Category: Reports - Page 393 - International Solidarity Movement

BDS victory against Ahava in UK

31 March 2011 | Anna Stevens

In a victory for the BDS movement, the UK flagship store of Ahava has been forced to relocate after years of protests and direct action. Ahava, an Israeli company which sells cosmetic products produced in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem has been a target for protesters in the UK who have sought to drive it out of London and challenge the legality of the company’s practices. In the past two and a half years protesters have blockaded the shop a number of times, preventing the store from trading. Ahava have so far been unsuccessful in securing any convictions for these actions in court. Under UK law, the crime of aggravated trespass is committed if one disrupts or obstructs a lawful activity on someone else’s property. However activists have argued that Ahava’s business is not lawful as it operates out of an illegal settlement. Ahava has also been under scrutiny for labelling its products as ‘made in Israel’ misleading customers and violating domestic consumer law. They have also been accused of evading tax by mislabelling their products.

Every fortnight the UK flagship store in Covent Garden, London is the site of a protest which regularly draws in large numbers of BDS and Palestine supporters. According to The Jewish Chronicle online these protests have resulted in complaints being made against the company by the neighbouring businesses which have led to a decision not to renew their lease when it expires. The protests have also seemingly effected Ahava UK’s profits, with their accounts up until the end of 2009 showing a total loss of more than £250,000, despite receiving more than £300,000 from its Israeli parent company, with no repayment plan.

Launch of new BDSmovement.net website as part of Global BDS Day of Action

31 March 2011 | Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

In celebration of the Global BDS Day of Action, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) has launched a new www.BDSmovement.net website.

Designed specifically with the grassroots, bottom-up nature of our rapidly growing movement in mind, the website will showcase user-submitted articles and videos from BDS groups around the globe.

We’re also excited about our new Download section, which has launched with over 100 fantastic resources that can be filtered according to campaign and type. The site is fully integrated with the latest social media tools, and we encourage you to join our Facebook group, follow us on Twitter, and sign up for our newsletter.

As with any new web project, the site will continue to expand and grow in the weeks and months ahead. We’d like to develop the new Learn section in the next couple of weeks, before moving on to implement a BDS Timeline feature that will track and archive the developments of our movement.

The website will only be a success with your active participation. We encourage you to submit your BDS news, videos, pictures, and victories to our site to help us keep it up to date.

As we continue to develop our movement for freedom, justice and equality, we hope the site will be an effective tool for all those with an interest in Palestinian rights, and a central resource for BDS activists worldwide.

Palestinians commemorate Land Day

30 March 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Today Palestinians in Israel, West Bank and Gaza commemorated Land Day with demonstrations and strikes. The 30th March marks the date when in 1976 the Israeli government announced plans to expropriate thousands of dunums of land for ‘security and settlement purposes’, sparking strikes and marches in Arab towns from the Galilee to the Naqab desert. The ensuing confrontations with the Israeli army resulted in the deaths of six Arab citizens and over 100 wounded. Protesters in the West Bank called for an end to land confiscations and illegal settlement expansion with many also calling for unity between political parties. Demonstrations in Gaza focused on demanding an end to the siege

Today the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics also issued a report which states that the number of housing units built in illegal Israeli settlements increased four-fold from 2009 to 2010. The report also notes that Palestinians constitute almost half of the population of historic Palestine but utilise under 15% of the land area.

Ban Ki-moon: “The occupation that started in 1967 is morally and politically unsustainable”

30 March 2011 | Palestine News Network

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a halt to Israel’s settlement building in the Palestinian territories, an end to all expressions of violence and the punishment of those perpetrating it, adding that Israel’s occupation is morally and politically unsustainable.

“Time is of the essence in realizing the two-state solution,” Ki-moon told Latin American and Caribbean delegates at a meeting in support of Israeli-Palestinian peace. “The occupation that started in 1967 is morally and politically unsustainable, and must end. The Palestinians have a legitimate right to the establishment of an independent and viable State of their own.”

The message was delivered in Montevideo, Uruguay by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco.

On the issue of realizing a Palestinian state in September, as agreed on by the internationally endorsed Road Map plan for a two-state solution, Ban said:

“The target dates for reaching an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on permanent status issues and completing the Palestinian Authority’s two-year State-building programme are fast-approaching. Yet, the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations remain at a worrying standstill. We must intensify efforts to break the deadlock.”

Palestinian – Israeli talks were jump-started by the US last September. However, two weeks later the talks stopped when Israeli refused to freeze construction in West Bank settlements, a demand set forth by the Palestinians as well as the White House.

Secretary Ban appealed to the international donors to help building viable State and praised the efforts of the Palestinian Authrity, led by President Mahmoud Abbas for its work in achieving that goal. He also acknowledged the Palestinian security forces’ efforts to maintain security in areas under their control in the West Bank and called on Israel to take further steps to improve economic and security conditions by reducing obstacles to movement, halting military operations, and enabling the PA to control more West Bank areas.

As for Israel’s five year long siege of the Gaza Strip, Ki-moon said Israel must further ease its blockade of the costal enclave. The Secretary-General also condemned the home-made shells fired from Gaza at Israeli targets near the Strip as well as the killing and wounding of Gaza civilians, including children, in Israeli airstrikes.

“Israel has the right to live in peace and security within internationally recognized and secure borders,” he said. “A way must be found for Jerusalem to emerge as a capital of two States, Israel and Palestine, with arrangements for holy sites acceptable for all. And there must be a just and agreed solution to the prolonged plight of the Palestinian refugees.”

The two-day meeting will focus on issues linked to encouraging support from Latin American and Caribbean States for restarting the Israeli-Palestinian political process, including the impact of settlement expansion, the question of Jerusalem, building trust, and diplomatic recognition of Palestinian statehood by governments of the region, including Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

“The Committee welcomes such timely gestures and hopes that other regions will follow soon, thereby helping the Palestinian people carry through with their independence and sovereignty,” Committee Chairman Abdou Salam Diallo told the meeting.

Tractors confiscated in Al Jiftlik, Jordan Valley

29 March 2011 | Lydia

At approximately 7 am this morning the Israeli army entered the village of Al Jiftlik. Soldiers went door to door ordering all tractor owners to bring their farming vehicles to the closed military zone between Miswa settlement and a nearby Israeli army base, where they had set up a temporary base.

The Palestinian farmers and their tractors were forcibly escorted to the temporary military base in the closed military zone. There they were kept under the surveillance of Israeli soldiers, police, and a private military company. Approximately forty tractor owners were questioned, and their ID’s and vehicle ownership were checked. They were made to stand next to their tractors, after which soldiers photographed and filmed the men with their vehicles. All people were informed that their tractors would be confiscated if they proved unable to provide proof of ownership.

The forty farmers had to wait in the sun for up to 7 hours to find out the army’s decision on what would happen to their farming vehicles. At 3 pm four owners were ordered to drive their tractors into the military camp (next to Al Jiftlik), escorted by military police and police vehicles. When one of the farmers refused to do so he was arrested, but released several minutes later on the condition that he would drive his tractor to the camp anyway, which he did. The four tractors were confiscated and kept inside the military camp after the farmers brought them there.

Faris, one of the farmers who had to bring his tractor into the military camp, said his tractor cost him 40.000NIS; “All the money I collected from farming, I put into the tractor.” He also indicated that he will be unable to continue farming his land without having a tractor.