 2023
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Shunned by youth, Morocco cosmetic oil craft faces uncertain future

  • The fruits are then sorted, roasted, ground and pressed for their oil, which is used in cooking but has also long been famed for its moisturising and anti-aging properties for skin and hair

ESSAOUIRA, Morocco: Morocco’s argan oil is highly prized by the cosmetics industry, yet it is now mostly produced by elderly workers, raising questions about how long the artisanal practice can continue.
A dozen women, sitting on the floor of a workshop inland from Essaouira, a port town on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, work to deftly shell argan nuts, crush them and extract the oil.
It is a time-honored and labor-intensive craft, but one increasingly shunned by young people in the North African kingdom.
The women, mostly aged over 60, manually pulp the small yellow fruits at Cooperative Marjana, while others use hammers to crush the robust shells and remove the nuts.




Women squeeze oil out of a paste made from crushed Argan nuts, near Morocco's western Atlantic coastal city of Essaouira, on October 15, 2022. (AFP)

The fruits are then sorted, roasted, ground and pressed for their oil, which is used in cooking but has also long been famed for its moisturising and anti-aging properties for skin and hair.
“It’s difficult work and it requires experience and, most of all, patience,” said Samira Chari, who at 42 is Marjana’s youngest artisanal worker.

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Argan is so important to the region between the towns of Essaouira and Agadir that in 1998 UNESCO declared a biosphere reserve in the area and later added the tree’s cultivation to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Cooperative founder Amel El Hantatti says the job’s physical nature is one reason “young people aren’t taking up this craft anymore,” despite a lack of local employment.
The area’s otherwise arid landscape is home to vast argan orchards. Tourists stopping to see the production process and buy argan products are warmly welcomed by Marjana’s all-female staff.
Argan is so important to the region between the towns of Essaouira and Agadir that in 1998 UNESCO declared a biosphere reserve in the area and later added the tree’s cultivation to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Argan oil is the main source of revenue in this part of southern Morocco, where few other crops survive the low rainfall and searing summer heat.
It is also widely used in Moroccan cuisine and has been certified with an Appellation of Origin since 2010.
Hantatti founded the cooperative in 2005 and says it now employs 80 women, some working in production and others in sales.
But today, she says, “I really fear that the artisanal production of argan oil might disappear.”

The cooperative’s younger workers prefer to work in the gift shop, selling argan soap, shampoo and moisturiser.
One of them, Assia Chaker, 25, said: “I tried to work a few days with the craftswomen but I couldn’t carry on, it’s a hard process and really tiring.
“I like having contact with people and practicing other languages with tourists who come into the shop every day, instead of spending the whole day crushing and pulping argan nuts.
“Anyway, one day the job will be done by machines,” she added.
But Hantatti said the process is hard to mechanize, insisting that “oil extracted by machines will never have the same flavour as what the women produce.
“It contains all the positive vibes of these artisans, their laughter, the stories they share as they’re working. There’s a spiritual quality that makes it special and unique.”
The cooperative produces up to 1,000 liters (about 265 gallons) of oil a year and works with tour companies bringing groups of visitors as they pass through the popular coastal region.
Morocco produces around 5,640 tons of argan oil annually, according to official figures, around 40 percent of it for export.
The sector’s turnover tripled between 2012 and 2019 to reach around $115 million, according to the agriculture ministry.

But producers in Essaouira say the next generation has little interest in learning their craft.
“All I’ve known all my life is argan oil,” said Samira as she roasted nuts in a large clay oven. “For me, it’s as essential as oxygen and water.”
The divorcee did not have the opportunity of an education and works 10 hours a day to provide for her children.
Samira learned every stage of argan oil production from her parents, skills traditionally passed from generation to generation.
But she says her children have no desire to go into the industry — a choice she understands.
Yet, with a growing body of scientific research backing up its health claims, argan oil remains an important part of the local economy and a sought-after commodity worldwide.
Morocco’s government has also been paying more attention to the sector, notably by building 13 reservoirs to collect scant rainfall and help mitigate the region’s ever-worsening droughts.
Rabat aims to double argan oil production by 2030, hoping to support the emergence of a “new generation of the rural middle class.”
But with fewer and fewer young people taking up the craft, time will tell whether another generation will learn the traditions associated with the tree.

