Apartheid Israel Policy To Retain Area C

                A recent Apartheid Israeli Supreme Court decision allows the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources to fund the military occupation of Palestine.  It also suggests a long term policy within Apartheid Israel to fund the continued occupation of Palestine indefinitely.  This has been the policy of Apartheid Israel since the Oslo Agreement.

The Court decision involves quarries in Area C in the West Bank which under the Oslo Agreement is controlled by Apartheid Israel.  This decision sheds light on how Apartheid Israel wants to retain Area C and give Areas A & B to the Palestinians under limited rule.

                Without going into the illegality of the ruling under international law, the decision renders some long term policy considerations within the Apartheid Israeli government.  In a previous article entitled “Will Areas A & B become Palestine?” I stated that Apartheid Israel’s policy is to keep Area C and give Areas A & B to the Palestinians, thus self-imposing a “peace” solution upon the Palestinians.  I stated that already Apartheid Israel is calling the checkpoints as “terminals” and “crossings” which is an obvious reference to a border.  Additionally, Apartheid -in-Chief Benjamin Netanyahu wants to give additional powers to the Palestinian Authority in Area B so as to entice them to continue to the talks that question when the peace talks should begin and to thwart any reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.

                The decision by the Apartheid Israeli Supreme Court sheds a new argument for my analysis.  The decision had the audacity to state that even if the exploitation of the Palestinian quarries

“…still takes place during the next thirty years at the estimated extent (in an estimated value of approximately 7.2 million tons on average, annually, for the next fifteen years, and approximately 11.2 million tons on average, annually, for the following fifteen years), the total overall consumption for the whole abovementioned period will exhaust about half a percent of the overall mining potential in the Area, which stands at approximately 65.1 billion tons”  (emphasis added)

This reference to the “next thirty years” came from the “States [Israel] estimation” according to the Judgment opinion.  It unequivocally states that Apartheid Israel is looking three decades ahead for the continuation of the illegal occupation.  Referring to Area C, the opinion confirms the statement that the “Civil Administration” states that “…these quarries are established on Israeli state land…”  

Apartheid Israel has no intention of giving up Area C upon which the illegal settlements have been erected.  By hook or crook, Apartheid Israel is moving forward to retain Area C.   Unfortunately, the Palestinian authority had negotiated “the responsibility over the issue of quarries and mining within Area C– including licensing authorities, supervision, their expansion and operation” to the Apartheid Israeli Civil Administration.  Such responsibility was to be gradually transferred from the Civil Administration to Palestinian hands as a part of a comprehensive process aimed at transferring powers and responsibilities within those areas.   This gradual transfer of power to Palestinian hands was to be part of the final status talks that never materialize.   Thus, if these talks never materialize then they will remain in Apartheid Israeli hands. 

Within the Oslo Agreement and the Interim Agreements, the parties, Palestinian Authority and Israel, had agreed that during the interim term the quarries would remain active, and it was even decided that in case any questions should arise in the course of the process of transferring rights over the quarries, such questions shall be discussed by a joint committee.  The parties further agreed to respect the recommendations of said committee, and it had been also agreed that "until the committee had reached its decision, the Palestinian party shall refrain from taking any measures that could negatively affect those quarries"

The Court’s decision generally stated that the issue of the quarries was a political decision that was addressed by Apartheid Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the court will not undue a political agreement with a foreign state. Additionally, the Court, in an obvious attempt to seem in compliance with the 4th Geneva Convention, ruled that the royalties collected from the excavation of the quarries helps fund the military occupation and helps employ Palestinians. 

What a quagmire situation the Palestinians have dug themselves into?  The Israeli Supreme Court will not interfere in the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources and the Apartheid Israeli government will not discuss final status talks thus leaving everything in Area C in limbo but in the control of the occupier.

  

This has been Apartheid Israel’s plan with the signing of the Oslo Agreement.  What else can anyone conclude when Apartheid Israel has continued to build more and more illegal settlements in the West Bank after the signing of the Oslo Agreement?  What else can anyone further conclude when “the settler population has grown consistently between 4-6% per year over the last two decades, a much higher rate of growth than Israeli society as a whole (1.5%).”[1]

                The Palestinian Authority must resist all efforts to fall into the scheme of this Apartheid Israeli policy.  It should not negotiate with Apartheid Israel and must continue to expose Apartheid Israel for what it truly is an Apartheid State of Israel. It must support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement worldwide. 


(© Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

---

[1]Israeli Settlements, Palestine Monitor, Exposing Life Under Occupation, http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article7

ضرب اسرائيل حيث يضر اقتصاديا

"التفكير من خلال مربع"

( قمت بترجمة هذه المقالة على Google. كما هو محدود لغتي العربية لقراءةالكلام والقليل جدا، لا أستطيع أن يشهدوا على دقة الترجمة، وأنا لا تقدم سوىأنها على سكن لقرائي. )

ونحن ندخل عام 2012 ، نحن الفلسطينيين ، جنبا إلى جنب مع انصار لدينا ، والحاجة إلى البدء في التفكير "من خلال" مربع. وأقول "من خلال" مربع لمسيرتنا من خلال الاستقلال لا يختلف عن مسيرة جنوب افريقيا للاطاحة نظام الفصل العنصري وليس خلافا لمسيرة الهند للإطاحة استعمار بريطانيا العظمى.يمكننا أن نتعلم أيضا من الأميركيين الأفارقة في نضالهم من أجل المساواة العرقية. يمكننا أن نتعلم من ما فعلوه ، وفي الوقت نفسه ، أن تكون خلاقة أيضا.
في جنوب أفريقيا ، تحمل نيلسون مانديلا أكثر من 27 عاما من السجن لجلب الدعم الدولي ضد نظام الفصل العنصري الأبيض في جنوب افريقيا.المهاتما غاندي ألهم شعبه على الثورة ضد الإمبراطورية البريطانية الاستعمارية من المشي أكثر من 240 كيلومتر من المحيط إلى جعل الملح ، الذي كان حتى ذلك يمكن استيرادها من انكلترا في التعريفات الجمركية المرتفعة جدا. نظم الدكتور مارتن لوثر كينغ مقاطعة في شركة الحافلات لسياسات العزل ومسيرة لسلمى ، ألاباما للاحتجاج على القيود المفروضة على حقوق التصويت للأميركيين من أصل أفريقي. أدى كل من هؤلاء القادة لحقوق الإنسان بفعل ما كان الأكثر عملية لبيئتهم.الفلسطينيون بحاجة إلى أن تفعل الشيء نفسه.هناك أولئك الذين يريدون مقاطعة المنتجات الإسرائيلية بسبب الفصل العنصري والممارسات العنصرية للدولة الفصل العنصري في إسرائيل عبر تأشيرة دخول للفلسطينيين. بينما أتفق مع هذا الرأي مع تلك التي تعيش خارج فلسطين ، ويمكن لتلك التي تعيش في فلسطين ليس مقاطعة البضائع الإسرائيلية تماما الفصل العنصري. السبب هو أن نظام الفصل العنصري قامت به اسرائيل للفلسطينيين يعتمد كليا على بضائعها.اسرائيل ، من خلال خنق انها تعقد على غزة وانها نحت تصل من الضفة الغربية ، وقد فعلت ذلك عن طريق تدمير الصناعة الفلسطينية والحياة الزراعية. المستوطنون يدمرون الفصل العنصري بساتين الزيتون من قبل مئات الافدنة.وبسبب هذا الاعتماد على السلع والبضائع الإسرائيلية ، يمكن للفلسطينيين في فلسطين ليس تماما مقاطعة جميع البضائع الفصل العنصري الإسرائيلي. أنه ليس من العملي. لذا ، علينا أن نفكر من خلال مربع. نحن بحاجة إلى مقاطعة البضائع محدودة من الفصل العنصري اسرائيل لدفع رجال الأعمال الإسرائيليين والمجتمعات الزراعية لتصبح خائفة.قيل لي من قبل أحد الأصدقاء في غزة انه اذا كان يريد الخيار ، وانه يحتاج الى الحصول عليها من المزارعين الإسرائيليين الذين توفيرها لسكان غزة. أجبته يمكن أن تذهب من دون خيار لمدة أسبوع أو اثنين؟ تخيل لو أمرت الفلسطينيين ، وقال نعم أنا أمر ، محلات البقالة على التوقف عن شراء الخيار وبعد ذلك بعيدا مع الفلسطينيين لم الخيار من احتياجاتها الغذائية. ماذا سيحدث للمزارعين خيار الفصل العنصري في إسرائيل؟ فإن الخيار تتعفن في مستودعاتها. وهذا خيار دفع المزارعين إلى الإفلاس. سوف تخرج من المزارع التجارية. ثم لا يمكن للفلسطينيين الأسبوع التالي المقاطعة ثم الموز أو أي منتج آخر الذي يتم توفيره من قبل إسرائيل الفصل العنصري. وسوف يتم في الأسبوع التالي قاطعوا منتج آخر الإسرائيلية... وهلم جرا.تخيل مدى قلق الأعمال الفصل العنصري الإسرائيلي والمجتمعات الزراعية والتي يمكن أن يتساءل من ناتجها سيكون المستهدف.هذه هي خطة بسيطة. فمن غير العنيفة. هذا ما هو مطلوب لتغيير الوضع الراهن.إذا كان الفصل العنصري الإسرائيلي الأعمال والمجتمعات الزراعية سعداء مع الوضع الراهن ، فإن الوضع الراهن لن يتغير. لدينا لتغيير الوضع الراهن.الفلسطينيون في فلسطين بحاجة إلى المقاطعة ، ولكن المقاطعة واحد أو العديد من المنتجات في وقت واحد. دعونا دفع الشركات الفصل العنصري الإسرائيلي والمجتمعات الزراعية مجنون.علينا أن نكون مبدعين. نحن بحاجة إلى مساعدة أنفسنا. نحن بحاجة إلى السيطرة على مصيرنا. علينا أن نفكر من خلال مربع.(Zanayed © ، فادي يسمح نشر أو توزيع هذه المواد شريطة أن لا تغيير محتواها وأشار المصدر وصاحبه).

