The Co-op’s decision, notified to campaigners in a statement, will immediately impact four suppliers, Agrexco, Arava Export Growers, Adafresh and Mehadrin, Israel’s largest agricultural export company. Mehadrin sources produce from illegal settlements, including Beqa’ot in the Occupied Jordan Valley. During interviews with researchers, Palestinian workers in the settlement said they earn as little as €11 per day. Grapes and dates packaged in the settlement were all labelled ‘Produce of Israel’.
Hilary Smith, Co-op member and Boycott Israel Network (BIN) agricultural trade campaign co-ordinator, said “we welcome this important decision by the Co-op to take steps toward fully realising their policy of support for human rights and ethical trading. The Co-op has taken the lead internationally in this historic decision to hold corporations to account for complicity in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights. We strongly urge other retailers to follow suit and take similar action”.
The announcement by the Co-op came just before their Regional AGMs, due to take place over the next two weeks, and where motions on this issue have been submitted for discussion. For months Co-op members have been highlighting their concerns about trade with complicit companies through co-ordinated letter-writing and discussions with local offices.
A spokesperson from the Palestinian Union of Agricultural Work Committees, which works to improve the conditions of Palestinian agricultural communities, said:
“Israeli agricultural export companies like Mehadrin profit from and are directly involved in the ongoing colonisation of occupied Palestinian land and theft of our water. Trade with such companies constitutes a major form of support for Israel’s apartheid regime over the Palestinian people, so we warmly welcome this principled decision by the Co-Operative. Other European supermarkets must now take similar steps to end their complicity with Israeli violations of international law. The movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law is proving to be a truly effective form of action in support of Palestinian rights”.
Campaigners say that this widening of the Co-op’s human rights and trade policy represents a victory for the BDS campaign, called for in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations. Actions across Europe to highlight the issue of complicit agricultural trade companies have included co-ordinated popular boycotts, pickets of supermarkets, lobbying and blockades of company premises.
Last year Agrexco, formerly Israel’s largest agricultural goods exporter, was ordered into liquidation after posting record losses and failing to pay its creditors. Shir Hever, Israeli economist and commentator who researches the economic aspects of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, said that one factor was “the fact that Agrexco has been the target of an international boycott campaign, in protest at its role in repressing Palestinians”.
All other major supermarkets in the UK continue to trade with the companies that are now barred under the Co-op’s human rights and trade policy.
Comments
Hide the following 7 comments
Good (as long as)
29.04.2012 12:12
My reason for posting this is mainly so that you understand the issues facing the boycott effort over here. Most places the campaigns have been run without much success the "Zionists" make up too large a percentage of the customer base to easily give up and the number of new customers attracted by a decision to boycott close to zero.
MDN
Good move.
29.04.2012 13:00
My reason for posting this is mainly so that you understand the issues facing the boycott effort over here. Most places the campaigns have been run without much success the "Zionists" make up too large a percentage of the customer base to easily give up and the number of new customers attracted by a decision to boycott close to zero."
This fundamentally over-eggs the influence the Zionists have in being able to effect the Co-ops business by shopping or not shopping at Co-op. Realistically, the Co-ops business is unaffected by taking this stance.
This is a good step for Co-op to take. Its ethical credentials are strengthened by this move.
Will it have any effect on its turnover? Unlikely, but then again this sort of decision is not made on the basis of profit forecasts alone. Its simply a way to bring its long-standing and well qualified ethical business into line with the modern environment. It has nothing to lose and trades as an ethical concern so this step is logical.
Joining BDS has no material effect on one's business as far as profits are concerned, the Zionists power derives from targeted propaganda, not from power of actual numbers.
Lets hope other businesses follow this example and bring extra pressure to bear to stop the Zionist occupation from being constantly rewarded for breaking international law. They say business and industry should stay out of this whole affair, but that doesn't stop the Zionists from constantly seeking patronage from business and industry in order to help finance its illegal and offensive occupation.
Rochdale
NUJ voted for this several years ago
29.04.2012 13:27
http://www.workersliberty.org/node/8375
son of Moomintroll
Homepage: http://www.workersliberty.org/node/8375
@MDN
29.04.2012 15:28
Your post is thus way off key.
NDM
Not reading carefully enough?
29.04.2012 18:25
It's going to be hard to win a divestment fight at a college/uni where the "Zionists" make up a goodly chunk of that institution's donor base. It's going to be hard to win a "don't stock" fight at a food co-op where the "Zionists" make up a high percentage of that co-ops customer member/customer base.
It's almost as if HERE the anti-Israel campaigners are working to fail instead of concentrating efforts where they could win.
Remember I said IF? I don't know much about the distribution of "Zionists" in Britain and even less about the the distribution of the Co-op outlets. Impacts may be minimal if where the "Zionists" are concentrated are areas unimportant to the Co-op. Or impacts could be serious if the reverse is the case.
MDN
confusion and nonsense
30.04.2012 11:17
MDN, your use of inverted commas around Zionist, and what you're writing, makes me think you want to say Jews (and NDM's response confirms your confusion). IF I'm right, fuck off with your sloppy thinking AKA anti-Semitism. Anyway, your belief in consumer power is endearing/North American, and way off reality too.
OMD
co-op still selling israeli produce
25.04.2013 14:00
items in the co-op wales a couple of
weeks ago, and to my surprise, i
found the potatoes i'd bought originated
in israel. from where exactly i'll try to find
out i kept the packaging. but i was already
nagging them about supporting small local
business instead of importing from all over.
no, they cant do that, it wouldnt be fair. well,
neither is the israeli warfare state.
p o'tatoe