eBay My World: thepermatradeinitiative( 1354)

The Bethlehem Shop is a UK based supplier of high quality of crafts from Bethlehem City in Palestine. We specialise in the ethical trade of hand made items, from Olive woodcarvings and embroidery to mother of pearl and natural soaps.

Olive wood produce, including household and religious items, mother of pearl pedants, rosaries, embroidery, natural soaps.

Arabic, English, Welsh (basic)

Permaculture, Fair Trade, Food Sovereignty, Trade Justice, Ethical Trading

The Bethlehem Shop was founded by a Palestinian, Bethlehemite of Christian origin and her Welsh husband after the couple were forced to return to the UK from Bethlehem after marrying and starting a family in the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Sahour, 'the shepherds' field'.

Our items are brought to you from a grass roots artisans cooperative in Bethlehem. The Bethlehem Shop's ethical crafts trading is part of a wider campaign to promote social justice and economic survival for all people of Bethlehem City.

We strongly believe that ethical trading and political and social justice go hand in hand. All of our items are sourced directly from the carver through a new members run artisans cooperative that allows the carvers to set their own prices for their goods. This elimination of middle men is a life line to over 90 families whose items we stock on our website. The structure and practises of the Bethlehem shop go beyond the provision of a fair price; purchasing one of our items means directly assisting the world’s oldest mixed Christian-Muslim population to survive strangulation of 21st Century apartheid. “The Bethlehem Shop” is an initiative of the new PermaTrade Company and is part of a wider campaign to promote Bethlehem City’s continued survival through the alternative development mediums of Permaculture and Fair Trade. The shop is our little window to the world. Through the shop, we hope to help you know more about Bethlehem city and her people and their struggle to survive.