See that orange. Don’t buy that orange. It is an Israeli orange. If you are an Ireland-Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) activist, you enter the store. Oops, a crate of Israeli oranges spills on the floor. When the clerk arrives, you lecture him, aren't those Israeli oranges? Those oranges are supporting war crimes against the Palestinian people. Get them off the floor.
Or if you are with a group of IPSC activists, you would not only put those Israeli oranges in your cart, but fill your cart up with every Israeli product the store sells. Then all of you together get in the checkout lines, have your products tallied, then refuse to pay. Why? Because all those products are making Palestinians suffer from injustices. When the manager arrives, lecture him and demand that those products be removed from the shelves. The next group of IPSC workers enter and repeat the same process a day or two after, jamming up the operation of the store until all of those Israeli products disappear.
Or you may go with a group of weekend activists, carry signs and hand out literature in front of stores, exhorting customers not to buy the Israeli products they stock and why. Make a fuss. Make yourself a great big pain in the arse.
That’s the world of the Israeli boycott in Ireland.
From their website, The Ireland-Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
....was set up in late 2001 by a group of established Irish human rights and community activists, academics and journalists, who were deeply concerned with the current situation in the Occupied Territories (the height of the second Intifada). In partnership with Palestinians then living in Ireland, the IPSC was formed to provide a voice for Palestine in Ireland.
Link: http://www.ipsc.ie/...
The IPSC says it is as "an independent, non-party political organization, run by volunteers all committed to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East." Many believe that the easy way the Irish people fell upon the Palestinian cause was Ireland’s own history of long occupation by the British before it won the great struggle for independence. The ongoing North Ireland feud is even regarded as just the final piece of that struggle for self-determination.
IPSC says that its aims are to
·To raise awareness in Ireland of the international plight of the Palestinian People.
·To promote Irish government involvement in finding a just solution for the Palestinian people, based on the full and unequivocal implementation of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council resolutions regarding the right to self determination and respect for the human rights of the Palestinians.
·To develop and co-ordinate grassroots support for Palestinian rights among the media and concerned NGO's.
·To foster links between Palestinian and Irish organizations in the area of health, education and the global economy.
·To promote Palestinian culture: literature, music and other arts in Ireland, so Ireland and Palestine can share in each other's rich cultural history.
·To bring real Palestinian voices to life in the media in order to contribute to informed reporting on aspects of the current Middle East conflict and the Israeli occupation.
They organize public lectures and media appearances by visiting speakers from Palestine/Israel, organize boycott actions and pickets, lobby the Irish government, support Palestinian refugees in Ireland, and arrange exchange visits between Palestine and Ireland.
They have central and local branches all over Ireland, including a National Headquarters and local branch in Dublin, Belfast, the University and local branches in Cork, Galway, Newbridge, University and local branches in Limerick, and Sligo. Its just not a small operation or so it seems. The Irish are deep into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For people who would like to support the IPSC and participate in its product boycott, I will list companies and products sold here in the US, and just mention in passing those sold in Ireland.
The full IPSC Guide to the Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign for Palestine is here: http://www.ipsc.ie/...
The Guide lists companies and products. Products from illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank and earlier, Gaza, are listed first, but I will only repeat the reason IPSC is boycotting them. Most of the products are sold in Europe and the Middle East including Israel. Israelis can go to the list to find products from illegal settlements to avoid them if they also wish to participate.
In 1950 the Israeli Government proclaimed the Right of Return Law, which means that any Jewish person anywhere in the world may go and live in Israel and become an Israeli citizen. Thousands flocked to illegal settlements on the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, tempted by offers of tax breaks and cheap housing, or fired by fundamentalist zeal. Armed to the teeth and protected by the Israeli ‘Defense’ Force, many settlers choose to live in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and commute daily along the highways constructed specially for their use on large swathes of confiscated Palestinian land.
Israel continues to export products manufactured in the settlements to EU markets despite such actions blatantly contravening the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Such products labeled as Israeli receive preferential access to the EU. By refusing to take action therefore, EU states are actually abetting violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Settlement products are easily available for purchase in the UK.
Here are US companies that do business with Israel and are listed for boycotting. You can substitute their products in most cases. I pared down the reasons for boycotting some of them as quoted in the guide, you’ll have to read it to get the full story.
BOYCOTT THESE COMPANIES IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN THE IRELAND-PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN
AT&T: "Israeli power electronics company Bezel is a partner with AT&T and part of the Concert Organization of which BT is also a part. AT&T hosts the Israeli Defense Force website."
Avis: Use other car rental companies.
Ben and Jerry’s: "B & J buys mineral water from the Eden Springs company is located in Katzrin in the Golan Heights. Israel is notorious for its expropriation of water resources, including from the Golan Heights, at the expense of the occupied Arab population. Ben and Jerry have not answered our recent request for up-to-date information about where the water comes from for their sorbets."
Burger King: "In August 99, BK cancelled the right of Rikamor Ltd, its independent franchisee in Israel to operate a BK food court counter at ‘’Ma’aleh Adumim" in the West Bank, accusing Rikamor of misrepresentation. The franchise owner has kept the restaurant open and continues to sell trade marked BK menu items. BK is part of Diageo whose other brands include Pillsbury, Haagen Dazs, Johnnie Walker, J&B whiskies, Smirnoff, Gordon’s gin, Baileys cream liquor, and Guinness. BK has 46 outlets in Israel and about 90 in various Arab countries."
Diamonds: "The Israeli diamond industry was started in the 30s and according to the Jerusalem Post (ibid) "helped build the young state’s economy." Ramat Gan, just outside Tel Aviv, is home to the biggest diamond exchange on the globe. Israel exports 2.5 million carats of diamonds every year. The raw gems are claimed to originate in South Africa and India and are polished and set in Israel in a business, which makes up a huge one-third of Israel’s total exports. European diamond traders beef up the guest-list at Israel’s beach hotels. De Beers controls the world market in uncut diamonds and decide the international price.
African human rights groups have called for "conflict diamond" campaigners to direct some of their energy into helping diamond producing African states to establish diamond processing and cutting factories locally, which would greatly assist African economies. They are also called "blood diamonds" that benefit rebel movements in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Congo."
Israel has vowed to trade only in diamonds originating from official government sources for humanitarian reasons, but as diamonds are an Israeli product, they are boycotted.
Disney: "Israel paid 1.8 million dollars towards Disneyland displays featuring a model depicting Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." Boycott Disneyland, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and movies and entertainment produced by Disney.
Estee Lauder: "The Chairman of Estee Lauder International, Ronald Lauder, is a Zionist working with the land-grabbing Jewish National Fund, opposing the right of return for Palestinians." All Estee Lauder products are boycotted.
Intel: Intel has several research and development facilities in the US and UK and one in Israel. Guess you can buy computers fitted with AMD chips, which probably work just as well and are cheaper.
International Red Cross: "Hillary Clinton has been among prominent Americans lobbying the International Red Cross to lift its ban on Israel’s membership. Write to the IRC to express your support for the stand they have taken in resisting the pressure."
IRC, New York, 800 2nd Ave, 3rd floor, NY 10019.
International Federation secretariat in Geneva: Secretariat@ifrc.org.
I will just list the rest because the diary is getting just too long.
Johnson and Johnson
Kraft
LandRover (part of Ford Motors)
McDonalds
Nestle
Safeways
Siemens
Volkswagen
Avoid these companies like the plague.
Well, enjoy the boycotting. Thank you to David Landy for letting me grab stuff off the IPSC site.