Introduction : Palestine, Holy Land, is visited by people of different religions – Jews, Christians and Muslims. Bethlehem is a center of pilgrimage for Christians. Bethlehem olive wood sculptures are in order to save humanity. The olive branch symbol of love, health and peace. The Bible mentions the olive branch to Noah’s Ark.
Olive wood products : Olive wood carving is ideal for work and lends itself well to work accurately with simple hand tools. Available in natural colors. His tonal depth because of the complex ring structure allows intricate carvings. Religious items, crosses, frames, boxes, cute, paper knife, is the ink and crucifixes are just some of the olive wood crafts from nimble fingers of men and women of Bethlehem. Tourists from Europe, taught him the art of olive wood carvings of the indigenous people of Palestine. At the same time, the transfer of knowledge workers to eventually install their own stores of these artistic elements.
Mechanization : During the World Wars, Palestine came under British rule, in which a small industrial revolution peaceful olive wood carvings, handicrafts broken. Saws replaced hand saws. Multi-purpose lathes and simple exercises motorized contraptions replaces manual. Photocopiers have been used to produce revolutionary projects of operational models of the teacher of individual workers within a short period of time. This has led to a huge increase in the volume of production at a faster pace, with a high degree of accuracy. New products such as chandeliers, beads and added to the series of sculptures. In essence, the market has been reported with goods at prices accessible to tourists from around the underwater world. The owners of the company houses large profits because of lower costs for mass production. The high volume of production has allowed the export of art works in countries around the world.
Negative effects of mass production : Mechanization has its side effects – high unemployment and lack of satisfaction among the artisans. Original artwork was carved by hand a thing of the past. The wonderful creativity of the artisans was nearly killed. The workers were used as a simple assembly mechanisms and drivers. To reduce the time, was the wood of irrigated olive oil as a raw material used was of inferior quality, and contains moisture. This has led to cracking and defacing of works of art, despite careful handling. This dilution of a sudden refusal to bring quality souvenirs for tourists.
Other problems : The perennial struggle between the ethnic groups in Palestine, has led to political uncertainty and economic imbalances. Israel has imposed severe restrictions for tour guides and bus companies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This visit had a negative effect on tourism, the Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Visitors to postpone or cancel their trips for fear of rabies. The pilgrims travel on organized tours, where they were transferred in certain transactions only for a short duration. In some installations, shopping tours programs may not be available.
Houses of small businesses and individual craftsmen were able to compete with large companies, because they are not capable of production costs due to lower volumes and thus reduce their products were priced out. In general, the overall situation was bleak for the industry of olive wood in the late twentieth century.