Food labels For Palestine & Settlements
Byrnzie
Posts: 21,037
This looks like a start. Though an outright boycott, followed by tough sanctions would be more appropriate, as was adopted in the case of Apartheid South Africa:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8407289.stm
Friday, 11 December 2009
Food labels advice change over Palestinian territories
UK unions have voted to boycott Israeli settlement goods
UK food labels are set to distinguish between goods from Palestinians in the occupied territories and produce from Israeli settlements.
Food packaging guidelines advise a change from labels usually only naming Israel or West Bank as the source.
The government said it was opposed to a boycott of Israeli goods, but that the settlements posed an obstacle to peace.
The Palestinian general delegation to the UK welcomed the move, but Israel said it was "extremely disappointed".
All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
The new guidelines recommend that food labels in supermarkets should bear the phrases "Israeli settlement produce" or "Palestinian produce".
Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian general Delegate to the UK, said: "We welcome this. We have been calling for this for two years, since we began lobbying major British supermarkets when we discovered that they were routinely selling products marked 'produce of the West Bank' which were in fact the produce of illegal settlements.
"This is a very positive response by the British government."
But the Israeli embassy said it was "extremely disappointed".
"We think this is singling out Israel and it plays into the hands of those who are calling for a boycott of Israeli goods," it said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8407289.stm
Friday, 11 December 2009
Food labels advice change over Palestinian territories
UK unions have voted to boycott Israeli settlement goods
UK food labels are set to distinguish between goods from Palestinians in the occupied territories and produce from Israeli settlements.
Food packaging guidelines advise a change from labels usually only naming Israel or West Bank as the source.
The government said it was opposed to a boycott of Israeli goods, but that the settlements posed an obstacle to peace.
The Palestinian general delegation to the UK welcomed the move, but Israel said it was "extremely disappointed".
All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
The new guidelines recommend that food labels in supermarkets should bear the phrases "Israeli settlement produce" or "Palestinian produce".
Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian general Delegate to the UK, said: "We welcome this. We have been calling for this for two years, since we began lobbying major British supermarkets when we discovered that they were routinely selling products marked 'produce of the West Bank' which were in fact the produce of illegal settlements.
"This is a very positive response by the British government."
But the Israeli embassy said it was "extremely disappointed".
"We think this is singling out Israel and it plays into the hands of those who are calling for a boycott of Israeli goods," it said.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
'All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.'
Why does the BBC think it's relevant that Israel disputes international law? This follows the same kind of thinking that states that the Occupied territories are 'disputed'. They're not disputed; the settlements are illegal, and the land belongs to the Palestinians.
During World War II is anyone aware of any Western Media outlet stating that 'The Nazi occupation of France is illegal under international law, though the Nazi's dispute this'?
The BBC is irrelevant. They're just functionaries with no balls and no moral conviction - as was demonstrated clearly during the incident with Jeremy Bowen a year or so ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/de ... ettlements
"This is emphatically not about calling for a boycott of Israel," a Foreign Office spokesman said. "We believe that would do nothing to advance the peace process. We oppose any such boycott of Israel. We believe consumers should be able to choose for themselves what produce they buy. We have been very clear both in public and in private that settlements are illegal and an obstacle to peace."
The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, welcomed the public clarification that marking produce from illegal settlements on occupied territory as "produce of Israel" was illegal, but said the government should have gone further.
Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive, said: "Profiting from the goods produced in the illegal settlements is contrary to international law and they should be banned from sale in the European Union, as they are in Palestine. Trade in such goods undermines the viability of a sovereign Palestinian state and holds back the peace process.
"We support the right of consumers to know the origin of the products they purchase. Trade with Israeli settlements – which are illegal under international law – contributes to their economic viability and serves to legitimise them. It is also clear from our development work in West Bank communities that settlements have led to the denial of rights and create poverty for many Palestinians."
