Comic Relief: Boycotting Palestine
by C. L. Cook
Detailing the daily atrocities committed by the Criminal-State Israel is rarely a laugh, but today is different. As editor of Pacific Free Press, I receive numerous letters of support, others less so, and press releases. Phony releases are, since the success of the Yes Men, increasingly common.
I received just such a release today, and it's too good to consign to my trash basket. For extra fun, I decided to play a little with the wording too*
So here is the hot off the press report of a new boycott campaign in the Middle East.
VANCOUVER, July 4 -
Organizers of the new world-wide campaign to boycott imports of goods
and services from so-called Isreal today expressed satisfaction with
the spectacular results they have registered in this regard.
Newly-elected CEO Bob Zimmerman of
the Boycott of Israeli Goods and Services Commission (BIGSC) 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 Zionist neo-Nazi
regime in Jerusalem and the corrupt gangster regime in Washington 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
Zionist entities which Judge Goldstone identified as engaging in war
crimes. Accordingly, there has been a dramatic decline in Israeli shipments to Western markets, including Canada, 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 $64 million.
This included rejected Palestinian promotions of fair trade chocolate
bars and many apparel categories. The forecast for the entire year of
2011 for overseas Palestinian exports is an astonishing 52 per cent
plunge.
Zimmerman 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 Israel.
"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 'Israel,' Abu Ish
stated. "This ensures that Israeli commerce will never gain a
foothold in Western markets to lubricate these odious regimes," he said.
The BIGS campaign is proud to
be receiving the support of thousands of consumers in shopping clubs,
trade unions, churches, women's groups, the agricultural community 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 Israeli oligarchs of Jerusalem and their "settlers" in the West Bank be defeated by NGOs like us
world-wide.
* The words "Israel" and "Zionist" substitute where the author had placed "Palestine" and "Islamic." -ed.
|
