OLIVES TO OLIVE OIL, BDS, WATER, SALARIES, ID's, PRODUCTION

OLIVES TO OLIVE OIL

At the cooperative olive press in Beit Jala, we learned a bit more about olives and their products. Farmers in a 22 mile radius can use this press. They bring their 50 kilo sacks of olives, get them marked with their name and wait in line for their turn. Then, only their olives go into the chute, get washed, crushed and processed. They pay 500 shekels for each ton of olives they bring in. One hundred kilos (220 lbs.) of olives make 25 kilos (55 lbs.) of oil. The pits are crushed separately and made into fire place logs. The oil itself is separated into cooking and soap or candle oil. The cooking oil is for household use or export, depending on how much the farmer has. Often a farmer will donate some of his product to charity - for prisoners, for Gaza or for the poor.

OCT, 19 -PICKING IN TECOA' WITH FATIMA AND 8 FAMILIES

Fatima, in addition to harvesting her family's olives with us, gives cooking lessons to help pay for the expenses related to caring for her autistic daughter. She also teaches French and spoke fluidly with the French volunteers in our group. Her husband, Abu Salam Askar, has heart problems and cannot work. They have 5 children, 2 of them in university. After we fiinished picking, we sat down to Fatima's cooking, which was unsurpassed: homemade felafel, hummous, salads, fried potatoes, eggplant, whole wheat bread baked in her outdoor oven, and even dessert! We couldn't pass the platters fast enough.

While in the olive grove, we could see the flat-topped Herodion Mountain, a short distance away, along with a military base to protect the surrounding settlements. Herod the Great built this man-made mountain to hold his castle and underground mausoleum. Although it is in the West Bank, Israel lays claim to it, so I have not visited it.

BDS - presentation by Bisan Mitri

BDS is an appeal to the conscience of the world: BOYCOTT Israeli products; DIVEST from companies that support or profit from the occupation, and SANCTION Israel until it ends the occupation. The call was put together by 181 Palestinian groups and organizations who met for one year in order to draft the call that went out July 8, 2005. It is meant to target complicity with the occupation. It's main goals are: a) End the occupation that started in 1967 , b) Dismantle the Wall, c) End apartheid inside Israel, and d) demand the right of return of Palestinians displaced by the wars of '48 and '67. BDS promotes boycotting Israeli goods by handing out flyers to Pal elementary schools. Beit Sahour Municipality has pledged to be free of Israeli products by ?

Fifth Annual BDS Conference in Nov. will invite Palestinian companies to discuss how they can get involved.

ACADEMIC BOYCOTT - Calls for severing ties with Israel academic institutions because all of them are complicit in the occupation.  First success was U of Johanesburg cutting ties with Ben Gurion U in 2009. Other sucesses: Steven Hawkins refused to participate in a conference in Israel and issued a statement; American Studies Asso endorsed BDS in 2013.

However, Palestinians living in Israel study in Israeli universities because they need the Israeli degree to get a decent job inside Israel.

CULTURAL BOYCOTT - Get celebrities not to perform in Israel. Attracts media.

SPORTS BOYCOTT - Mohammed Sarsa (?) a soccer star came out in support of BDS and was arrested and held without charges (Administrative Detention) for 3 years until he went on hunger strike to demand a trial: 93 days on just salt and water. Refused to be force fed. Finaly got a hearing and served the final 20 days in hospital.

Efforts to get Israel suspended from FIFA.

CONSUMER BOYCOTT -Boycott ALL Israeli products because Israel promotes settlements, and settlement products are often disguised as " packaged in Israel." For example dates from Jordan Valley settlements say only "packaged in So. Africa."
 Look for  bar code 729. The U.S. is Israel's biggest market .

DIVESTMENT - G4S a security company, supplies Israeli prisons; Kuait just ended a contract with them. Gates Fndn withdrew $182 M of shares from G4S. Sauda Arabia canceled Veolia contract 3 years ago.

U.S. Churches: June 2014 Presbyterians voted to divest from Caterpillar, HP (checkpt surveilance) and Motorola.

"Shares Activism" - buy one share in an offending company, pool them with others, and vote as a block.

SANCTIONS -This depends on governments taking action. To press for this,  BDS is changing strategy: meeting directly with government officials such as in Sweden.

ISRAEL'S RESPONSE - While feigning indifference to this campaign, the govenment has shown its concern by moving its efforts to counter BDS from Interior Ministry to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Kenesset voted $35 M budget to counter BDS, and is paying US students to improve Israel's image.

WATER; SALARIES; PRODUCTION

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the minimum daily requirement of water for human health is 100 litres/day/person. Palestinians are gettinng 73 ltr, Israelis average 300 ltr and settlers get 700-900 lts/day/person. (Cows consume 400 lt/day/cow. Guess who can't keep a cow.)

The price of water in Palestine, which buys its own water back from Israel at 4 times what it costs inside Israel,  makes production cost more. Pal production has dropped 50%.

Palestinian average salary is 1450 NIS/month ($387.00)  45% of pop = low income.

Israel forbids Pal to manufacture 61 common medicines bec. they are made in Israel.

A Paris Agreement (?) forbids Pal to produce salt, cement flour, sugar, etc.

LACK OF ID OF ANY KIND - 70,000 CHILDREN have no ID, denied at birth so they can't get married, attend an Israeli university, nor travel outside country.

PALESTINE NATIONAL CONSMPTION = $3.9 B of which $3.4 B is in products or services produced in settlements, because most Israeli production is in settlements. Pal consumption = 6% of Israeli economy.