...The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said it welcomed the new guidance but urged Defra to go further: "The government must seek prosecutions of companies which smuggle settlement goods in under false labels.
"We have received many calls from people who were distressed when they bought goods labelled 'Produce of the West Bank' because they thought they were aiding the Palestinian economy, then realised they were economically aiding Israel's illegal occupation.
"Particularly following Israel's massacre in Gaza, consumers have been shocked at Israel's war crimes and want to take action. They do not want to feel complicit in Israel's occupation by buying stolen goods."
but i can't believe the bbc is even talking about it....they refused to air a plea for aid during the massacre of gaza....tha'ts how pro-israel they usually are.
Friday, 11 December 2009
Fire attack on West Bank mosque - settlers suspected
Jewish settlers are suspected of being behind an attack on a mosque in the north of the occupied West Bank.
Attackers set fire to a library and prayer mats, and sprayed graffiti in Hebrew at the scene.
Palestinian residents of the village of Yasuf clashed briefly with Israeli soldiers investigating the attack.
Attacks on Palestinians by settlers are increasing. A number of incidents have been captured on video and received wide publicity.
Israeli human rights groups have accused the police and army of running inadequate investigations into such incidents.
One group reported that nine out of 10 investigations into alleged attacks on Palestinians by settlers end without anyone being charged.
Some hard-line settlers advocate a "price tag" policy under which they attack Palestinians in retaliation for any Israeli government measure they see as threatening Jewish settlements.
One of the slogans sprayed on the wall of the mosque in Yasuf read: "Get ready to pay the price," Israeli public radio reported. Another read: "We will burn you all."
In a statement, the Israeli military said it "views the incident gravely" and that security forces are working to locate the perpetrators.
But the local Palestinian governor, Munir Abushi, accused the Israeli security forces of doing too little to protect Palestinians from settler attacks.
On Wednesday, thousands of Jewish settlers and their supporters staged a rally in Jerusalem in protest at a recently-announced curb on settlement building in the West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a 10-month lull in permits for new settlement homes in the West Bank, not including East Jerusalem.
The order followed US and Palestinian calls for a total freeze in settlement building.
Palestinian officials have refused to rejoin peace talks until a total freeze is imposed.
All Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
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what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
HOW DARE YOU COMPARE JEWISH SETTLEMENTS TO NAZI OCCUPATION!!!
IM SICK OF YOU AND YOUR PROPAGANDA
YOU ARE ANTI-SEMITIC AND YOU NEED THERAPY AND NOT FROM NORMAN FINKLEFUCK
I didn't 'compare' the settlements to the Nazi occupation.
Still, if you think the Nazi occupation of France was worse for the average citizen than the occupied territories then go ahead and explain how it was worse.
Then when you're finished you can explain how I'm Anti-semitic.
Oh, and nice use of bold type.
+10 Very good points- Couldn't agree with you more.
http://current.com/1neuq4c
UN Special Rapporteur Likens Gaza to Warsaw Ghetto
January 22, 2009
There is more than enough evidence that Israel committed war crimes in its three week-long offensive into Gaza, says a UN investigator.
UN special rapporteur Richard Falk called for an independent inquiry into Israel's violation of international humanitarian law.
Falk said Israel's actions against the besieged Gazans are reminiscent of "the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto" which included the starvation and murder of Polish Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two.
"There could have been temporary provision at least made for children, disabled, sick civilians to leave, even if where they left to was southern Israel," said the Jewish American academic on Thursday.
Falk, who was denied entry to Israel in December, said Gazans may have been mentally scarred for life because Israel made no effort to allow civilians to escape.
Israeli officials moved closer to being prosecuted for war crimes after Norwegian medics in Gaza found traces of depleted uranium on Gaza victims, suggesting that Israel used the illegal weapons in its war on the impoverished territory, which houses some 1.5 million Palestinians.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there is a "high risk of developing cancer from exposure to radiation emitted by ... depleted uranium weapons. This risk is assumed to be proportional to the dose received."
