Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

International Actions against Israeli Apartheid

16.02.2008 17:22 | Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco | Anti-militarism | Palestine | London | South Coast | World

The period leading up to Valentine’s day saw actions against Israeli apartheid taking place in the USA, England and Belgium. A week of action had been called against the import of Israeli flowers for Valentine’s Day. The call to action was against Carmel-Agrexco, the 50% state owned Israeli export company, and in support of a boycott of apartheid Israel.

On Friday 9th February Belgian activists blocked trucks at Agrexco’s depot in Liege, On Monday in Hayes, Middlesex, Activists blocked the entrances and exits of Agrexco’s UK headquarters. Some activists opted for another Valentine’s day target, the Israeli diamond trade: In London Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods picketed Lev Leviev’s new store while activists from Adalah in the US targeted Levievs’ New York branch. Leviev, an international diamond merchant, is responsible for developing illegal settlements on Palestinian land near the West Bank Villages of Bil In and Jayouss. His New York store has been targeted for several months by anti-apartheid activists.

Reports: Report of the Belgian Carmel-Agrexco action | Photos| Videos - 1 2 3 4 5 | Report of the London Carmel-Agrexco Action - 1 2

Previous: Original call to action against Agrexco | Previous Actions against Carmel-Agrexco 1 2 3 4 | London Pickett of Lev Leviev’s Store (+ Video) | Report of the US Picket (+ Video | Pictures)

Links: More info on the campaign against Leviev so far



On Valentine’s Day pickets and info stalls were held at London’s two major flower markets urging people not to buy flowers from apartheid Israel.

The call to action was following a call by Palestinian Civil Society organisations for Boycott. Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against apartheid Israel.

Carmel-Agrexco is the largest exporter of fresh produce from illegal settlements in the West Bank. Palestinian workers work for low wages on land which has often been expropriated from their own families (See video of Carmel Agrexco workers in the Jordan Valley). Children as young as nine are employed on settlement plantations supplying produce to be sold by Agrexco. Agrexco export 60% of their produce to European markets. The company boast that it can get goods to European markets in under 24 hours while Palestinian goods rot in the fields because the Israeli occupation denies them access even to local markets.

Before taking part in the blockade, many of the protesters had witnessed first hand the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli military occupation.

This follows from actions of 11th November 2004, when Palestine Solidarity protesters from London and Brighton were arrested after taking part in non-violent blockades outside the same company and 30 August 2006, When demonstrators blockaded the company for 11 hours.

In September 2005 a Judge ruled that Agrexco (UK) must prove that their business is lawful after defendants argued that Agrexco were ncillary to war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. The acquittal of the seven activists before they were able to present their defence meant that the court did not have to rule on the legality of Agrexco-Carmel’s involvement in the supply of produce from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

In September 2006 protesters blockaded the company again, Carmel refused to have demonstrators arrested because this would have lead to another embarrassing court appearance where their business methods would have been investigated by a British court of law. Since then no prosecutions have taken place of protesters at the premises despite repeated acts of direct action.

On Monday 11th one man was arrested for criminal damage. However, it seems unlkely that Agrexco will want to cooperate with a prosecution.

Lev Leviev, a prominent developer of settlements in the West Bank and global retailer of diamonds, has been targeted for several months by activists in New York. The campaign is in line with the call for a boycott of apartheid Israel and in solidarity with the struggle of the villagers of Bil In and Jayouss. Both villages have been the scene of popular grassroots struggles against the Israeli apartheid wall. In both Bil In and Jayouss the wall separates villagers from their farmland and leaves vast swathes of land in danger of annexation by illegal settlements developed by Leviev.

The actions in London and New York were part of a growing internationl campaign against Leviev.

Read: Text of letter to Carmel-Agrexco | Report on Carmel's involvement in the Jordan Valley | War on Want's report: Profiting from the Occupation| Corporate press coverage of the campaign against Leviev

Links: Palestine Solidarity Campaign | The Big Campaign | Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods | War on Want | Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine |ISM London | ISM Palestine|Adalah New York|

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. This is great news — Activist
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech