On Friday morning, Green Action attended the fair at the Israel Green Movement's Primary Elections.  We were so lucky, as it was a beautiful sunny day and lovely to be outside and enjoy the fair.  It was a very well-attended event, with a great mixture of people.  It was wonderful to speak to so many people from a range of backgrounds, who were all interested in ecological and social change.  The SAHA stand was very popular and everyone was eager to hear about the work we do and to taste and buy our products!

The atmosphere throughtout the day was very upbeat.  There was a drumming circle in the middle of the grounds and a great mixture of music being played.  Avi Levi the director of Green Action was so inspired he started dancing and managed to encourage others to join him! 

We spoke to many people who were interested in making community partnerships with SAHA and also suggested other fairs for us to attend.  So hopefully we will be attending many more events like this.  For those of you who are interested in attending a fair check out our upcoming events. SAHA will have a stand at Hanuka Fairs in Tel Aviv at: Seminat Hakibutzim on Sunday 21/12/09 and Thursday 23/12/08 from 11am - 3pm, and at Kiryat Atidim on Thursday 23/12/08 from 9am - 5pm.  We would love to see you there!

Click here to read more about the Israel Green Movement

We are happy to announce that you can now buy Saha products in two more locations in Tel Aviv!  The shops called Teva Kol, meaning 'all nature' are located on Sheinkin 57 and Lincoln 19.  Teva Kol stocks organic, nature products; vitamins and now Saha Fair Trade!  Sheinkin is one of the main shopping streets in Tel Aviv and is the first shop on Sheinkin to stock our produce.  We hope you will visit there soon!

I recently came across many different stories and campaigns about different practices of Un-Fairtrade.  Click on the following links for examples of this. 

Friends of the Earth: Real Foods   Read about the effects of big businesses and the global market on the farmers being forced to sell their produce at unfairly low prices.

World Development Movement: Trade Campaign  Learn about some of the un-fair trading rules and regulations

Environmental Health Perspective: Unfair Trade - e-waste in Africa  Read about the dangerous problem of e-waste in Nigeria

Pick a fight: China Trade  Learn of the unfair trading practices in China and the effect this has

Banana Link: The Banana Trade See how trading rules and un-fair standards are present in the banana trade

War on Want: Supermarkets & Sweatshops Read about the effect of Supermarkets and their control on the gobal market.  There are also links to many of their campaigns againt un-fair trade!

It is now the time for farmers to start the olive harvest. This starts in October and continues until all the olives have been picked. However, the earlier you pick the olives the better! So yesterday I went along with around 30 other volunteers to the Village of Massha (part of the Zaytun Farmers Cooperative), in the Samaria area to help the farmers to pick olives. We left Tel Aviv at 9am and drove the short distance to reach the Palestinian village well before 10am. It was an interesting drive, seeing the security barriers on approach to the check point. No one was stopping the cars approaching Palestine, it is only the cars coming into Israel that are checked. 

After a hard morning picking olives on a beautiful sunny day, we all sat down together and ate the delicious lunch prepared for us by some of the women from the village. We ate humus and fool with pita bread, salad and falafel (it was the best falafel I have had since I arrived in Israel!) and a cup of lentil soup. We were then able to hear from the farmer about the Olive Harvest, how they make the Olive Oil and the process to ensure that their olive oil is both organic and Extra Virgin. He told us that we were in fact not harvesting the olive trees from his village of Massha, as their land is on the West side of the village and is now on the other side of the separation wall. We were actually harvesting trees on land of their neighbouring village Bidiya! (also part of the Zaytun Farmers Cooperative) 

When everyone was fully fed and well rested we got back to work on picking olives. There were people on the ground under the trees picking from the low hanging branches, many people around the trees and more up high at the top of long ladders picking the olives from all directions. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, when the sun was starting to go down and we had managed to fill a van full of olives, we headed to the pressing house where they clean the olives and make them into Saha Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We were then invited to have coffee with the farmers and their families. By the end of the day I felt happy to have been part of such an important process and exhausted from all the work!

All pictures were taken by © Yasmine Soiffer 2008, www.yasminesoiffer.com

This Time, from a personal point of view:

Today, i woke up earlier then usual, burnt up my neck and enjoyed the presence of a bunch of zionist Israeli farmers. SAHA has been invited by the organizers of the first Peasant market in Tel Aviv, to exhibit and sell our products.
The first customers were a couple in their fifties.  They were enthusiastic after tasting the Za'atar and asked some questions: Is It Organic, Does it contain salt. Why is it Fair Trade and who are the talented farmers behind the product. My answer, that the old Palestinian tradition helps the Women and farmers co-op produce a high quality Za'atar was recieved in silence. They looked at each other and the woman said in almost a whisper: " wouldn't they try to poison us with the Za'atar?"

Luckily, the hundreds of preceding customers, have proven that some trust still exists between the Israelis and Palestinians.  I can not wait to meet this couple again next week.  Based on past experience, I am sure that finally they will buy the Palestinian high quality products.  I will keep you updated.

A double spread coloured article was published in Haaret'z daily paper on Wednesday, 7th of May, describing the Saha project.  The article was accompanied by beautiful pictures, taken Pro - Bono by Tom from shuki Cook design studio. Independance Day was an opportunity for the newspaper to add a  supplement about the connections between business and community.  If it was not said, Saha was proud to be the only project cooperating between Israelis and Palestinians in this supplement.

While all the other articles in the supplement described big companies assisting communities, Saha showed a new option for a relationship between business and community - a commercial partnership.  The article gave the Israeli reader a lot of interesting and new information about Fair Trade and it's local implementation.

A Report by the world bank, blames Israel for the very low economic growth, predicted to the Palestinian economy in 2008.  The Herald Tribune reports that Israeli restrictions on movement of palestinian people and goods are the main reason for the stagnation. Israelis justify it and say that it is needed to keep security and defend Israel.  We say that pushing Palestinian economy upwards is the best way to keep israel safe.  Read for yourself:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/27/africa/ME-GEN-Palestinians-World-Bank.php

This week on Friday, May 9th, starting at 10 am.

Local farmers' and shepherds' organic produce, home made food, arts and crafts, and live music. It's all happening at Ein Haniya Spring, on the Wallaja/Har Gilo road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

The fair was arranged for a second time by The All Nations Cafe Family - promoting Palestinian Israeli cooperation through Fair Trade in Jerusalem.