The Geneva Convention has classified depleted uranium ammunitions as 'illegal weapons of mass destruction' due to their high radioactivity and toxicity.
Israel faces potential war crimes charges over its excessive use of other controversial weapons on the densely-populated coastal strip.
Human rights group Amnesty International has also touched on the issue, saying that Tel Aviv used white phosphorus munitions "indiscriminately and illegally" in overcrowded areas of Gaza.
"The repeated use [of White Phosphorus] in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime," said Donatella Rovera of the Amnesty International.
White phosphorus is a high-incendiary substance that bursts into all-consuming flames that cannot be extinguished with water, burning flesh to the bone and often leading to death.
Israel launched its Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to allegedly defend its territories from Hamas rockets, which were fired in retaliation for Israel's violation of a ceasefire that had then been in place.
Falk, dismissed Israel's argument that the assault was for self-defense, saying that "the UN charter, and international law, does not give Israel the legal foundation for claiming self-defense."
I wonder if Jewish intellectuals who are critical of the Israeli occupation such as Norman Finkelstein, Illan Pappe, Noam Chomsky, and Michael Neumann are also Anti-Semitic?
I wonder if these orthodox Jews are also Anti-Semitic?:
i dont want to fight with you
i am trying to show you who is good and who is evil, who is right and who is wrong
what you read is propaganda
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles ... it_All.asp
http://www.aish.com/jw/id/48890577.html
you are reading articles from jihadist websites
they got you, they suckered you into their lies and into their false pictures
they brainwashed you into being sympathetic towards them
you cannot compare it to the holocaust, they systematic murdered of over 6 million jews at around the same time jackie robinson was breaking the color barrier in baseball
read this:
Also, can we please rule out any claims that the Israelis behave like the Nazis, that Gaza is a 'concentration camp' etc etc. This is emotionalised agitprop piffle, and only shows that those who use it have become so hot-eyed that they have lost all sense of proportion. The German industrialised massacre of European Jewry was a unique event, and it is a demonstration of ignorance about the past and about the present, plus a severe case of language inflation, to try and equate it with anything now taking place. The moment Israel starts getting its non-Jewish citizens to wear Yellow Crescent badges, rounds them up by force, takes them to extermination camps and gasses them to death by the million, then it will be true to say that Israel is behaving as the Nazis did. As long as it doesn't do that, it won't be.
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/ ... -town.html
this is for you too:
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles ... arison.asp
as long as you keep comparing ANYTHING to the murder of over 6 million jews
and the murder of 11-17 million people (including all types of people, handicapped, soviets, catholics, homosexuals etc.) YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ANTI-SEMITIC
and as for those Jews in the picture, i don't know if you know this but those are messianic Jews who believe the Jewish messiah cannot come if Israel already exists, therefore they want Israel to disappear so that when the messiah can come and he will bring in the real Israel, the extremely religious Israel and rebuild the third temple and bring all the Jews in the world out of exile and to their homeland of Israel
please stop picking on us:
Muslim countries - 48 countries - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_Muslim_countries
Arab countries - 23 countries - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ar ... population
Jewish countries - 1 country - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel
1 damned country. And the greedy Arab Muslims want as much of it as possible.
seems the people of the middle east have been at war with each other for ever,
then they come to our country and start demanding all kids of stuff from America
and it dose not set well with me,...just my 2cents
Godfather.
the US is funding the siege of gaza, if you're an american you are paying for brutality and repression and misery.
someitmes its the US and Israel alone agianst he world..were it not for the US Israel would not be getting away with its crimes.
wish I knew the game better all I really know is what I live and see, I hear people like your self that tell
me about the US involvement in the different conflicts and I also understand the media tells us very little
of what they know and most times they don't get the straight truth from who ever in the government it is
that feeds the media machine.
it angers me to see people come to our country and bring their bull shit with them and then complain about
Americans and the way we live and believe....they can all go back to where they came from if they're not
happy here with our laws and beliefs.
