Faces of Fair Trade: Action in the Holy Land

by Zarah Patriana

Published January 07, 2009 @ 11:49AM PT

Fighting. Bombs. Conflict. When talking about the Holy Land lately, these are the stories that are being told in news programs everyday.  However, everyday there are groups in Israel-Palestine that are working toward solidarity and peace and for the next couple of installments of Faces of Fair Trade series, we will share their stories.

The first story is that of GreenAction, an Israeli non-profit organization working toward socio-ecological justice and combine it with political issues concerning the peace process.  One of the main ways for them to achieve this goal is through their work with the Fair Trade movement. They do this by bringing Fair Trade products into the Israeli market. While they focus on importing Fair Trade products such as coffee from far away lands like Colombia into Israel, one of their main goals with working with Fair Trade is focusing on the relationship between Israel and Palestinian territories, which the political barriers sometimes make it seem like a world away.

The specific project promoting 'community trade between Palestinian, Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews' is called the SAHA project. 'Saha' has a double meaning in the Holy Land. In Hebrew, it is an acronym for 'fair trade' and in Arabic it is a blessing for health said before a meal.

Fundamentally, Fair Trade is intended to deliberately work with marginalized producers and workers in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency.  In "community trade", SAHA takes fair trade a step further - building a platform that both allows farmers to economic security and builds a real relationship in a volatile area.

The Saha project has worked with Palestinian farmers, who once thrived, but with the political situation, Palestinian access to the market has been limited. Through the project, the Palestinian farmers have been able to market their Fair Trade Extra Virgin Olive Oil made available on Israeli shelves. Seeing Saha's Palestinian products on the shelves is not always welcomed with opened arms though. According to Avi Levi, director of GreenAction has spoken of a certain public resistance to the products.

Some people won't buy (fair trade goods from Palestinians) because they see it as giving money to terrorists. People think the way to solve the Palestinian problem is to starve them to death.

GreenAction and the Saha project don't let this viewpoint slow them down and continue to market Fair Trade products from Palestine in Israel and even abroad because it is about promoting solidarity despite religious or political differences.

What's wrong a little peace, access and understanding?

[photo: global exchange & SAHA Project]