The Lowe’s Controversy—Moving Forward

                Three weeks after the home improvement store Lowe’s offended the American-Arab community by pulling its ad from the TLC channel show All American Muslim and after a lackluster response by the national American-Arab organizations, we need to look at how the “community” needs to act now to prevent future affronts.  The problem with our community is that we are reactionary rather than "preventionary” community. Yes, this is a new word which means that we have to take action now to prevent any further politician, corporation or any other person from affronting our community.  We need to make the next perpetrator of racism an example of why such action will not be tolerated.

  

              Our community has mandated confronting and preventing discrimination to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) which is celebrating its 31^st year, having been founded by Senator James Aburizk (D-SD   1973-1979) in 1980 after FBI agents dressed up like Arab oil sheiks to “sting” members of Congress. Outraged at this negative portrayal of American-Arabs, Senator Aburizk went around the US and organized ADC chapters in major cities. I was at the founding meeting in Chicago in 1980 and served as the Chicago Regional Director in 1984 and Chicago Chapter President in 1988-1990 and again in 2009.

            ADC enjoyed many victories and was very successful in combating discrimination in the 1980s. During that time, ADC confronted discrimination head on.  One notable campaign in 1988 involved the Nomad doll. The book A Short Course in International Marketing Blunders shows how a US corporation’s (Coleco) attempt to ethnically stereotype American-Arabs caused its downfall.

What landed on Coleco, however, wasn’t the issue of shelf life. It was the issue of ethnic stereotyping engendered in the Nomad, one of Rambo’s most ruthless enemies==a burnoose-wearing, obviously Arab figure described in its package insert as ‘dangerous, cold, unstable, and treacherous’ with ‘an intimate knowledge of sabotage.’ In short, the Nomad action figure embodied everything people thought they knew about real Arabs.

The outrage was deafening, with Arab-American community activist groups and others demanding the toy be removed from store shelves.  And newspapers across the country reported on planned boycotts and anti-Coleco media campaigns.[1]

                ADC organized a massive campaign across the country which helped bring “Coleco—once the King of Toys and global marketer of Scrabble and Parchesi board games” out of business.[2] The campaign involved demonstrations in front of Toys R Us stores and a more effective telephone campaign that sent hundreds if not thousands of calls into the Coleco headquarters complaining about the insidious attempt to stereotype American-Arabs.  ADC taught an American corporation a lesson in the 1980s and “prevented” other corporations from manufacturing another racist toy.

