Israel’s Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestine

عائلة تسقي ابنتها سمّا وتدعي أنها شربته بنفسها
ألإتحاد الأوروبي يتلقى شكوى ضد فساد السلطة الفلسطينية وانتهاكها حقوق الأنسان
الأرض الفلسطينية ليست مزرعة خاصة في عباس والسلطة, والمواطن ليس أجيرا لديهم

Al-Haq is pleased to announce the publication of “Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel’s Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The report examines Israel’s responsibilities with respect to the treatment of the occupied territory’s natural resources in the Dead Sea area, and reiterates that, under international humanitarian law, Israel is obliged to administer the natural resources belonging to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) without damaging or diminishing them. Accordingly, it is prohibited from exploiting them in a way that undermines their capital and results in economic benefits for Israeli citizens, including settlers, or for its national economy.

By granting substantial financial benefits to the settlers, as well as by licensing Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd., 44.5 per cent of whose shares are owned by the settlements of ‘Mitzpe Shalem’ and ‘Kalia,’ to mine and manufacture products that utilise the mud extracted from the occupied Dead Sea area, Israel is openly in violation of its obligations as an Occupying Power in the OPT. It is encouraging and facilitating the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources and actively assisting their pillaging by private actors.

Commenting on the report, Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq, said, “The Israeli authorities are denying Palestinians access to their natural resources all across the OPT, but this practice is particularly evident in the occupied Dead Sea area. This also clearly demonstrates how Israel is benefiting economically from the occupation. Given that the settlers in the area and Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories directly profit from the appropriation of the Dead Sea natural resources and from the trade of the products extracted and processed in this region, they should be considered as primary perpetrators of the war crime of pillage.”

In light of the serious nature of the violations of international law committed in the occupied Dead Sea area, this report calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately stop the pillaging of the Palestinian natural resources and halt the concession of substantial financial incentives to settlers living in the area. Israel must also revoke the mud mining permission granted to Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd. in 2004.

Addition to Al-Haq Statement

No AHAVA, a woman protesting against the sale of Ahava products

Boycott Ahava Dead Sea Cosmetics!

Don’t let yourself be ‘soothed and smoothed’ by Ahava’s creams and cosmetics!  Why? Because they are produced by a firm complicit in the theft of Palestinian land and livelihoods.

Ahava is an Israeli company with a factory and visitor centre in  the Mitzpe Shalem settlement near the Dead Sea.  This is one of the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

Since 1967 Israel has moved almost half a million settlers into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, flouting international law and dozens of United Nations Resolutions and forcing Palestinians off their land.

Ahava products are sold at its store in London and by a range of companies in shops around Great Britain and in other countries, including Austria.

Companies like Ahava profit from the Israeli occupation and Israel’s  settlements, which are a major obstacle to a just and peaceful solution to the conflict.

As United Nations employees can you really go against the Resolutions of your organization?  Therefore:  boycott Ahava!

Support the call to ban illegal Israeli settlement produce!

Why does this matter to you as an ethical shopper?

  • Palestinian farmers have lost over 40% of the West Bank to illegal settlements.
  • Palestinian workers in the settlements are exploited and child labour is used.
  • Scarce water resources are often confiscated by Israel and used for the houses of settlers and their swimming pools and to irrigate settlement produce for export abroad whilst Palestinian farmers are losing their crops through lack of land and water.
  •  Settlements harshly obstruct the daily lives of the Palestinian people.  Movement is restricted through Apartheid system of separate roads, hundreds of checkpoints and the illegal Apartheid Wall.  Palestinians face violence daily from armed settlers.
  • Palestinian producers face huge difficulties to reach export markets – and are even prevented to do so – while Israeli illegal settlement produce easily reaches its destination.
  • Palestinians in Gaza have suffered death, destruction and war crimes from Israeli attacks.  They face humanitarian catastrophe; over 80% are dependent on food aid under the siege imposed by Israel.
  • Ahava fraudulently benefits from customs duty exemptions under the EU-Israel Trade Agreement – by labelling its settlement produce as coming from Israel.

This call for a ban on illegal settlement produce is part of a vast campaign to boycott all Israeli goods until Israel abides by international law and respects human rights.

Third-party States are called on to abide by their international legal obligations and must take concrete measures to pressure Israel to bring to an end its violations of international humanitarian law. In addition, they must refrain from providing any form of assistance to such violations, including by maintaining business relationships with economic actors allegedly involved in pillage in the occupied Dead Sea area.

For its part, the European Union (EU) must ensure that only Israeli entities registered and established in Israel and conducting activities in Israel proper, are able to participate in European programmes, and adopt restrictive measures on the import of Israeli products originating from settlements, because of the serious violations of peremptory norms of international law that settlements and their related infrastructure entail.

Comments are closed.

Austrian Flag
Bild aus dem Parlament
000_5151A
000_2207A

Advertising? Werbung? Click on the picture below. Klicken Sie auf das Bild unten. kawther [dot] salam [at] gmail [dot] com

000_8696b_edited-1

Advertising? Werbung? Click on the picture below. Klicken Sie auf das Bild unten. kawther [dot] salam [at] gmail [dot] com

Related Books


Support this site by buying these books at Amazon. Thank you!

000_4195A
000_4229A
000_1418A
Der Stephansplatz

Der Stephansplatz

Johann Strauß

Johann Strauß

000_8728

Volksgarten

Nikon (57)

Kurpark Oberlaa

000_2638A

Verbrechen in Israel

Add to Netvibes Creative Commons License