Godfather.
boohoo.. i dont care if israel is disappointed extremely or otherwise.
and hello? of course its singling out israel. duh.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I don't believe that either Jews or Palestinians are evil. So don't waste your time.
The BBC, and the Guardian are not Jihadist websites.
What does this have to do with Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza?
I've been debating this issue for years and I've never heard anyone say that Gaza resembles a concentration camp.
Still, nice try.
There are also millions of Jews living peacefully in countries all over the world, such as the U.S.
You also forgot to mention how this has anything to do with the illegal occupation and ongoing land-grab.
It effects America because it's one of the main reasons why American's are hated by so many people around the world. Remember 9/11? American support of the Israeli occupation is what mostly fuels all of the Arab hatred of the U.S. You'd be far better off joining the rest of the world and supporting U.N resolution 242 instead of unilaterally vetoing it every year and blocking any chance at peace.
Michael Neumann:
'...America would be far better off on the other side of the Israel/Palestine conflict. It would instantly gain the warm friendship of Arab oil producers and obtain far more valuable allies in the war on terror: not only the governments of the entire Muslim world, but a good portion of the Muslim fundamentalist movement. The war on terror, which seems so unwinnable, might well be won at nominal cost, and quickly. Perhaps, the most likely scenario would simply involve an embargo on Israel. Sponsored by the U.S in cooperation with the United Nations. There is a chance that Israel would prove intransigent; it has great military resources and could probably buy the materials it needs through sales of military technology. If this happens, Israel might have to be made the object of the kind of coalition forged against Iraq in the first Gulf war. Of course, against Israel the coalition would be far broader and stronger, including all the countries of the former Soviet Union, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, and many others. And though Israel is quite strong enough to persist in it's policis without U.S support, it could not stand up to such a coalition. Israel would be forced to follow it's own best interests and make peace.
Perhaps most important, switching sides would revitalize America's foundering efforts at non-proliferation. There are two man reasons why other countries resist these efforts: fear of American attack, and the outrageous exemption of Israel from non-proliferation initiatives. It is simply absurd to suppose that any serious effort to stem the development of nuclear weapons can proceed in the absence of any attempt to disarm Israel, which is estimated to possess between 200 and 500 nuclear warheads. Having launched it's own satellites, it clearly has the capacity to hit targets anywhere in the world, and it possesses cruise missiles that have hit targets 950 miles away. Until it is forced either to disarm or to establish good relations with it's neighbours, the pace of proliferation will simply increase. On the other hand, U.S efforts to neutralize the Israeli nuclear threat would win support for non-proliferation efforts from Pakistan and Iran. In these circumstances, in a radically different political environment, the problem of North Korea would no longer seem intractable. Meanwhile, the U.S contents itself with hollow victories such as Libya's recent gesture, the nuclear disarmament of a country that never had nuclear weapons in the first place.
In short, one has only to conceive the end of the U.S-Israel alliance to be overwhelmed with the benefits of such a move - very likely, even to Israel itself. That once-beneficial alliance, a legacy of the Cold War, has turned poisonous to America's security and it's future.'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134689.html
"The Israel Defense Forces last Sunday identified a rocket fired by militants in the Gaza Strip as a Russian-made S5K, the type used in battle in Iran and Afghanistan.
The IDF said it was the first time this type of weapon has been fired from the territory. "
this is scary
This is just another excuse to continue the occupation.
Why are you pretending that these rocket attacks justify the occupation?
Substitute 'suicide bombings' for 'rocket attacks':
http://www.counterpunch.org/martin05132004.html
'...The suicide bombings inside Israel, the first of which only occurred in 1994, after 25 years of occupation, is only a side show. That is a symptom and long way from the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There will never be a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until Israel takes responsibility, under U.N. Resolution 194, calling for reparation of the Palestinian refugees, and recognizes the immense suffering it caused at that time. We need also to recognize the US is giving unqualified moral support to a state that is based on racial purity and one that is intrinsically expansionist.'
