This news was picked up by Mark Elf of Jews sans frontieres, a British site supporting a fair and just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2007/07/return-of-dunnes-stores-strikers.html
On Sunday, July 22, 2007, this article, The return of the Dunnes Stores’ strikers appeared on their site:
The above picture of a picket of one for Dunnes Stores’ Dublin branches is calling on the company to stop stocking Israeli potatoes and asking shoppers to boycott the same.
The symbolism of this is quite remarkable. It is via the humble potato (or its absence) that the Irish know more than a little about the sheer devastation of colonial rule and of course Dunnes Stores was the scene of a great battle between staff and management over the formers solidarity action with the victims of racist rule in South Africa back in the 1980s.
IPSC (Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign) Picket at Dunnes
On Thursday evening, IPSC took to the streets again in our boycott Israeli potatoes campaign. This time the target was Dunnes Stores on George’s St, where we handed out over 500 leaflets in an hour, informing people about the presence of Israeli potatoes on Irish shelves, and why they should join the boycott campaign
Shoppers and passers-by were interested – often wondering: `Why Israeli spuds?’ Answer: they’re often grown on Palestinian land using water stolen from West Bank aquifers. Also, there’s an international boycott campaign against Israel until they abide by international law and end their apartheid rule over Palestinians.
Just as we were about to leave, the management got a bit irked and called the police. The police duly came, but clearly weren’t going to do anything about people who were peacefully leafleting. When the management saw this they relented and started talking to us, letting us explain why we were there. One fellow suggested several times we should really be outside Marks and Spencers, since they have loads more Israeli goods! We parted on good terms, having distributed some leaflets to the staff, explaining why we were there.
Mark Elf commented, “Now Israel really had its chips! Geddit? Ok, I’m sorry.”
Here are some July news briefs about events in Israel-Palestine that Americans are not permitted to see, which are publicized on the IPSC site.
19 Jul 2007
Israeli occupation forces invade Hebron, Bethlehem and Tulkarem, and kidnap at least 17 civilians18 Jul 2007
Knesset passes bill barring renting or leasing “state lands” to Palestinian citizens of Israel13 Jul 2007
Israeli occupation forces kidnap at least eight Palestinians in Nablus11 Jul 2007
US Congress votes (414-0) to condemn Decision by the University and College Union of the United Kingdom to Support a Boycott of Israeli Academia (H RES 467)10 Jul 2007
Israeli occupation forces invade Nablus where they harassed and kidnapped Palestinian civilians9 Jul 2007
Settlers harass and attack Palestinians in the village of Yatta and in Hebron7 Jul 2007
end of Israeli military exercises in the Golan Heights to learn from last year’s mistakes6 Jul 2007
Irish Congress of Trade Unions passes boycott resolution
Israeli occupation forces kidnap Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank5 Jul 2007
Israeli forces attack Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps in Gaza killing at least eleven and injuring scores
We have much to learn from the Irish about the pursuit of civil and human rights, don’t we? Not really. We just have to get back to our liberal civil/human rights agenda.
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(Haaretz) – The Waqf Muslim religious trust is digging a ditch from the northern side of the Temple Mount compound to the Dome of the Rock as a prelude to infrastructure work in the area, generating protests from archaeologists.
The dig has been approved by the police, but the Israel Antiquities Authority declined to respond to the Waqf’s excavations and would not comment on whether one of its archaeologists had approved the move.
The Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, an apolitical group comprised of archaeologists and intellectuals from the left and right, criticized the use of a tractor for excavation at the Temple Mount “without real, professional and careful archaeological supervision involving meticulous documentation.”
IAA approves of building museum on ancient Muslim cemetery
(Haaretz) – Many explanations have been offered for the sudden outburst of diplomatic energy: U.S. President George W. Bush’s need for a plan to rescue the last vestige of his honor in the region toward the end of his failed term in office; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s need to present a diplomatic achievement on the eve of the publication of the full Winograd report; the need to heed the demand to “strengthen Abu Mazen” (Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas) that is being heard from all sides; and the profound need to lift the peace camp out of its despair and give it a dose of optimism so it will continue to believe that most Israelis in fact support the two-state solution, and that the Greater Israel ideology is a thing of the past, even in the rightist camp.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."(emphasis mine)
Shouldn’t there be some inquiry made toward more precisely ascertaining the origins of the Dunnes potatoes before mounting such an effort directly in front of the stores?
From the IPSC site:
“Boycott Israeli Potatoes, Fruit, and Herbs sold in Ireland
In South Africa, an international boycott was key in ending apartheid. You can help defeat the brutal apartheid system that Israel is imposing on the Palestinians. Our governments have failed to act, so it’s critical for individual people to take action in solidarity with Palestinians.
Boycott Israel – if everyone does a little, together we can make a difference.
We think of the common potato or ‘spud’ as being part of Irish history. We may imagine that all potatoes sold in Irish shops are grown in Ireland. However, many Irish shops and supermarkets, including Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Marks&Spencer sell Israeli Potatoes, rather than Irish ‘spuds’. The profits from, and taxes imposed on, these goods help Israel to maintain and expand its 37-year old illegal occupation of Palestine.
