Importing of Israel Products to be Expelled

The boycott by activists from the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement is gaining momentum in spreading protest against the selling of Israeli goods made in Palestinian occupied lands

Ahlul Bayt News Agency – ABNA - The boycott by activists from the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement is gaining momentum in spreading protest against the selling of Israeli goods made in Palestinian occupied lands.

"They have shops selling goods from the illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. There is no reason why we should have shops here selling goods which are basically produced in an illegal settlement," a protester outside a London branch of the Israeli cosmetics firm Ahava

said.

Stolen Beauty is CODEPINK's contribution to the BDS Movement against Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories.

"There is nothing beautiful about occupation and beauty products made in settlements on the West Bank, on occupied Palestinian land, that are subsidized in illegal settlements," the Campaign Manager of Stolen Beauty Nancy Kircorian said.

This boycott is just one in a long line of others gaining momentum worldwide.

In France, demonstrators stormed a branch of Carrefour supermarket chain to demand they stop selling Israeli products from the occupied territories.

Similar protests have taken place in America, where companies with Israeli links are the subject of frequent sit-ins and rallies. Performances of Israeli ballet were picketed by campaigners who accuse them of white washing the country’s image.

Demonstrators in Vancouver, Canada brought dock traffic to a standstill after the Zim Djibouti, an Israeli container ship, docked and attempted to unload its cargo. For decades Israel's controversial history in the Middle East has been a point of contention alongside an ever expanding settlement program.

On May 31, the Turkish-backed aid convoy Freedom Flotilla, which was seeking to deliver aid to Gazans, was stormed by Israeli commandos, bringing the action of Israel and the BDS Movement sharply into focus.

The BDS Movement began in 2005 as part of a non-violent campaign to end the Israeli occupation. "It is a practical and a morally consistent way for activists around the world to support Palestinian justice," said Michael Deas, the European coordinator of the BDS Movement.