No, the rocket attacks are an understandable reaction to the brutal occupation. What's scary is this:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/06/24/ ... h-settlers
Some Jewish settlers turning against Israel
'...Radical settlers rampage against Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, sometimes hiding their faces behind black ski masks or scarves. Confident they are following the word of God, they call for a Torah-based theocracy that they say will one day triumph over the State of Israel.
Unlike most settlers, these youths mostly eschew serving in the Israel Defense Forces, which they consider criminal for its evacuation of Jews from Gaza in 2005. Mostly second-generation settlers whose fathers had considered IDF service an automatic rite of passage, these radicals have largely turned against a state they view as having betrayed its core principles...
Ginzburg preaches a messianic brand of Judaism that views Jews as superior beings and violent revenge attacks on Arabs as justified by the Torah. He is one of a small group of rabbis who provides the theological and ideological underpinnings for radical settlers...'
And what about these people?:
http://www.jatonyc.org/
Jews Against the Occupation
Jews Against the Occupation is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel. Our points of unity are as follows:
NO OCCUPATION IN OUR NAME
We as American Jews reject the Israeli government assertion that it is "necessary" to subjugate Palestinians for the sake of keeping Jews safe. We assert that security can only come from mutual respect, and that the occupation of Palestine is only worsening the position of Jews in the Middle East and around the world.
RESTORE HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS
The Israeli military fires bone-crushing rubber bullets and live ammunition at unarmed Palestinian civilians engaged in peaceful protest, failing to distinguish between peaceful and violent resistance. The Israeli government has been demolishing Palestinian houses and crops in the Occupied Territories, while allowing Jewish settlers -- many of them American -- to illegally occupy the same land.
END U.S. AID TO ISRAEL
The U.S. government provides more aid to Israel than to any other country—the vast majority of this is for military purposes. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have propped up the occupation and fueled the Israeli government’s war machine (as well as disguising the occupation’s true cost). This aid must end.
STOP ECONOMIC ATTACKS ON PALESTINE
The Israeli government has attacked the Palestinian economy by: closing Palestinian banks; imposing extreme taxes on business; withdrawing operating licenses; destroying industrial equipment; bulldozing farmland and banning fishing; restricting workers' movement; controlling the export of Palestinian goods; closing the borders of the Occupied Territories; and refusing to fund infrastructure like water and electricity -- even in Arab villages within Israel.
LET PALESTINIANS RETURN HOME
Thousands of Palestinians were driven out of their houses and off of their farms during and after the creation of Israel. They must be allowed to return to their homeland.
ANTI-SEMITISM VS. CRITIQUES OF ISRAEL
Jews Against the Occupation stands firmly against anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms. We see our historical struggle against anti- Semitism--a cornerstone of European white supremacist ideology--as inherently linked to all struggles against oppression. We therefore stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.
Judaism is a cultural and religious identity, which must not be equated with Zionism, a political movement. Criticism of the state of Israel, its policies, or the idea of a Jewish state does not by itself constitute anti-Semitism. Dismissing critics of Israel or of Zionism as "anti-Semitic" is a means of stifling debate and masking the impact of the occupation.
since when did the US support of israels illegal occupation and oppression against the Palestinian people, become a law and belief?
I was talking about people coming to our country .
Godfather.
Like Italians?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... _fsNiWiR4w
like anybody who comes here and lives off american tax payers,gets special bennifets then talk crap about
americans. arn't you tired of paying the way for people that hate you ? again I say "send their ass's back"
ya know this free love bullshit left with the 60's and trust me it wasen't anything like you might think.
Godfather.
Care to provide an example?
I don't need to do that just watch the news from time to time or just pay attention to life around you.
Godfather.