A WARNING FROM ISRAEL; WHAT MAY COME AFTER THE EVACUATION OF JEWISH SETTLERS FROM THE GAZA STRIP, BY URI DAVIS, ILAN PAPPE, AND TAMAR YARON
heather on July 22nd, 200518 July 2005 | URI DAVIS, ILAN PAPPE, and TAMAR YARON | Israel
We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the evacuation is implemented.
We held back on getting this statement published and circulated, seeking additional feedback from our peers. The publication in Ha`aretz (22 June 2005) quoting statements by General (Reserves) Eival Giladi, the head of the Coordination and Strategy team of the Prime Minister`s Office, motivated us not to delay publication and circulation any further. Confirming our worst fears, General (Res.) Eival Giladi went on record in print and on television to the effect that Israel will act in a very resolute manner in order to prevent terror attacks and [militant] fire while the disengagement is being implemented and that ?If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger to surrounding people.?
We believe that one primary, unstated motive for the determination of the government of the State of Israel to get the Jewish settlers of the Qatif (Katif) settlement block out of the Gaza Strip may be to keep them out of harm`s way when the Israeli government and military possibly trigger an intensified mass attack on the approximately one and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom about half are 1948 Palestine refugees. The scenario could be similar to what has already happened in the past - a tactic that Ariel Sharon has used many times in his military career - i.e., utilizing provocation in order to launch massive attacks.
Following this pattern, we believe that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz are considering to utilize provocation for vicious attacks in the near future on the approximately one and a half million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip: a possible combination of intensified state terror and mass killing. The Israeli army is not likely to risk the kind of casualties to its soldiers that would be involved in employing ground troops on a large scale in the Gaza Strip. With General Dan Halutz as Chief of Staff they don`t need to. It was General Dan Halutz, in his capacity as Commander of the Israeli Air Force, who authorized the bombing of a civilian Gaza City quarter with a bomb weighing one ton, and then went on record as saying that he sleeps well and that the only thing he feels when ping a bomb is a slight bump of the aircraft.
The initiators of this alarm have been active for many decades in the defence of human rights inside the State of Israel and beyond. We do not have the academic evidence to support our feeling, but given past behavior, ideological leanings and current media spin initiated by the Israeli government and military, we believe that the designs of the State of Israel are clear, and we submit that our educated intuition with matters pertaining to the defence of human rights has been more often correct than otherwise.
We urge all those who share the concern above to add their names to ours and urgently give this alarm as wide a circulation as possible.
Circulating and publishing this text may constitute a significant factor in deterring the Israeli government, thus protecting the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip from this very possible catastrophe and contributing to prevent yet more war crimes from occurring.
Please sign, circulate, and publish this alarm without delay!!!
Fair Trade and the need for investment into capacity building
heather on July 14th, 2005Zaytoun is in the process of bringing a container of oil to the UK from a new supplier, The Palestine Fair Trade Association. Below is an email regarding this.
‘As for the current shipment we had booked space on vessel leaving on July 17. But I recieved news yesterday that may lead us to cancel and put off for a week. One of the oil containers we set aside for your order increased in acidity to 0.90 We decided to empty what we bottled
from it and not bottle it. So we are contact with other farmers on the waiting list to collect a replacement for this tank. The tank is about 1500 litres. Mahmoud is currently in the field woring on gathering the replacements. It should not be long. I’ll keep you posted.
This is an example where we encounter unexpected cost with fair trade. For example we bought this oil from the farmers for 15 NIS. We had a delay in the order, then change in acidity and we cannot use the oil. We intend to sell it in the local market with the average price of 8 to 9 NIS. For 1500 liter it is quite a loss. But that is the nature of doing business and one of the details that the average consumer doe not necessarily account for. What we put in our bottles is only
premium Natural Extra Virgin. There a lot of Extra Virgin from Italy that are processed. Refined oil where acidity is extracted. The body richness and flavor of the greenish, natural EV we produce is not the same in these oils. This incident also stress to us that we do need to address the strorage issue soon. I started researching this in order to be ready for this up-coming harvest.’ (Investment is needed in stainless steel storage containers so that the farmers can store the oil in a way which keeps the integrity of the oil)
Factors that hinder Palestinian capacity to offer competative pricing of olive oil on the world market:
heather on July 14th, 2005A statement from the Director of Canaan Fair Trade, Palestine.
1- Traditional organic non-irrigated farming. The average Palestinian orchard yield is less than that of irrigated modernized farming or non-irrigated farming in northern Mediterranean countries that gets higher levels of rain. Farmers need higher return on products to support their families because of the smaller yield.
2- Local restriction of movement imposed by the Israeli occupation makes cost involved in collecting oil and other related local deliveries extremely high for oil traders.
3- The high cost Palestinian companies and organizations face doing business internationally directly without Israeli middleman. For example Canaan Fair Trade (CFT) paid over US$9,500 to release a container of empty bottle at the Haifa port coming from Italy. Only $2500 of which were Sea Freight and ground shipping.
4- The High cost of PA bureaucracy. Certificate of origin from Chamber of Commerce requires 4% of invoice, Ministry of Agriculture requires a high percentage of units tested from total units invoiced each test cost 20NIS. The Environmental Health require their own testing and their tests (which are the same) cost 100NIS each.
5- Fair Trade needs to afford to pay fair wages to people working on the ground in a fluctuating business environment (by the we are not anywhere near that yet. But we do hope to get there. The only full time employees we are affording to keep are two. The rest are casual workers when we have orders, and I or other Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA) officers do not take any compensation)
6- Non-supported Palestinian farmer in competition with mostly subsidized industry in Europe and the States.
7- Above all of this is produced by CFT competes even on price if compared to similar quality oils.