Other Israeli goods commonly sold in Ireland include Jaffa Oranges and Carmel fruit. Israeli herbs such as Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Basil, and Coriander are also commonly sold here.
What you can do to make a difference
Boycott Israeli Goods, and encourage others to do so as well.
Look for ‘Country of Origin’ or ‘Produce of’ labels on everything; if something is from Israel don’t buy it.
Complain to the management of shops that stock Israeli produce, in person or in writing, using your power as a consumer
Demand alternatives to Israeli produce
Highlight the involvement of Irish Companies with Israel. Examples include CRH, which owns 25% of an Israeli cement company supplying materials for building the Apartheid Wall, and Fyffes, which distributes Israeli fruit in Ireland and Britain.
Build awareness of, and opposition to, the worsening situation in Palestine — write to your local or national newspapers; contact your elected representatives.
Organise a Boycott protest outside shops that stock Israeli goods
If you need assistance, contact the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC)
Sign the IPSC online petition
Join the IPSC”
Thank you, but my point here is that the unfortunate result of this effort is this: produce originating from acreage formerly owned by Palestinians is being thrown into the same kettle as produce from land not in this category.
To clarify my rather unclear statement above, all Israeli growers are being penalized, even those not owning formerly Palestinian land. Apparently it has not occurred to the boycotters that some of these growers might actually be sympathetic. Or perhaps they just prefer to consider all Israelis to be fungible in this regard.
Oui, who I thank, responded more knowledgeably than I could below. Apparently, there is no general boycott by the EU countries, only a classification of goods to receive and not receive preferential versus normal tariff considerations.
However, considering the 40 years of occupation and the colonization of Palestinian lands which continues to this very day, I would assume that all Israeli goods is up for boycott, in keeping with the campaign against South African Apartheid years ago.
Also keep in mind the ethnic cleansing of 1948, in which Palestinians lost most of their farmlands, along with most of their villages and towns.
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Q: What is the UK position on goods from settlements?
A:
The issue of the verification of the origin of goods from Israeli settlements was discussed between EU and Israeli Foreign Ministers at the EU/Israel Association Council on 17 November 2003. Goods produced in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories do not qualify for preferential treatment under the EU/Israel Association Agreement. European Union customs authorities must verify the origin of certain goods and if these products are found to have originated in the Occupied Territories, they have requested a guarantee against the difference between the preferential and the normal tariff applied to these goods. However, it has not been straightforward to verify the origin of those goods marked ‘Made in Israel’ and therefore request the correct import tariff.
We understand that Israel and the European Commission have now reached an agreement concerning goods from settlements. This will allow EU customs authorities to identify goods produced in settlements, which will not therefore benefit from any preferential tariff. We look forward to this agreement being quickly ratified by both sides.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Thanks for the detail. Appreciated.
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(LivingOnEarth) March 1998 – TOLAN: Agriculture represents only 3% of Israel’s GNP. It’s more important to the Zionist dream than it is to Israel’s economy. In light of that, some Israeli policy analysts say Israel should give the Mountain Aquifer to the Palestinians and turn to desalinization of the Mediterranean. Gershon Baskin of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information.
BASKIN: Let’s say that over the next 10 to 15 years Israel turns the entire Mountain Aquifer over to the Palestinians. We’re talking about a loss factor to Israel of about $400 million. That’s about half a percent of Israel’s growth. What we’re arguing about is minuscule. Israel’s economy is now $90 billion a year.
TOLAN: But these proposals are getting a cold reception from the Likud government, including Meir Ben Meir, Israel’s water commissioner.
BEN MEIR: This (laughs) is an absurd, of course. We are not going to give up our resources and turn to the Mediterranean to fulfill our needs.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
(Haaretz) May 2007 – Turning the Holocaust into a political asset serves Israel primarily in its fight against the Palestinians. When the Holocaust is on one side of the scale, along with the guilty (and rightly so) conscience of the West, the dispossession of the Palestinian people from their homeland in 1948 is minimized and blurred.
The phrase “security for the Jews” has been consecrated as an exclusive synonym for “the lessons of the Holocaust.” It is what allows Israel to systematically discriminate against its Arab citizens. For 40 years, “security” has been justifying control of the West Bank and Gaza and of subjects who have been dispossessed of their rights living alongside Jewish residents, Israeli citizens laden with privileges.
Security serves the creation of a regime of separation and discrimination on an ethnic basis, Israeli style, under the auspices of “peace talks” that go on forever. Turning the Holocaust into an asset allows Israel to present all the methods of the Palestinian struggle (even the unarmed ones) as another link in the anti-Semitic chain whose culmination is Auschwitz. Israel provides itself with the license to come up with more kinds of fences, walls and military guard towers around Palestinian enclaves.
Israeli Arab schoolbooks cite Palestinian version of war
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Thanks for speaking out. That one crime against humanity can be used to justify another crime against humanity is itself a further crime against humanity. No silence here.