{"id":8149,"date":"2014-03-08T10:53:48","date_gmt":"2014-03-08T10:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=8149"},"modified":"2014-03-08T10:53:48","modified_gmt":"2014-03-08T10:53:48","slug":"sainsburys-supermarket-pressured-over-israeli-land-grab-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/sainsburys-supermarket-pressured-over-israeli-land-grab-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Sainsbury\u2019s supermarket pressured over Israeli land-grab firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of people joined demonstrations at Sainsbury\u2019s stores across more than 30 UK towns and cities on Saturday. They were protesting the supermarket\u2019s sale of goods exported by Israeli firms that participate in the colonization of Palestinian land.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Around 50 people took part in a\u00a0dabke<\/em>\u00a0flash mob inside two central London stores organised by London Palestine Action, while a convoy of bikes and vans travelled between different Sainsbury\u2019s stores in Sheffield.<\/p>\n

Similar pickets and demonstrations were\u00a0planned\u00a0across London and in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, among many other cities, as part of a national day of action supported by organizations including the\u00a0Boycott Israel Network,\u00a0Palestine Solidarity Campaign\u00a0and the\u00a0Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.<\/p>\n

Signatures were also\u00a0gathered for a\u00a0petition\u00a0that will be presented to Sainsbury\u2019s management calling on the UK\u2019s second-biggest retailer to stop\u00a0trading\u00a0with companies that operate in settlements and participate in Israeli violations of international law.<\/p>\n

Sainsbury\u2019s sources citrus fruits, mangoes, medjoul dates and other fresh produce from companies such as\u00a0Mehadrin\u00a0and\u00a0Edom\u00a0that operate in illegal Israeli settlements and contribute to Israel\u2019s destruction of Palestinian agriculture and violations of international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Sainsbury\u2019s boasts of their commitment to \u2018sourcing with integrity\u2019, they refuse to respond to customer demands to end\u00a0trade\u00a0with companies that export agricultural produce from Israel\u2019s illegal settlement farms, as The Co-operative Group has done,\u201d explained campaign spokesperson Annie O\u2019Gara in a\u00a0press release.<\/p>\n

The Co-operative retail chain\u00a0announced\u00a0in April 2012 that it would stop\u00a0trading\u00a0with any Israeli company that operates in illegal Israeli settlements. Sainsbury\u2019s claims that none of the products it sources from Israeli suppliers are grown in illegal Israeli settlements, although this seems improbable given the\u00a0routine deception employed by Israeli exporters, who regularly sell settlement products as \u2018Made in Israel\u2019.<\/p>\n

Regardless of where the actual products on Sainsbury\u2019s shelves are grown, any\u00a0trade\u00a0with companies that are so deeply involved in the ongoing colonisation of Palestinian land is fundamentally unethical and helps to fund the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and the Israel\u2019s destruction of Palesitnian agriculture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The campaign against Sainsbury\u2019s was launched in response to a February 2013\u00a0appeal for action\u00a0by Palestinian farming unions and civil society groups for campaigns against Israeli agricultural export companies. The introduction to the\u00a0Farming Injustice<\/em>\u00a0briefing published alongside the appeal for action explained how Israeli export companies play a key role in the destruction of Palestinian agriculture:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Palestinian farmers face the brunt of Israel\u2019s land confiscations, demolitions and water theft. Farmers that still have access to land and water face systematically implemented restrictions and violence. Israeli agricultural export companies such as Mehadrin and Hadiklaim [and Edom] are among the primary beneficiaries of the destruction of Palestinian agriculture, operating inside and exporting produce from illegal settlements using stolen Palestinian land and water and profiting from the siege on Gaza.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mehadrin, one of Israel\u2019s largest fresh produce export companies and a major Sainsbury\u2019s supplier, was formed when it planted citrus groves over the remains of the village of\u00a0Miska, a Palestinian village that was completely destroyed during the 1948 Nakba.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today a major private firm with distribution centres across Europe,Mehadrin\u00a0operates\u00a0orchards inside Israel\u00a0and in illegal Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley, the most fertile area of the West\u00a0Bank.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are now more than 9,000 settlers living in 36 settlements that cover more than half of the Jordan Valley and\u00a0Israel has\u00a0announced\u00a0plans to expand\u00a0settlements in the Jordan Valley by 130 percent. Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced from the Jordan Valley to make way for settlement farms that are only economically viable because they are able to export their produce to European\u00a0markets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mehadrin also\u00a0collaborates\u00a0closely\u00a0with Israeli state water company Mekorot to illegally appropriate Palestinian water and divert it to farms inside Israel and illegal Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine,\u00a0has\u00a0condemned\u00a0Mehadrin for its role\u00a0in Israeli violations of international law and highlighted it as one of several companies that \u201cshould be boycotted, until such time as they bring their operations fully into line with international human rights standards and practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not selling to the European market anymore\u201d<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

The\u00a0UK government recently\u00a0published\u00a0advice\u00a0urging firms to consider \u201cpossible abuses of the rights of individuals\u201d when conducting business that benefits illegal Israeli settlements and made clear that it does not \u201cencourage or offer support\u201d settlement\u00a0trade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By\u00a0trading<\/a>\u00a0with Israeli exporters that participate in Israeli violations of human rights and international law, Sainsbury\u2019s is running roughshod over UN and UK government advice and the guidance set out in the Ethical Trading Initiative, a business and civil society forum it champions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Israeli settler leaders in the Jordan Valley\u00a0recently told the Associated Press\u00a0that the boycott campaign had cost settlers $29 million in lost sales, especially in Europe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIn effect, today, we are almost not selling to the [Western] European market anymore,\u201d complained\u00a0David Elhayani of the\u00a0Jordan Valley Regional Council, which represents\u00a07,000 settlers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Campaigns against Israeli fresh produce exporters have intensified following\u00a0the decision by the Co-operative retail chain to boycott companies\u00a0that operate in settlements and the February 2013 appeal for action by Palestinian agricultural organisations with campaigns also underway in France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Sweden.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Campaigns against Israeli agricultural exports have always been a key part of the\u00a0BDS movement\u00a0in Europe, the main destination for Israeli fresh produce exports.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2011, Israeli export company\u00a0Agrexco\u00a0entered into\u00a0liquidation\u00a0after boycotts and campaigns against the company in 13 European countries that saw retailers cut links with the company, blockades of its\u00a0UK\u00a0and\u00a0Belgium\u00a0warehouses and a huge mobilisation against plans for an Agrexco distribution centre in Sete in the\u00a0south of France<\/a>. \u00a0Israeli analyst Shir Hever\u00a0suggested\u00a0at the time that farmers leaving Agrexco to export their products through other channels because of the boycott campaign was a major factor behind the company\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n

S<\/a>ource : Electronicintifada<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of people joined demonstrations at Sainsbury\u2019s stores across more than 30 UK towns and cities on Saturday. They were protesting the supermarket\u2019s sale of goods exported by Israeli firms that participate in the colonization of Palestinian land. Around 50 people took part in a\u00a0dabke\u00a0flash mob inside two central London stores organised by London Palestine …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":5,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[192,280,1425,279,277,163,278],"class_list":["post-8149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-lectures","tag-bds","tag-israeli-settlements","tag-palestine","tag-products","tag-sainsburys","tag-ticker","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8149"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8157,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8149\/revisions\/8157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}