Tag: Global Actions - Page 25 - International Solidarity Movement

Boycott of Ahava Dead Sea products makes an impact

Adri Nieuwhof | The Electronic Intifada

2 December 2009

Bathrobe brigades in Amsterdam informing people about the dirty secrets of Ahava beauty products in front of a store that sells the product. (Cris Toala Olivares)

The international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products has recently won the support of a Dutch parliamentarian and an Israeli peace group. During the past few months, activists in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Israel, the United States and the Netherlands have campaigned against the sale of Ahava products because of the company’s complicity in the Israeli occupation.

The Stolen Beauty campaign has included protest actions by “bikini brigades” around the United States organized by the American peace group CODEPINK, and allied actions have taken place in London, Paris, Vienna, Montreal and Amsterdam. The Dutch “bathrobe brigades” that appeared in shopping centers in Amsterdam and Haarlem, not only caught the eye of the press, but also that of Dutch parliamentarian Harry van Bommel.

Ahava manufactures its cosmetics in a factory in the illegal Mitzpe Shalem settlement in the occupied West Bank. However, Ahava labels its skin care products imported into the EU as originating from “The Dead Sea, Israel.” Van Bommel, concerned about this misleading labeling, asked Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen to investigate the origin of Ahava cosmetics, and Verhagen agreed.

The settlements Mitzpe Shalem and Kalia, located deep within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, own 44 percent of the shares of the company. Before the June 1967 war, Palestinians lived on some of the lands that are now part of the two settlements; there were Palestinian communities in Nabi Musa where Kalia is now located and in Arab al-Taamira next to Mitzpe Shalem.

According to the Israeli group Who Profits From the Occupation? (www.whoprofits.org), the mud used in Ahava products is taken from a site on the shores of the Dead Sea inside the occupied territory, next to Kalia. Ahava uses Palestinian natural resources without the permission of or compensation to the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israel denies Palestinians access to the shores of the Dead Sea and its resources, although one-third of the western shore of the Dead Sea lies in the occupied West Bank.

This week Palestinian tourism minister Khouloud Daibes voiced her disagreement with Ahava’s practices in the West Bank. In protest of Israel’s aspirations to nominate the Dead Sea for the Seven Natural Wonders of the World competition, Daibes wrote her Israeli counterpart a letter to express her objection to “promoting the Dead Sea in the competition, alongside products like Ahava, which are produced illegally in the Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian lands.”

Recently, the international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products received support from the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, which sent an open letter on 17 November to Ahava’s management, urging the company to move its operations out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Gush Shalom stated: “Your decision to locate in Occupied Territory and make use of natural resources which do not belong to Israel was a mistaken gamble which already harmed your interests and might harm them even much further. Sooner or later you will have to get out of this damaging and illegal location — and the sooner, the better.”

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, parliamentarian Van Bommel told The Electronic Intifada he welcomes the international Ahava campaign. “It might appear a minor issue, but it is important as an example of [Israel] economically hampering the realization of a Palestinian state.” He added that he would welcome initiatives in other EU countries to raise the issue in their parliaments. “Subsequently, the pressure on Israel will increase and more importantly, we can engage the public in the debate.”

Adri Nieuwhof is an independent consultant based in Switzerland.

Plea to boycott firms with Israel link

Abbas Al Lawati | Gulf News

17 November 2009

Group urges GCC states to shun Alstom and Veolia involved in Occupied Jerusalem projects

Dubai: A pressure campaign targeted at Gulf states was launched in Occupied Jerusalem on Monday by a coalition of 170 Palestinian organisations urging Arab states to boycott companies complicit in Israel’s expansion in the holy city.

In a rare public pressure campaign, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Palestine, a grouping of Palestinian civil society organisations, has turned its focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is preparing to build a multi-billion dollar railway to link its six members.

The BDS campaign has called on the GCC and its member states to shun French transport giants Alstom and Veolia, both of which are involved in the construction of the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR), an Israeli project that is expected to link the eastern and western parts of Occupied Jerusalem as well as Jewish colonies on the West Bank.

Critics say the JLR will hinder Palestinian aspirations to have occupied East Jerusalem as a capital of a future Palestinian state.

Unaware

The BDS campaign has proven successful in Europe, where companies have excluded the two transport companies from tenders and divested from them, leading to a loss of $7 billion (Dh25.69 billion) to $8 billion in opportunity cost, according to campaigners.

