Today a group from the Brighton Palestine Solidarity Campaign visited Waitrose supermarket in Western Road to persuade its customers not to buy Israeli produce.
After a lively demonstration inside the store, the group continued leafleting and demonstrating outside.
Waitrose stocks assorted herbs, avocados, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes and citrus fruit from Israel – all of which produce is available from other sources.
The group received support from many customers who agreed that money spent on Israeli produce goes to bolster the Israeli economy which invests heavily in armaments to suppress the Palestinian and kill innocent civilians.
Many people were also aware that Israel itself has all the hallmarks of an apartheid state – denying equal rights to its Palestinian citizens with some 30 laws discriminating against them.
Waitrose supermarkets have refused to even consider banning goods from illegal settlements, as have sainsbury and Tesco.
So next time you shop boycott israeli goods and tell them why you are doing it
This morning a group of BDS activists visited B&Q on the Lewes Road in Brighton to speak to them about their sale of Keter Plastic products.
In 2005 Palestinian civil society called for a BDS movement against Israel until it complied with international law and ended its human rights abuses. Israel destroys Palestinian lives, homes and livelihoods on a daily basis. It is continuing its construction of settlements and the apartheid wall in the West Bank despite these actions being declared illegal under international laws. Nor will it lift its suffocating blockade of the Gaza Strip.
In Brighton, Palestinian Solidarity activists have now turned their attention to Keter Plastics. Keter Plastic is a large Israeli manufacturer of plastic products such as garden and indoor furniture, tool boxes and storage products. The products are widely available throughout the UK and several lines are stocked in the DIY superstore.
Keter has a factory in the illegal industrial settlement of Barkan, in the occupied West Bank. Here, as in settlement industrial zones across the region, some of the most harmful and polluting Israeli industries take place, exploiting the captive Palestinian workforce.
As well as being built on stolen land, the environmental effects of these industrial zones has a devastating impact on Palestinian communities. The Barkan settlement dumps industrial waste and sewage into the Al Matwi Valley – contaminating a vital water source for local Palestinian villages.
The manager took our letter and said that he had heard that head office was phasing out Keter products. We will write to head office and try to check out the veracity of this.
Keter products are also sold in Robert Dyas, Argos, Toys R Us and more
For more on Keter info see
Letter handed into B&Q store manager:
28th January 2012
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are writing to inform you that your store is stocking goods sourced from an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, which has been declared illegal under international law.
Keter Plastic is a large Israeli manufacturer of plastic products such as garden and indoor furniture, tool boxes and storage products. The products are widely available throughout the UK and several lines are stocked in B&Q Brighton.
Keter Plastic has a factory in the illegal industrial settlement of Barkan, in the occupied West Bank. Here, as in settlement industrial zones across the region, some of the most harmful and polluting Israeli industries take place, exploiting the captive Palestinian workforce.
As well as being built on stolen land, the environmental effects of these industrial zones has a devastating impact on Palestinian communities. The Barkan settlement dumps industrial waste and sewage into the Al Matwi Valley – contaminating a vital water source for local Palestinian villages.
In 2006 Palestinian civil society called for a global BDS movement against Israel until it complied with international law and ended its human rights abuses. Israel destroys Palestinian lives, homes and livelihoods on a daily basis. It is continuing its construction of settlements and the apartheid wall in the West Bank despite these actions being declared illegal under international laws. Nor will it lift its suffocating blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The BDS movement has had several successes in recent years in targeting businesses which operate unlawfully, profit from the military occupation of the Palestinian territories and contribute to the abuse of Palestinians’ human rights.
We ask you to stop selling Keter Plastic goods and, as a person of conscience, to support the call to boycott Keter Plastics and other Israeli goods.
