TEL AVIV, June 20, 2010 (WAFA)- Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc) said Sunday the settler company 'Achva' deceives consumers, falsely representing itself as located in Tel Aviv.
In a press release Gush Shalom the Arkia flight company, by serving to passengers the false cover food products, takes some part in the blame. This kind of settler companies' fraud becomes increasingly common, as their directors feel the heat.
The Gush Shalom Movement protested to the management of the flight company 'Arkia'. 'By serving the 'Achva' food products to your passengers you take part in the fraud perpetrated by company, which tries to create among consumers the false impression that it is located in Tel Aviv - when in practice, its factory is in the 'Barkan' industrial zone on the West Bank'.
Gush Shalom got a copy of a protest letter written by Ilan Feldman, a Tel Aviv resident who a few weeks ago flew with Arkia to Rhodes, Greece. Feldman wrote to the management of 'Arkia'g:
'The food served to passengers had a deliberately misleading label, not only giving a Tel Aviv mailbox as the company's address but also featuring a logo prominently stating that 'Achva' was founded at Tel Aviv in 1929 while failing to mention that it had long since moved to the Occupied Territories, in search of a ready supply of cheap labor as well as of government subsidies. This is a shameful disregard for the Arkia passengers.
I oppose the settlements in the [Palestinian] territories, the entire purpose of whose existence is to prevent the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The settlements thus constitute the main obstacle to achieving peace, the main catalyst for further conflict and bloodshed. Like me, many other Arkia passengers oppose settlements and do not wish to buy the settlers' products. There is no reason why we should finance from our own pockets these settlements, whose existence is a flagrant violation of International Law and which endanger the future prospects of our children. This deception casts under suspicion all the foodstuffs served on board the Arkia flights. This I deplore, and I ask the company to take immediate steps to terminate this crude deception.' Thus far Ilan Feldman's letter.
Such incidents are growing more frequent, as in the similar deceit by the Shamir Salads company, exposed two months ago. This is a clear result of the increased boycott against settlement products, initiated by peace-minded Israelis, by Palestinians and throughout the world. Industrialists based in settlements rightly feel the ground slipping from under their feet, but fraud will not help them for long. They should in truth pull their factories out of the West Bank, as did such companies as the Barkan Wineries, Multilock and other important enterprises,' says Adam Keller, Gush Shalom Spokesperson. .
Keller emphasized that the bill introduced by some Knesset Members aiming to prohibit settlement boycotts would not deter Gush Shalom from continuing its campaign. 'The Chief Rabbinate regularly calls upon the religious public to boycott restaurants and stores where food is not kosher, publishing inflammatory ads with such headlines as 'Preserve your soul, stay away from that restaurant!'. And the Rabbinate uses the money they get from the state budget to finance such boycott campaigns. This is justified from their point of view – it is the Chief Rabbinate's job to ensure that religious people in Israel will not find themselves unknowingly consuming non-kosher food which was served to them fraudulently. In the same way, it is the responsibility of Gush Shalom to ensure that peace-seeking Israelis - for whom the settlements are indelibly tainted with oppression and dispossession, violation of International Law and the blocking of the way to peace – will not be deceived into paying for and consuming products of such an origin.'