“Despite these important achievements in the West, no Arab state, especially in the Gulf, has to date excluded Alstom or Veolia from bidding for their public contracts,” read a press release issued by the movement yesterday.

The two companies are now facing a lawsuit in France filed by Palestine Liberation Organisation and French advocacy group Association France-Palestine Solidarité for their activities in Occupied Jerusalem.

Diplomacy

Alstom has expressed enthusiasm about participating in forthcoming Gulf rail projects, estimated to be worth $25 billion.

“We are certainly going to be participating in all tenders in the GCC for transport and power,” said Sylvan Hijazi, country president for Alstom Gulf. “We are proud to contribute and build the future of the Gulf.”

Activists are hoping that Gulf states could use their financial prowess to pressure the two companies to abandon the JLR, thus crippling the already troubled project.

The BDS movement has resorted to a public campaign targeted at Gulf states after apparently failing at a behind-the-scenes pressure campaign with the region’s governments.

Jamal Jum’a of the Stop the Wall, part of the BDS movement, said that the BDS movement sent a number of letters to Gulf governments asking them to withhold contracts from the two French companies which were “met with silence”.

Jum’a however insisted that the public campaign was not an attempt to shame Gulf states or “prove any kind of Arab conspiracy against [occupied] Jerusalem”.

“There’s a strong possibility that Gulf states are unaware of the work Alstom and Veolia are doing in occupied Jerusalem. It is unacceptable that Arab states don’t take a stand on this.”

Alain Gresh, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique in Paris, said that the political climate was right for Gulf states to apply pressure on Israel.

“It is the right moment to show clearly to Israel that the continuation of the occupation policy has a price, and not only a political price but even an economic price,” he said.

“I can’t say if the Gulf states will do it. The political climate is right especially after the Gaza [war] and the Goldstone report. Public opinion in Europe is that we can’t let the [status quo] continue. If the [Gulf states] take a strong position now it will have an effect not only on Israel but also on Western positions on Israel.”

He said however that Israel being a “legal entity” meant that European companies could not legally apply a blanket boycott on the state, but the two companies could legitimately withdraw based on the argument that the project is being built on occupied territory. “This can be defended in any court,” he said.

Were the companies to withdraw, he added, they would likely attribute the decision publicly to reasons other than occupation, “but everybody will understand”.

Gulf News did not receive a response from Veolia by the time of going to print.

Baseball team urged to cut ties with Israeli group

Eli Clifton | IPS News

14 November 2009

A coalition of 11 U.S., Israeli and Palestinian groups are calling on the New York Mets baseball team to cancel a fundraiser by the “violent and racist” Israeli Hebron Fund which is scheduled to be held at the Mets’ stadium, Citi Field, on Nov. 21.

The Hebron Fund participates in “the raising of capital for the improvement of daily life for the residents of Hebron, Israel”, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to its website, but the Fund has been accused of encouraging violence towards Palestinians and participating in illegal settlement expansion.

The coalition urges the Mets to reconsider their decision to rent space at the Casesar’s Club, an event space in Citi Field, on the basis that, “The New York Mets will be facilitating activities that directly violate international law and the [Barack] Obama administration’s call for a freeze in settlement construction, and that actively promote racial discrimination, and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes in Hebron.”

“By allowing the Hebron Fund to fundraise on its premises, the New York Mets will be directly aiding Hebron’s Jewish settlers, who are regularly described, both worldwide and among Israelis, as violent racists,” said a letter from Adalah-NY, on behalf of the coalition.

It was addressed to Fred Wilpon, chair of the board of the New York Mets and copied to Bud Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball; U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Special Envoy for the Middle East George Mitchell; and Rachel Robinson, chair of the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

Adalah-NY has also been involved in the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanction” campaign to bring indirect pressure on Israel to work towards a viable Palestinian state.

“[The Mets] can do the right thing very easily. I’m not blaming them for where they are now,” Sydney Levy, director of campaigns and chapters at Jewish Voice For Peace, one of the members of the coalition, told IPS. “[The Mets’] situation is totally reversible but this is not an issue which is going to die quietly.”

“Citi Field hosts a wide range of events that reflect the diversity of our hometown and the differing views and opinions of New Yorkers. The beliefs of organizations holding events at Citi Field do not necessarily reflect those of the New York Mets,” the Mets said in a prepared statement.

