By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict once again played itself out in what many people would consider a most unlikely place: The living room of a small apartment that acts as an office and meeting space for a grocery cooperative. But a motion brought before the product issues committee of the Central Co-op, which does business as the Madison Market natural foods store at the top of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, would ask the cooperative to consider boycotting products made in Israel because of the government’s treatment of Palestinians.
The motion was brought by members of the Seattle chapter of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, which first proposed the resolution to the product issues committee at its monthly meeting in October 2009. At its most recent meeting held on March 23, in which the co-op fielded comments on the issue, space was standing-room only — a phenomenon due mainly to a flurry of calls to action on both sides of the issue and not to any original plans to devote more than the usual 10 minutes to the subject. Security guards were on hand due to threats the store had received prior to the meeting, though the tone was, overall, cordial and unheated.
Moderator Eric Nelsen said the only guarantee about the meeting was that nothing would be resolved: The committee, after hearing comments from the meeting’s attendees, will discuss the issue further before deciding whether a formal resolution should be sent to the co-op board.
Before that occurs, however, a process still in draft form must be put in place to handle boycotts and bans, which also must be approved by the board. No resolution like the Israel boycott has been brought before the co-op in the past, Nelsen said.
Central Co-op subscribes to The Rochdale Principles of Co-operation, which sets out operation guidelines. The first principle of the organization states: “Co-operatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.”
The political and religious aspects of such a ban were discussed by several audience members.
A similar boycott proposed at the Davis Food Co-op in Davis, Calif. cited not only divisiveness among its members as a reason for its board unanimously turning down the measure, but also a violation of anti-boycott laws set forth by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce should such a boycott be enacted.
Jews made up a majority of the people filling the apartment, though opinions and affiliations varied widely.
Longtime co-op member Harvey Grad said the many people he knows in Israel are hoping for peace and “just waiting for the two-state solution,” he said.
“If you boycott Israel, you boycott me,” Grad said, “and I feel I would need to terminate my membership.
Rob Jacobs, regional director of Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs, distributed materials from his organization to the committee and questioned why an alternate view had not been sought as the committee embarked upon discussions of the resolution.
“We’d like an opportunity to provide a different perspective,” Jacobs told JTNews prior to the meeting. “Let the Central Co-op/Madison Market make its decision and base its information on multiple perspectives.”
Committee members, when asked, said they had reached out to a professor at the University of Washington, who they believed had counseled against a boycott.
Though a handful of people suggested a boycott would be anti-Semitic, Wendy Somerson of Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports the Palestine Solidarity Commission’s motion, said it is “not inherently anti-Semitic to do an act of boycott.”
“One of the reasons we’re supporting it is it’s starting a dialogue,” Somerson said. “Our main focus is education and discussion. For us the end goal really isn’t as important as [it is] about raising awareness about this issue.”
Somerson said that by modeling the boycott after anti-Apartheid boycotts in South Africa, the Israeli government could be pressured to change its treatment of Palestinians. She said she didn’t believe small farmers or producers in Israel would be hurt by such a boycott.
Madison Market should “take a stand in favor of human rights” and against Israel’s “blatant violation of civil rights and blatant violation of international law,” said one commenter, Leila, who did not give her last name.
Josh Furman, who works at Hillel at the University of Washington, talked about his work at LGBT centers in Israel, and “the ability of a country to hold multiple truths.”
“You risk negating that,” Furman said.
Enacting such a boycott “isn’t fair and isn’t representative of what human rights is,” he added.
Jessi, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace who didn’t want her last name used, acknowledged in response to others’ comments about singling out Israel, that for her Israel was her issue, and other parties could bring up other countries. But as a Jew, Jessi said, she needs to hold Israel accountable for its actions.
“The Israeli government is kind of speaking for us in some terms,” she said.
Co-op member Eric Hecht said removing products from the shelves of the store for political reasons should not be under the purview of the board.
“We value community empowerment,” he said. “Let each of us make that call and decide how we empower our own community.”
Hecht suggested highlighting both Israeli and Palestinian products, and expand that idea to different countries or areas as well. But committee member Erin Wade, who is also active with the Palestine Solidarity Committee, said there isn’t an even playing field.
“Because of the occupation,” Wade said, “Palestine is not allowed to export.”
The Palestinian Authority exports hundreds of millions of dollars per year in goods, and has trade agreements with the U.S. and Europe, though there is documentation of difficulty in exportation because of border issues with Israel. One company, Agrexco, Israel’s largest produce exporter, does export fruits and vegetables from Gaza under its Coral brand.
It will be another month before the committee takes up the issue again, and, once a process is approved for dealing with boycotts, several more months for public comment before the co-op board discusses the issue. Sometimes democracy is slow, said Caple Melton, who runs the co-op’s marketing and educational outreach, and that’s okay with them. But the market’s employees are excited about the community involvement and the number of people who have engaged with the co-op to talk about this issue.
“It was an emotional, challenging conversation,” she said, “but I feel like it was really great to see all those owners, who are peer owners, looking at one another, saying, ‘This is our store.’”