In November, an odd mix of activists and fashionistas encircled Palestinian farmer Nazeeh Shelab to hear what he had to say about olive oil and the separation barrier that creates a divide between his livelihood and his home.
Good brand. A fair trade label indicates that a farmer has earned a fair wage, workers and land have not been exploited, biodiversity has been protected and pesticide use is minimized.
In the trendy new Bayit Benemal mall in Tel Aviv's northern port, one woman was puffing on a pipe while others sat on carpets and Vincent van Gogh stools munching pita drizzled in olive oil, spread with labane cheese and za'atar.
Many of those enjoying the speech and spread were sporting knee-high boots and fashions from Comme il Faut, an Israeli fashion house known for its controversial ad campaigns in recent years - campaigns painted with anti-security fence and anti-war slogans. In 2004, the company created waves among Israelis when it shot its summer catalogue at the West Bank security barrier.
Comme il Faut's marketing staff invited Shelab, along with the eco-group Green Action and charity development organization Oxfam GB, to speak to the public. The triad are partners in a new kind of dialogue happening between Israelis and Palestinians. It is being called "fair trade."
Fair trade is a concept that may eventually be as well recognized as dolphin-free tuna, organic produce and free-range eggs are today. In Europe and North America, reports Oxfam, the attitude toward buying fair trade products is already influencing consumer spending in a big way.
Earning a fair trade label from various certification boards worldwide indicates that a farmer has earned a fair wage, workers and land have not been exploited, biodiversity has been protected and pesticide use is minimized.
An increasing number of Americans are already hip to fair trade. Laurie Tumer, a photographer from Santa Fe who uses many environmental themes in her work, says she notices that people in New Mexico are asking if their chocolate, coffee and other imported items are fair trade.
"In the natural food stores here - there are about four in Santa Fe - there is a sticker that indicates fair trade on products. When I don't see this sticker on coffee, I go to the other store that has it. Finding out if it is free trade is one of the only actions people can take to protect workers' rights and health, and their own health," says Tumer.
According to Transfair USA - a fair trade certification organization based in the US - fair trade is making a large impact on the lives of indigenous peoples where coffee and cocoa are produced. In Colombia, for example, fair trade has helped coffee cooperatives prevent the cultivation of more than 1,600 acres of coca and poppy, used for the production of illicit drugs. In Papua New Guinea, the group reports, one agricultural cooperative is investing in a medical team to increase health standards in an isolated community.
In Israel, the notion of fair trade is just starting to take off. Activists such as those from Oxfam believe it's just a matter of time. Yoav Hended from Tel Aviv wrote on the Oxfam website that he is a big supporter of fair trade.
"Before Green Action started importing Palestinian olive oil into Israel, I used to import it myself from Bejalla village in the West Bank," wrote Hended, adding, "Fair trade tea and coffee are not available across Israel, but they should be."
People living under the Palestinian Authority are also taking stock of fair trade. The Oxfam website highlights student Tamer Abdo from Birzeit University in Ramallah, who thinks fair trade is exciting. He said, "I have studied economics and I think what is happening is unfair, especially in Latin America. People are suffering. In Palestine, politics is affecting economics. Economics should help people."
The economic situation for olive growers such as Shelab has been bleak since the second intifada hit and the construction of the security fence began. By 2003, he was protesting the fence that began circumventing his family's homes in Kafr Mascha, south of Kalkilya, from their 120 dunams of olive groves.
Shelab is not free to leave the area. He has been blacklisted by Israeli officials after leading protests against the barrier. He can no longer make an honest and decent living as a stonecutter since the Bidya market close to his home shut down. He and other family members (he has 10 children and 90 other relatives) now live off the hundreds of olive trees planted 60 years ago by his grandfather.
Shelab and his family enjoyed the extra profits that the olive trees produced in previous years (it was usually the young children who tended the trees, while the men worked in other jobs); the olive trees and their fruit suddenly became the only hope for income to many families.
When Shelab met with Green Action's director Avi Levi in 2003 at a security fence demonstration, the country's first effort toward fair trade practices was pioneered. In the beginning, neighbors and friends thought Shelab was crazy for collaborating with Israelis, but now things are starting to look different. He told Metro that other Palestinians are asking him how they can turn their groves and produce to meet organic and fair trade standards.
Today, fair trade olive oil can be found at about 25 locations throughout Israel, including Comme il Faut stores and at the activists' hang-out Salon Mazal in Tel Aviv.
Levi from Green Action was busy loading boxes of oil into a truck.
Green Action, Israel's first activist group to couple social activism with environmentalism, was started in 1994 by Michael Raphael, an American Jew working for Greenpeace in New York.
"There was no environmental activism in Israel at the time," recalls Levi, who claims that the group is still the most pro-active green NGO in the country.
Green Action, he says, was the first to adopt a pro-active environmental and social agenda in Israel. "If one wants to protect the environment, it cannot be dissociated from social issues."
The group is funded by the German Heinrich Boell Foundation.
Levi is decidedly against the security barrier, the existence of the IDF and the suffering that Israelis cause Palestinians, such as Shelab. But creating social reform with the "enemy" is not easy, Levi admits.