The occupation of Hebron has been an ongoing source of concern for human rights groups as the Israeli military has taken increasingly aggressive actions to secure the 700 Jewish settlers living among 150,000 Palestinians.

The U.S. State Department called for a freeze in settlement expansion but has recently made clear that it should not be a precondition for a resumption of peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Statements made by Hebron Fund Executive Director Yossi Baumol suggest the group supports the expansion of settlements even in areas where the Israeli government has evacuated settlers in accordance with international law.

In a December radio interview, Baumol said, “In the end we will come back to this building,” in reaction to the Israeli army’s evacuation of settlers from the Hebron settlement of Beit Hashalom.

Shortly after the evacuation, settlers went on a violent rampage in Hebron, leading to the shooting of three Palestinians and damaging and burning Palestinian property.

“As a Jew, I was ashamed at the scenes of Jews opening fire at innocent Arabs in Hebron. There is no other definition than the term ‘pogrom’ [a riot organised against a specific group] to describe what I have seen,” said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after the violence erupted.

And in 2006 the Hebron Fund and the Jewish Community of Hebron called for the reestablishment of a settlement in the centrally located Palestinian market in Hebron from which the Israeli army had previously removed settlers.

“Help us move families back into the Shuk [market] and into other new areas!” said the Hebron Fund in a report.”

“Please redouble your support of the Hebron Fund at this crucial time so you can be a partner in…The purchase and renovation of ancient Jewish homes, Construction of new housing,” the report went on to say.

“The Hebron Fund should not be eligible for tax-exempt status in the U.S. because it is not organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes, but rather promotes the anti-charitable values of violence, racism, and opposition to human rights. The settlement activity that the Hebron Fund supports is racially exclusive, discriminatory, contrary to United States policy and contrary to international law,” read the letter from the coalition calling for the Mets to cancel the event at Citi Field.

The letter goes on to document numerous other cases of settlement expansion, settler violence and Israeli military violence and closures in the center of Hebron which have lead to the closure of 76.6-percent of businesses and 41.9-percent of homes to go vacant.

“There are certain red lines that have to do with racism and sponsoring violence that you do not cross,” said Levy.

“The Hebron fund is there to support Jewish only settlements in Hebron. When you sponsor organisations that are involved in these sorts of activities you have to question what’s going on. At the end of the day this is a matter of people being aware of what’s happening there and what’s our responsibility is here,” Levy concluded.

The campaign also emphasises that, “Allowing the Hebron Fund to fundraise at Citi Field contradicts New York Mets and Major League Baseball’s commitment to equal opportunity and non-discrimination, and is an insult to the legacy of Jackie Robinson.”

Jackie Robinson was the first African American Major League Baseball player and is honored at the Mets’ Citi Field stadium in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda.

The coalition of groups calling for the Mets to cancel the Hebron Fund event includes: Adalah-NY, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Brooklyn For Peace, Coalition of Women for Peace (Israel), CODEPINK Women for Peace, Gush Shalom (Israel), Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jews Say No!, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (Palestine), U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and the WESPAC Foundation.

British activists blockade Carmel Agrexco

Indymedia UK

6 November 2009

Activists blockade in solidarity with Palestine

At about 6 o’clock this morning a group of London students and international activists, including members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), blocked the two gates leading to the depot. The activists seek to raise awareness of the UK’s continued role in the purchase of goods produced in Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank as well as Carmel Agrexco’s role in the sustenance of Israel’s illegal expansionist activities in Palestine.

The blockaders have urged companies dependent on Carmel Agrexco’s supplies, and therefore inconvenienced by this and previous blockades, to seek out new suppliers and, in so doing, show that Carmel Agrexco’s continued support for Israel’s aggression in Palestine will not be allowed to continue.

At 12.30 the blockade was still going strong, with both gates completely blocked, preventing vehicles from entering or leaving the premises.

Police have told protestors that they might be ‘obstructing the highway’ or committing trespass. When asked if they meant aggravated trespass, the police said no. This means that the offence would be civil, rather than criminal. At the original Agrexco trial in 2006, evidence established that there was no public highway at the positions where the blockades have been set up.

Campaigners maintain that Agrexco’s trade in settlement produce is not lawful activity. Gaza continues to be subject to an inhumane blockade.

The blockade finally ended having started at 6.15am it went on till 2:30pm for a total of 8 hours.

Part way through the demonstration, Carmel workers managed to find a space through which they could manoeuvre forklift trucks, they managed to load one waiting lorry with goods, despite activists attempting to blockade this by standing in front of them and Carmel workers being very keen to ram those present. Acknowledging this option, the blockaders managed a feat of ingenuity and re-positioned the fencing to blockade the whole of the access gate these preventing any further efforts by the workers to get produce through to waiting vehicles.

In response to the shift in positioning, Carmel closed the external gates trapping both blockaders and supporters inside Carmel property. Supporters were finally let out, however the blockaders were trapped inside. Despite the calmness in those present for all of the morning, Agrexco workers became aggressive both physically and verbally with both those blockading and those supporting. Police present did little to stem the aggression with Agrexco workers attempting to intimidate the blockaders and continued to verbally threaten supporters claiming they were going to “Fuck you over”.

Pressure was mounting in a situation where activists were put at considerable risk of harm whereby those blockading were trapped inside the Agrexco gates and supporters were not able to directly access them.

After some time of tense standoff, blockaders were finally released at 2:30pm.
The blockade was a success with the site being closed for over eight hours. The police made no arrests however made several warnings that all those present would be arrested under Section 14 of the Public Order Act based upon the claim that the police officer believed that those present were intimidating people by preventing Carmel employees from conducting their business.

California residents disrupt Olmert

Indy Bay

22 October 2009

Twenty-two activists were arrested at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s speech to the World Affairs Council tonight between 6:30 and 7:30pm at the Westin St. Francis Hotel (Union Square). Inside the auditorium, activists began disrupting the event by placing Olmert under citizens arrest. Every couple of minutes, more activists disrupted his speech, barely allowing him to speak, by reading the names of the children killed in Gaza last winter, reading from the recently published Goldstone Report, and displaying banners that read “Lift the Siege on Gaza” and “War Crimes are Not Free Expression!” Activists were removed from the auditorium chanting “War Criminal!” and taken to the Tenderloin Police Station where they are being held for citation. Ten additional people participated in the action but were not arrested.

Olmert ordered Israel’s brutal attacks on Gaza beginning in late December 2008, codenamed Operation Cast Lead. Last week, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution endorsing the Goldstone Report, an independent investigation into the Gaza operation, which found that Israel violated international law and possibly committed crimes against humanity.

“Israel is an apartheid state guilty of war crimes and its leaders should not be welcome in San Francisco,” said Lisa Nessan, a Jewish resident of Oakland, who has traveled several times to Israel and Palestine, most recently in May. “For the past sixty years, under leadership like Olmert’s, Israel has denied Palestinians their basic human rights, built settlements on their lands, and killed civilians – all to force them from their homeland.”

A lively protest also gathered across from the hotel in Union Square, where about 250 people carried signs bearing the names and pictures of children killed during Operation Cast Lead. Olmert is making several appearances in the US this month, and has been met with strong protests at locations including the University of Chicago and Tulane University in New Orleans. “We join with people around the world who believe that Israel and its leaders must be held accountable for their actions. Israel killed 1400 people during its attacks on Gaza last winter alone, and many more have died or suffered from the effects of siege, occupation, and apartheid on their daily lives,” said Monadel Herzallah, a Palestinian activist who lives in Fairfield and whose 21 year old cousin was killed in Gaza in January.

Organizers also expressed outrage that President Obama has ignored the findings of the Goldstone Report. The US has pledged more than $3 billion each year in unrestricted aid to Israel. “Israel’s use of US aid and military equipment violates our own laws,” said Rae Abileah, an organizer with CODEPINK whose father is Israeli. “Why are we giving aid to a country that is destroying people’s homes and attacking civilians, while our own nation is struggling with unemployment and underfunded social services?”

Eduardo Cohen of San Francisco sums up the sentiment: “The war crimes in the Goldstone Report are not an exception, but a reminder that Israel’s apartheid law is itself criminal. We must not only hold Olmert accountable, but all of Israel’s leaders, our own elected officials, and other companies and individuals that profit from these crimes. Only then can true justice be reached.”

The protest was sponsored by: Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (BACEIA), CODEPINK Women for Peace, Friends of Deiribzi’a, Northern California International Solidarity Movement, Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), South Bay Mobilization, Stop AIPAC, CAL Students for Justice in Palestine, US Palestine Communities Network (USPCN), Bay Area Women in Black.