SHOPPING: New Friends, Old Friends

When a new store opens here in Israel, everyone goes wild. Remember the day that H&M opened its doors at Malcha Mall? http://voices-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/03/h-opens-in-jerusalem.html The lines reached from one end of the Mall to the other. And everyone was sucking on way-cool H&M lollipops.

Well, there's been equal or even greater excitement about the opening of the new Rami Levi store at the Gush Etzion Juncion. It started with the news that Arabs were being forbidden by the Palestinian Authority to shop at Rami Levi. It continued when Arab employees of Rami Levi and other Jewish-owned businesses expressed their fear that they might be fired as a backlash to the edict against Arab working/shopping at Rami Levi.

Boy, Rami Levi should write the Palestinian Authority or at least its Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for all the publicity that has made folks wonder, "What on earth is going on in Rami Levi? I've got to get there."

Well, it seems that just about everyone, except maybe me, has been shopping in Rami Levi since it opened a few days ago. No problemo. I understand the need for growing families to save money on their groceries. And I understand that it's fun to try something new.

Usually these new stores see excited shoppers at their launch, and then shopping habits calm down, and things more or less even out as they did before.

Rami Levi's affect on the supermarkets in Efrat or other neighborhoods in Gush Etzion might be immediately damaging, but as folks decide whether or not they like the staff of Rami Levi, if their service is sufficient, and how they feel about shopping in a mixed environment, many will ultimately return to their Efrat/Gush Etzion shopping places.

Secondary Shopping

But what I'd really like to talk about is the secondary shopping - not the supermarkets, but all the stores in the Teeina and Dekel shopping centers, in Alon Shvut's old and new neighborhoods, as well as Neve Daniel, etc., that benefit from a shopper's trip to the supermarket. These stores were empty today. The shopping centers were ghost towns. The parking lots were empty and the stores we love with the shopkeepers we have known for many years stood silent. As they say in Willy Wonka, "No one goes in, and no one goes out."

No matter what shoppers ultimately decide in regard to shopping at Rami Levi, they should do their best to pop in to the local stationery, clothing, lingerie, book stores, and even the local supermarkets.

The loss of one store, due to lack of sales, could cause a domino affect. What's really better for your town, a bustling shopping center, or an empty one with "For Rent" written on the front windows of stores that couldn't hold out?

Our local stores have serviced us in good times and bad throughout the years. Now is the time for us to show our gratitude for their years of service. Shop wherever you like, but also for the sake of our towns, SHOP LOCALLY.

Hungry for Co-Existence

This morning's Jpost mentioned that the PA warned Arabs NOT to shop in Rami Levi supermarket chain anymore. "We know who you are!!" they threatened.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=174959
The truth is that many Arabs shop in Rami Levi, more than in any other supermarket.
The PA wants Arabs to shop in their own stores, regardless of the conditions or the prices or the products. I myself am very conflicted about this issue, but I really can see many different sides to this complex supermarket situation.
** The PA wants Arabs to separate themselves from Jews and a Jewish way of life, a Jewish economy, Jewish manners, Jewish clothes, Jewish attitudes. Of course, they want to build an Arab society without Jewish (read: enemy) influences. Whereas the PA goal is concerned, I find this very commendable. Forget the price, the pleasant shopping atmosphere, the clean beautiful store, the abundance of products. The PA wants Arabs to get used to buying in Arab stores, speaking only Arabic, reading Arabic labels, making do with Arabic products. No Telma cornflakes, no Osem cakes, no Sabra Humous, just Arab products, like Al Hasami. The PA wants Arabs to get acclimated to an Arab atmosphere and stop thinking Jewish. (Funny, the United Arab Emirates is encouraging foodmakers from around the world to sell their produce in the UAE and the Palestinian Authority is trying to close their market doors to non-Islamic products.)
A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog that also mentioned the new Arabic signs that have been popping up in Eastern Gush Etzion. Israeli signs have Arabic, Hebrew and English on them. The new Eastern Gush Etzion signs have only Arabic on them. Nothing else.
That's the way the PA wants it. They are working very deliberately to create the fact of Palestine, even if they don't have an official state yet.
And in Palestine, there are no Jewish products, no Jewish foods, no Jewish papers, and no Jews!! Complete separation - physically and psychologically too.
Jews are not allowed on Arab roads or in Arab areas. The PA is physically Judenrein and the PA would like to make sure that the PA is free of our Jewish/Israeli emotional/spiritual/etc. influences as well.
** Israel on the other hand goes out of its way to make its Arab citizens and Arabs from Judea and Samaria comfortable. Every office has the option to listen to a message in Arabic. Every sign includes Arabic. Many officials (police, doctors, administrators of all kinds) speak at least rudimentary Arabic. Israel wants to be a welcoming place to Jews and people of all religions and nationalities. Utopianly moving, but in reality, it doesn't quite work. Yet Israel keeps trying.
** The PA wants to declare itself the 23rd Arab country.
** Israel is embarrassed to declare itself the 1st Jewish one.
Shopping with Arabs
I am not a frequent Rami Levi shopper, but I've shopped in Shaar Binyamin when I've got to stop at the supermarket with my Bet El kids. And Gush Etzion is about to open its doors to its own Rami Levi. In Rami Levi, as in many other larger supermarkets, Arabs and Jews shop side by side. There's no fighting. No name calling. No dirty looks. Just shopping.
Shopping carts bump, excuse me, shy smile, we walk on. An Arab mother checks the price of tuna, so do I. Her kids drive her crazy for candy, and mine do the same to me. We both chuckle and go our separate ways down the next aisle.
It's a kind of coexistence that Israelis might be happy is present in some small part of Israeli life today, but its the kind of coexistence that the PA is adamant to stop. Israelis might see this situation as hope for the future, but the PA sees the opposite.
To the PA, know your enemy, means: understand his national habits and find out all the security info that you can. It doesn't mean: know his name, if his kids like Karlo chocolate pudding or Dani, and what he feels about the world economic crisis and the local prices at Rami Levi.
The PA knows that if its Arabs feel any kind of relationship to Jews (even just a memory of an Arab and a Jewish mother smiling over their kids' chocolate covered faces in Rami Levi's Aisle 2), it could put a chink in their warriors' armor and in their hate-culture. Yes, if Arabs can't give up lox or Milkies or Knorr's BBQ sauce, it could put a crimp in their national identity.
So, the PA has outlawed Rami Levi. For their purposes, it's a great move.
Can Israel learn something from this attitude?? Let's keep our eyes on this situation, and reassess in a few weeks. Remind me.