PETALING JAYA, Aug. 7 -- One of the first things you notice when you step into Al-Sham, an Arabian restaurant that opened in Damansara Kim last December, is a small bottle of olive oil placed on every table.

It isn't there to suggest anything Italian, despite the presence of pizza and pasta on the menu.

It is there for you to use as you please, but also doubles as a marker of the restaurant's identity, and of its chef and owner, Chef Ahmed, who is Palestinian and hails from the city of Khan Yunis in Gaza.

Contrary to popular perception, Italy does not hold a monopoly on olive oil as cultural identity.

For Palestinians, olive oil and the trees from which it comes are more than just an important agricultural product.

It is also a symbo...