Running to Fair Trade: A Taste of Palestine

Fair World Project Joins Together with Canaan Fair Trade and Run Across Palestine to Offer One of a Kind Fair Trade Tour of Palestine

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fair World Project (FWP), Canaan Fair Trade and Run Across Palestine (RAP) are joining together to produce the Taste of Palestine Tour from Feb. 3rd to 13th, 2012. The tour will provide a unique opportunity to learn from Palestinian farmers, workers, and their families and highlight the emerging world of fair trade in the region. In addition to experiencing the reality of Palestinian farmers and producers, tour participants will share in the richness of Palestine's cultural and religious heritage. Tour participants will visit historic sites as well as off-the-beaten-track places and experience the hospitality of the Palestinian people. The tour will also meet and accompany runners that are participating in the "Run Across Palestine" ultra-marathon event. Interested parties can register for the tour online at: www.fairworldproject.org. The registration deadline is Nov. 1, 2011.

Dana Geffner, Executive Director of Fair World Project explains, "The fair trade movement that FWP is part of shares a vision of the world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and practices, both at home and abroad so that through their work, everyone can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood. Fair Trade is more than just trading: it proves that greater justice in world trade is possible. It highlights the need for change in the rules and practice of conventional trade and shows how a successful business can also put people first."

FWP's Fair Trade Tour of Palestine will accompany portions of the Run Across Palestine (RAP) and will raise funds and awareness for the plight of Palestinian olive farmers who have been displaced from their ancestral farms due to the ongoing conflict in the region. Funds raised from the RAP will have several immediate impacts including purchasing and planting thousands of olive trees. Funds will also provide scholarships for the children of Palestinian olive farmers. All this is designed to reestablish sustainable olive growing practices in this land known for its centuries old traditions of hospitality and fine orchard crops.

According to Palestinian farmer, Haj Bashir, "Before we started our Canaan Fair Trade Coop in Sanour, I did not have a relationship with the other farmers. Today, we are like brothers. We work together, plan meetings, make collective decisions, and visit each other in weddings, funerals, and holidays. The most important thing is that now we all take care of each other's interests. Before our coop was formed, farmers in my village were only concerned about their own property. Today we really feel a spirit of camaraderie."

During the Taste of Palestine Tour, participants will visit:

• Palestinian Fair Trade Association farmers and producers, including olive, tomato and wheat
• farmers who supply Canaan Fair Trade
• Canaan Fair Trade's olive oil bottling facility in Jenin
• East Bani Zayd Organic Olive oil Co-operative
• Qasaba Market
• Cultural activities in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jenin, Ramallah and Hebron.

Fair World Project tours are coordinated by responsible local tour operators with close connections to the host communities. For more information about Fair World Project tours visit www.fairworldproject.org/index.php?c=tours or contact Ryan Zinn, Campaign Director at 800-631-9980 or [email protected].

Fair World Project is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote organic and fair trade practices and transparent third-party certification of producers, manufacturers and products, domestically and abroad. Through consumer education and advocacy, FWP supports dedicated fair trade producers and brands, and insists on integrity in use of the term "fair trade" in certification, labeling and marketing. FWP publishes a bi-annual publication entitled For a Better World and sponsors regular Fair World Tours of regions with emerging fair trade projects to highlight their role in surrounding communities. For more information, visit: www.fairworldproject.org.

Canaan Fair Trade consolidates large numbers of small landowner farmers joined in village based cooperatives and networked nationally. Through the Palestine Fair Trade Association, we've created a model of cooperation - over 1700 farm families joined together to pool their resources so small farmers can benefit from sustainable and long term advanced market opportunities such as selling to supermarket chains across Europe. We are affording an opportunity for a large number of farmers to earn a living, sustain their relationship to their land, and provide a future for their children.

For more information, visit: www.canaanfairtrade.com.

Run Across Palestine: On The Ground, the northern Michigan based nonprofit that completed the Run Across Ethiopia, is coordinating The Run Across Palestine, (RAP). The event will raise funds and awareness for the plight of Palestinian olive farmers who have been displaced from their ancestral farms due to the ongoing conflict in the region. Funds raised from the RAP will have several immediate impacts including purchasing and planting thousands of olive trees. Funds will also provide scholarships for the children of Palestinian olive farmers. All this is designed to reestablish sustainable olive growing practices in this land known for its centuries-old traditions of hospitality and fine orchard crops. For more information, visit: www.RunAcrossPalestine.org.

SOURCE Fair World Project