A tahini manufacturer has become the first Palestinian company in history to apply for a kosher food license.

The Nablus-based Alul Company want to be able sell their products, including the sweet halva, to Israeli chains.

The chief rabbinate said they expected to accept the request, as long as issues of supervision, to ensure nothing was made on Shabbat or with non-kosher ingredients, could be resolved.

The company previously had a license in the 1980s, but lost it when control of Nablus went to the Palestinian Authority.

The manager, Ragheb Alul, told Ynet: “Before that we had provided tahini to many factories in Israel. Since, our workload has dropped considerably.”