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Metro

Boycott Fails

Food co-op members reject ban of Israeli products.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer

Ann Arbor

A

fter a month-long polling
period — culminating nearly
eight months of discussion and
petitioning — members of People's Food
Co-op in Ann Arbor voted against a pro-
posed boycott of Israeli goods.
The referendum was initiated by a co-
op member, then a member of the group
Boycott Israeli Goods (BIG).
In addition to boycotting all Israeli
goods, the referendum also asked that the
co-op "purchase no goods made, grown
or originated in Israel or in Israeli settle-
ments on the occupied West Bank!'
The co-op carries fewer than a dozen
Israeli-produced items, which co-op
president Linda Diane Feldt said is merely
"one-tenth of 1 percent of sales — less
than $5,000 per year."
Among the 6,000 members of the co-
op, 1,128 valid votes were cast, with 262
members voting in favor of the boycott
and 866 opposed.

Feldt noted a high voter turnout as well
as daily phone calls and activity in front of
the store from people on both sides hold-
ing up signs and passing out fliers.
"Some of the non-BIG protesters [anti-
Israel] have persisted in using swastikas in
their written fliers and sign boards;' Feldt
said.
"They have continued even now that the
voting has ended. The Web site they refer
to also uses swastikas and profanities in
describing Israel."
Among reactions to the referendum
was a statement issued by the Zionist
Organization of America urging co-op
members to vote against the proposal
and to drop their membership if it were
adopted.
Still, Jeffrey Appel is surprised more
Jewish organizations and the news media
have not reacted to the issue.
Appel, an attorney who lives in
Huntington Woods, is not a co-op mem-
ber, but often shops there with his wife,
Michelle, when visiting their son Gabe, a
University of Michigan sophomore.
"A few weeks ago, I was stunned when I
was at the co-op to see an announcement

of an election to decide whether to boycott
Israel for their alleged mistreatment of the
Palestinians:' he said.
"To allow a Palestinian extremist
group to pursue their agenda through an
attempted boycott of products from Israel
seems like something that should be faced
head-on and not ignored.
"I don't believe the Ann Arbor Food Co-
op is anti-Semitic:' he said.
"I think they are naive and hypocritical,
and I pointed this out in an e-mail to their
board of directors. No other country had
ever been targeted for possible boycott by
the co-op."
Appel believes "there clearly was a
strong political agenda in allowing this
vote."
But Feldt disagrees.
"The co-op does not have a political
agenda, and specifically has no position at
all about the Middle East:' she said.
"However, our membership represents a
wide cross-section of views and ideas and
opinions. And in a co-op, which operates
as a democratically controlled organiza-
tion, even a minority membership view-
point has a chance to be considered.

"I feel it is important to recognize that
this was a specific proposal that was voted
down, and not take too broad an inter-
pretation of what that might mean:' Feldt
said.
The co-op has a process to allow mem-
bers to bring issues to a vote after gather-
ing petition signatures.
"The co-op is the members:' Feldt said.
"So people signing wanted this to be voted
on. In the end, there were less people vot-
ing dyes' than who had originally signed
the petitions.
"The members have spoken, and that is
the most important outcome.
"It is clear this was an important issue
to many, and they didn't like this specific
boycott.
"I think the real issues and the opportu-
nity for education on this topic was really
harmed by the extremists with swastikas
and who would accept no other answer
than this boycott:' she said.
"There seems to be some interest in
carrying products that support the peace
efforts — joint Palestinian-Israeli prod-
ucts, for example — but that will be up to
the buyers and general manage II

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