 


Israeli fire kills 11 on deadline for Lebanon withdrawal

Updated 26 January 2025
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Israeli fire kills 11 on deadline for Lebanon withdrawal

  • Israeli forces opened fire on ‘citizens who were trying to return to their villages’
  • The Lebanese army says ‘ready to continue its deployment” as soon as Israel left’

BURJ AL-MULUK, Lebanon: Israeli troops opened fire in south Lebanon on Sunday, killing 10 residents and a Lebanese soldier, health officials said as hundreds of people tried to return to their homes on the deadline for Israel to withdraw.

Israel was all but certain to miss Sunday’s deadline, which is part of a ceasefire agreement that ended its war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group two months ago.

The deal that took effect on November 27 said the Lebanese army was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.

That period ends on Sunday.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli forces opened fire on “citizens who were trying to return to their villages,” killing 11 and wounding 83.

The ministry’s toll includes a soldier from the Lebanese army, which also announced his death and said Israeli fire had wounded another soldier.

AFP journalists said convoys of vehicles carrying hundreds of people, some flying yellow Hezbollah flags, were trying to get to several villages despite the Israeli military’s continued presence.

“We will return to our villages and the Israeli enemy will leave,” even if it costs lives, said Ali Harb, a 27-year-old trying to go to Kfar Kila.

Residents could also be seen heading on foot and by motorbike toward the devastated border town of Mays Al-Jabal, where Israeli troops are still stationed.

Some held up portraits of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, while women dressed in black carried photos of family members killed in the war.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had issued a message earlier on Sunday to residents of more than 60 villages in southern Lebanon telling them not to return.

Speaking from the border town of Aita Al-Shaab, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah hailed in a television appearance “the return of residents in spite of the threats and warnings.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the former army chief who took office earlier this month after a two-year vacancy in the post, called on residents to keep a cool head and “trust the Lebanese army,” which he said wanted “to ensure your safe return to your homes and villages.”

On Saturday, the army had said the delay in implementing the agreement was the “result of the procrastination in the withdrawal from the Israeli enemy’s side.”

A joint statement from the UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the head of the UN peacekeeping mission on Sunday acknowledged “that the timelines envisaged in the November Understanding have not been met.”

“As seen tragically this morning, conditions are not yet in place for the safe return of citizens to their villages along the Blue Line,” the statement said, referring to the border. It urged residents “to exercise caution.”

Israeli forces have left coastal areas of southern Lebanon, but are still present in areas further east.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that the “agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state,” so the military’s withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.

The Lebanese army said it was “ready to continue its deployment” as soon as Israel left.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called Sunday for the backers of the ceasefire agreement — a group that includes the United States and France — “to force the Israeli enemy to withdraw.”

Lebanese state media have reported that Israeli forces have carried out demolitions in villages they control.

Aoun spoke on Saturday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron about the “need to oblige Israel to respect the terms of the deal,” adding it must “end its successive violations, including the destruction of border villages.”

Macron’s office said the French president had called on all parties to the ceasefire to honor their commitments as soon as possible.

The fragile truce has generally held, even as the warring sides have repeatedly traded accusations of violations.

The deal ended two months of full-scale war that had followed nearly a year of low-intensity exchanges.

Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire with the Israeli army the day after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel’s campaign delivered a series of devastating blows against Hezbollah’s leadership including its longtime chief Nasrallah.


Israeli fire kills 1, wounds 7 as Palestinians are kept out of north Gaza over a ceasefire dispute

Updated 26 January 2025
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Israeli fire kills 1, wounds 7 as Palestinians are kept out of north Gaza over a ceasefire dispute

  • Under the ceasefire, Israel on Saturday was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza on foot
  • Israel put the move on hold until Hamas freed a hostage who Israel said was supposed to have been released

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: A Palestinian man was killed and seven people were wounded by Israeli fire overnight, local health officials said Sunday, as crowds gathered in hopes of returning to the northern Gaza Strip under a fragile week-old ceasefire aimed at winding down the war.

In a separate development, President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that most of Gaza’s population should be at least temporarily resettled elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan, in order to “just clean out” the war-ravaged enclave. Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians themselves have previously rejected such a scenario.

Under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Israel on Saturday was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza on foot through the so-called Netzarim corridor bisecting the territory. Israel put the move on hold until Hamas freed a hostage who Israel said was supposed to have been released that day.

The man was shot and two others were wounded late Saturday, according to the Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. Another five Palestinians, including a child, were wounded early Sunday in a separate shooting, the hospital said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel has pulled back from several areas of Gaza as part of the ceasefire, which came into force last Sunday, but the military has warned people to stay away from its forces, which are still operating in a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border and in the Netzarim corridor.

Hamas freed four young female Israeli soldiers on Saturday, and Israel released some 200 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.

