Hello. I am David Sokal the owner/operator of Olive Branch Enterprises, importer, bottler and distributor of Peace Oil. Just wanted to give my view on the issue of the exemption of Peace Oil from the boycott at the Olympia Food Co-op. In my view the boycott of Israeli goods wouldn’t really apply to Peace Oil in any case. 75% of the olive oil is from Canaan Fair Trade, a Palestinian owned and operated company based in Jenin Palestine and representing 1700 West Bank Palestinian farmers. Certainly then the largest portion of the oil is not an Israeli product in any way, shape or form.
As for the other 25%, half is from Green Action (http://www.fairtrade.org.il), an Israeli non-profit activist group that buys all its oil from West Bank farmers at a fair trade price. Of course it marks up the price to me as they have to get some monetary support for all the work it takes to get the oil out of the West Bank and to the US. The other Israeli group, Sindyanna of Galilee, (http://www.sindyanna.com) is also a non-profit and it buys all its olive oil from Arab farmers in Israel. Sindyanna also marks up the price in order to support its operations which consist of working to improve the lot of Palestinians living in northern Israel.
Personally, I don’t support BDS. Perhaps I’m not the sharpest businessman. If I was more jaded and opportunistic, I probably would, especially if it gets more publicity for Peace Oil as did this particular event (Olympia Food Co-op joining BDS). However, I am for the growing movement towards non-violent resistance in the form of mass protests in the West Bank. These are very risky undertakings and take a great deal of courage. We should do everything we can to support these efforts. Many Israelis are joining Palestinians marching in the West Bank despite risk of arrest, injury and death.
So how the heck can I be against BDS and for non-violent protest in the form of marches, sit-down strikes and the like in the West Bank?
The answer is in two parts: One is personal and one is strategic. I personally don’t feel comfortable boycotting Israeli products. I know and love many Israelis, family members and good friends. Some might even support BDS themselves but most wouldn’t. Some of them, like my dear Aunt Chanah, would be insulted and saddened. This is a feeling I understand completely, which leads me to the strategic answer. By far, the majority of Jewish Israelis feel anywhere from strongly uncomfortable to deeply angered by the acts of third party nations that to their view are placing the entire blame for the conflict on their shoulders and singling them out as the worst sinners in the world. This plays into very easily provoked and deep-seated fears of “anti-Semitism” that most Jews everywhere share.
While having been a victim doesn’t justify victimization of others, it should be a consideration in determining strategy. And while Naomi Klein and many other “Diaspora” Jews, as well as some Israeli Jews feel BDS is necessary and will have a positive outcome, I am not so sure. Unlike Jews, white South Africans had not recently experienced an attempt to wipe them off the face of the earth. Jews see a direct line from the holocaust to the creation of the Jewish State. Also, white South Africans didn’t have the hundreds of years of spiritual connection to South Africa that Jews have to Israel. And while white South Africans did create a unique language that enhanced their sense of ethnicity, it wasn’t an ancient tongue that was used in prayer for hundreds of years and now had been reborn as the common language of everyday life.
To sum up this psychological analysis, the one thing that will inevitably push the vast majority of Jews in Israel (and their supporters around the world) to batten the hatches, rally around the flag and talk of fighting to the death, is the sense of isolation that comes from feeling attacked. This great fear of isolation is the step-child of the holocaust in which the rest of the world basically ignored the plight of European Jewry. BDS will act in precisely the manner that many of us who seek a peaceful resolution want to avoid.
Every time Israelis and Arabs have moved closer to peace, those Arabs who sought to sabotage the effort didn’t have to do much more than launch a single successful attack on Jewish civilians and peace talks would unravel. Of course the same goes when roles are reversed and Jews have wanted to sabotage peace efforts (the current tactic of the Israeli right is to find every excuse they can to expel East Jerusalem Palestinians from their homes). Palestinians are just as beset by fears of violence and persecution. Jews are the modern day Crusaders in the Palestinian psyche and they are the contemporary Nazi in the Jewish psyche.
As such, a key part of any successful strategy of third party nations should be to provide a sense of support and understanding to these two PTSD afflicted groups. Confrontation should always be in the context of, “we support your right to exist, your desire for security, your right to self-determination … but you’ve got to curtail the settlements, or you’ve got to curtail suicide attacks.”
Why is BDS more likely to lead to a hardening of position among Jews than non-violent protest in the West Bank? BDS comes from Europe and the US for the most part and plays right into the fear of isolation spoken of above. Non-violent protest from Palestinians on the other hand, comes from the rightfully aggrieved party themselves. It shows that their belief in their cause is so strong they are willing to face death, WITHOUT TAKING THE LIFE OF A SINGLE JEW. Jews in Israel and around the world that support Palestinian statehood will have a much easier time convincing Jews in the pivotal and mercurial Political Center that Palestinians are fighting for their valid needs and longings, not to destroy the Jewish State. Hopefully this shift in the political atmosphere in Israel will give the government the impetus to act on its policy of achieving a two-state solution.
There are many ways that third party nations and their citizens can take action to end human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza while also showing their support for a two-state solution. Americans (and especially American Jews) can put pressure on American political leaders in the current administration and in Congress to focus on solving the conflict and to use all the resources available to the US to convince the parties that now is the time to create two states, side-by-side living in peace and as equals. (See J-Street.org)
There are literally hundreds of groups in Israel Palestine that are working for peace at the grass roots level. Support these groups. Some are Israeli, some Palestinian and some are joint operations. Here’s where I plug Peace Oil, http://www.peaceoil.net a joint project of Israelis and Palestinians. :-)
Of course there are many other activities to support as well. I’ve listed just a few on thelinks page on my website.
In the end, I know very well that my fears could be entirely unjustified. I know the following scenario is possible: BDS continues to spread and the Israeli government gets the message. Along with pressure and security guarantees from the US government, continuing security improvements and economic cooperation in the West Bank between Israel and the PNA, BDS plays a positive role in bringing about a meaningful, negotiated, sustainable and just two-state solution. If that’s what happens, I will be glad to say that I was wrong. If I am right, and BDS delays or derails a peaceful resolution entirely, it will have been a tragic miscalculation for all of us.