Economic Situation and
the Role of Craft Groups in Palestine
Sunbula works with organizations that strive for economic
self-help through craft production. Since the Intifada
(popular uprising) broke out in the fall of 2000, the
economic role of these craft producers, most of whom are
women, has become crucial. Many women have become a main
breadwinner of the family, as their husbands lost jobs
inside Israel or Palestinian cities due to the hermetic
closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Over the last several years, it has become an enormous
challenge for these craft producers to carry out their
day-to-day work. Due to the curfew and closure of
communities, village women are often unable to bring
finished pieces of embroidery to their cooperative to
receive wages. The craft organizations are having
difficulties obtaining fabric and threads, prevented by
hundreds of army checkpoints and road blocks that are placed
across the West Bank. Traveling in and out of Gaza Strip has
become virtually impossible, as the Erez Crossing, the
Strip’s only gateway to outside world, has been closed to
most people.
When Sunbula’s marketing effort for their crafts is needed
more than ever, our work has been affected negatively by
this intensification of the Israeli occupation. Face-to-face
contact between Sunbula and the producers has become
impossible, as Palestinian communities have turned into
isolated cantons, separated by the continuous expansion of
Jewish settlements and road systems that connect them. In
order to receive products from and to send payments back to
the producers, Sunbula has been relying on the help of
people from aid agencies and diplomatic community, whose
immunity enables them to travel across the army checkpoints.
Today, with the rapid construction of the Separation Wall,
Palestinian communities are threatened with further physical
isolation and economic stagnation. The role of the craft
groups, as well as Sunbula, will become even more vital to
meet the needs of hundreds families to afford food,
clothing, education, and medical care.
Economic Empowerment
A boy picks up a package of work order - fabric, threads, and instruction - at Surif Women's Cooperative in the village of Surif, the West Bank. His mother, while running her household, would do the embroidery work at home in exchange of wages.
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Working with the Marginalized
Members of the Oasis Workshop, dedicated to provide a work opportunity to adults with mental disability in Bethlehem area, recycle the milk cartons to produce greeting cards.
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Preserving the Cultural Heritage
Artisans at Atfaluna Crafts in Gaza City have successful revived the once-dying art of Majdalawi fabric weaving.
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About Fair Trade
What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is a global network of producers,
traders, marketers, advocates and consumers focused on
building equitable trading relationships between consumers
in the developed countries and producers in the world’s most
economically disadvantaged places, such as cooperatives,
women’s groups, farmers and artisans. While providing
development opportunities in the Global South, Fair Trade
works to raise awareness among consumers in the Global North
about the realities of the producers, and to encourage them
to use their purchasing power positively. (Source: Fair
Trade Federation)
As a member of IFAT (International
Fair Trade Association), Sunbula is committed to
upholding Fair Trade values: creating opportunities for
disadvantaged producers, sustaining fair working conditions
and wages, empowering women, and preserving traditional
crafts and artisan skills.
Why Fair Trade?
In today’s world economy, where profits rule and small-scale
producers are left out of bargaining process, farmers, craft
producers and other workers are often left without hope for
their future. Fair Trade helps exploited producers escape
from this condition as a way to maintain their traditional
lifestyles with dignity. (Source: Global Exchange)
Sunbula strives to provide Palestinian craft producers a
direct access to consumers in the Global North by marketing
their products through our Online Craft Market and at Sunbula Craft Shop
in Jerusalem.
What are Fair Trade products?
Fair Trade encompasses a range of goods, from agricultural
products such as coffee, chocolate, tea and bananas, to
handicrafts such as clothing, household items and arts. They
are produced and distributed by producer groups, wholesalers
and retailers who uphold the Fair Trade principles.
Agricultural products that fulfill strict Fair Trade
criterion can be identified by the “Fair Trade Certified”
label, approved by the international Fair Trade labeling
organizations such as TransFair
and Fair Trade Labeling
Organization.
Learn more about Fair Trade
Fair Trade Organizations
Equal Exchange
Fair Trade Federation
Fair Trade Foundation
Fair Trade Resource Network
International Fair Trade Association
People Tree Japan
People Tree UK
SERRV International
Transfair USA
Organizations with a Fair Trade Campaign
Christian Aid
Global Exchange
Oxfam
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Online
Craft Market
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