World-wide boycott and disinvestment activities have been making themselves felt in Israel, despite the refusal of our governments to get off the fence. As a result, a piece of “news” has been circulated to media contacts by the Israeli propaganda office, as an attempt to limit damage and muddy the water, and which is included here in full:
Successful Results of Boycott of Palestinian Goods and Services
Organizers of the new world-wide campaign to boycott imports of goods and services from so-called Palestine today expressed satisfaction with the spectacular results they have registered in this regard.
Newly-elected CEO Waleed Abu Ish of the Boycott of Palestinian Goods and Services Commission (BPGSC) said he is delighted that global distributors have been shifting their imports of agricultural and horticultural products from the Arab settlements in Gaza and the West Bank towards more deserving sources in the developing world.
"The reactionary Islamist neo-Nazi regime in Gaza and the corrupt gangster regime in Ramallah are enforcing apartheid rule against 120,000 Palestinian Christians and over 2 million women. This heinous religious and gender apartheid is illegal under international law and must stop at once," he said.
He noted that the multinational business community is sensitive to handling tainted products from Palestinian entities which Judge Goldstone identified as engaging in war crimes. Accordingly, there has been a dramatic decline in Palestinian shipments to Western markets, including the UK, of flowers, soap, olive oil, figs, dates, pita, Cremisan wine, strawberries, couscous and handicrafts.
Last year, two-thirds of this trade was lost due to cancelled orders in the amount of $48 million. For the first three quarters of 2010, $45.6 million in sales were forfeited. This included rejected Palestinian promotions of fair trade chocolate bars [chocolate?!] and many apparel categories. The forecast for the entire year for overseas Palestinian exports is an astonishing 52 per cent plunge.
Abu Ish also reported on successful discussions with the services industry in Canada, Australia, the United States,Ireland and the UK. "There is a growing realization that fostering business dealings and exchanges in the travel, educational, professional and medical sectors with these apartheid-based regimes is counter-productive." For example, reputable travel agencies no longer book tours to the Palestinian territories.
"We are also grateful to the British and Canadian authorities for acting on our requests to deny entry to incoming trade missions and fairs from 'Palestine,' Abu Ish stated. "This ensures that Palestinian commerce will never gain a foothold in Western markets to lubricate these odious regimes," he said.
The BPGS campaign is proud to be receiving the support of thousands of consumers in trade unions, churches, women's groups, and volunteer organizations. It is confident that just as South Africa, the apartheid paradigm, was brought to its knees by the boycotts led by international civil society, so too will the brutal Hamas and Fatah oligarchs of Gaza and the West Bank be defeated by NGOs like us world-wide.
For Editors: Waleed Abu Ish is a Palestinian Arab engineer from the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza. His parents were thrown to their deaths from the 14th floor of an apartmentbuilding by the Hamas gang currently ruling Gaza. He converted to Christianity in 2003.
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Now, back to real life: here is a brief look at how life is still being lived, day by day, in the huge prison of Gaza, as they hope for the arrival of the next Convoy:
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