But Israel said another hostage, the female civilian Arbel Yehoud, was supposed to have been released as well, and that it would not open the Netzarim corridor until she was freed. It also accused Hamas of failing to provide details on the conditions of the hostages set to be freed in the coming weeks.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar, which mediated the ceasefire, were working to address the dispute.

The ceasefire reached earlier this month after more than a year of negotiations is aimed at ending the 15-month war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and freeing scores of hostages still held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Around 90 hostages are still being held in Gaza, and Israeli authorities believe at least a third, and up to half of them, were killed in the initial attack or died in captivity.

The first phase of the ceasefire runs until early March and includes the release of a total of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The second — and far more difficult — phase, has yet to be negotiated. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war, while Israel has threatened to resume its offensive until Hamas is destroyed.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 people. More than 100 were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the remains of dozens more, at least three of whom were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces. Seven have been freed since the latest ceasefire began.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many of the dead were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

Israeli bombardment and ground operations have flattened wide swaths of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of its population of 2.3 million people. Many who have returned to their homes since the ceasefire began have found only mounds of rubble where their neighborhoods once stood.


WHO chief urges end to attacks on Sudan health care after 70 killed in drone strike

Updated 26 January 2025
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WHO chief urges end to attacks on Sudan health care after 70 killed in drone strike

  • WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: ‘We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan’

The head of the World Health Organization called on Saturday for an end to attacks on health care workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan’s North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.
“As the only functional hospital in El Fasher, the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital provides services which include gyn-obstetrics, internal medicine, surgery and pediatrics, along with a nutrition stabilization center,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X after the Friday strike.
“We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan, and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged,” Tedros said.
The war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which broke out in April 2023 due to disputes over the integration of the two forces, has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the population into hunger.
The conflict has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF, creating a humanitarian crisis.
Darfur Governor Mini Minnawi said on X that an RSF drone had struck the emergency department of the hospital in the capital of North Darfur, killing patients, including women and children.
Fierce clashes have erupted in El Fasher between the RSF and the Sudanese joint forces, including the army, armed resistance groups, police, and local defense units.


Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says

Updated 26 January 2025
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Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says

  • UN says out of 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far, roughly a third or 13,319  were children
  • Nearly 19,000 children were hospitalized for acute malnutrition in four months before December 2025

UNITED NATIONS: The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to UN agencies.
As Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”
“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The bodies of three children killed by an Israeli strike are carried for burial in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday Nov. 21, 2024. (AP)

The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.
UN deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.
That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by UN staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent UN agencies.

The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war.
Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.

Palestinian children queue at a food distribution kitchen in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday Nov. 28, 2024. (AP)

Diplomats from Britain, France and other countries also cited the toll on Israeli children who were killed, injured and abducted during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – with some still being held hostage.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon asked the Security Council whether it ever paused to consider the plight of Israeli children “mutilated, tortured and murdered” on Oct. 7, the 30 who were kidnapped and the tens of thousands who have been displaced, their homes destroyed.
“The trauma they have endured is beyond imagination,” he said.
Danon called Thursday’s council meeting on children in Gaza “an affront to common sense,” accusing Hamas of turning Gaza into “the world’s largest terror base” and using children as human shields.
“The children of Gaza could have had a future filled with opportunity,” he said. “Instead, they are trapped in a cycle of violence and despair, all because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”

 

 


Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says

Palestinian children queue at a food distribution kitchen in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday Nov. 28, 2024. (AP)
Updated 26 January 2025
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Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says

  • The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war

UNITED NATIONS: The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to UN agencies.
As Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”
“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The bodies of three children killed by an Israeli strike are carried for burial in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday Nov. 21, 2024. (AP)

The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.
UN deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.
That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by UN staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent UN agencies.

The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war.
Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.

Palestinian children queue at a food distribution kitchen in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday Nov. 28, 2024. (AP)

Diplomats from Britain, France and other countries also cited the toll on Israeli children who were killed, injured and abducted during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – with some still being held hostage.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon asked the Security Council whether it ever paused to consider the plight of Israeli children “mutilated, tortured and murdered” on Oct. 7, the 30 who were kidnapped and the tens of thousands who have been displaced, their homes destroyed.
“The trauma they have endured is beyond imagination,” he said.
Danon called Thursday’s council meeting on children in Gaza “an affront to common sense,” accusing Hamas of turning Gaza into “the world’s largest terror base” and using children as human shields.
“The children of Gaza could have had a future filled with opportunity,” he said. “Instead, they are trapped in a cycle of violence and despair, all because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”