                This lesson, however, was short lived as the first and second Gulf Wars and 911 perpetuated further negative stereotypes against American-Arabs.  Additionally, ADC’s stance during the first Gulf War in which its position was that Iraq’s invasion into Kuwait was an internal Arab matter for which the US and the world should not get involved hurt ADC’s stance and funding. As a result, ADC ‘s prestige as the premier American-Arab organization suffered.  Consequently, ADC has not fought the good fight against discrimination since.

                Now in 2011, ADC needs to go back to its roots.  ADC gained prestige by combating discrimination head on, i.e. Coleco.  The incident with Lowe’s was not confronted with the same pizazz and fervor as ADC confronted discrimination in the 1980s. Back then, computers were not widespread; the internet, and consequently email, was not a part of our lives; and cell phones were still too premature.  Yet, ADC responded instantaneously (within a week, which was good in those days).  With the Lowe’s, ADC’s response was at best lukewarm—calling for demonstrations by the second weekend.  

                While the NY Times on December 23, 2011 issued an excellent editorial which called Lowe’s decision to pull its ad a foolish judgment call,[3] it was not because of any American-Arab outrage.

                ADC needs to follow-up on this issue.  It needs to meet with Lowe’s officers and present a program to educate the American public about Muslims and Arabs and present Lowe’s with the bill.  Lowe’s has to rectify its image with Muslims and Arabs by combating the Islamophobia that has engulfed the American mainstream.

                Additionally, ADC needs to develop a rapid response committee of American-Arab activists who will respond to text messages instantaneously whenever discrimination rears its ugly head again—and it will.  In this age of lighting communications, ADC needs to respond quickly to get its message across.  The AT&T commercial which pokes fun at other wireless networks for disseminating information that is 42 seconds old is a reflection on how fast communication is moving in this second decade of the 21^st Century.  

                In retrospect, ADC should have sent a text message to its committed activist such as the following 159 character message within hours of the Lowe’s controversy:

Call Lowes 1-8004456937 press 4 then 3 and complain about its pulling ad from All American Muslim Show. Tell them you will not shop there unless ad is replaced

                I communicated this text message to an ADC staff member—but nothing was done. 

                Now let us understand what we need to do to move forward—to be a “preventionary” force.  ADC needs to identify 100-200 of its very active members who will be willing to act immediately whenever it receives an “action alert” text message from the national ADC office.   Additionally, these members must be committed to get 10 relatives and friends to so act.  Had Lowe’s received a  1,000 telephone calls within hours of its decision to pull the ads, it may have rescinded its decision or at the very least it would have put ADC in a better bargaining position to have Lowe’s help ADC fight the Islamophobia that created this controversy.

                Additionally, ADC executives need to read Saul D. Alinsky’s book Rules For Radicals.   Although written prior to his death in 1972, Allinsky’s book provides out of the box thinking for organizing campaigns for social justice.   ADC needs to be creative, spontaneous and enthusiastic in meeting its mission to confront discrimination against American-Arabs just as it did in the 1980s.  


(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

---

[1]A Short Course in International Marketing Blunders, p. 136 http://books.google.com/books?id=zz1L3nnNmMcC&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=Nomad+doll+ADC&source=bl&ots=ZU717vjtr-&sig=2auUpAu2PZj2raunSxYkip5sjvo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Fev1TrukA8eSgwf8tpH-AQ&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Nomad%20doll%20ADC&f=false (See also 1998 - Coleco Nomad was one of Rambo's antagonists from this mid-eighties line of action figures. The Arab community protested the stereotypical portrayal of an Arab as a terrorist and were successful in having the figure pulled.  http://www.bigredtoybox.com/cgi-bin/toynfo.pl?condolindexI know the controversy was in 1988 or there about, not 1998 as this site states.)

[2] Supra

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/opinion/an-all-american-misstep.html?_r=1

ADC has failed to protect American-Arabs

                The mentality imbedded into Arab culture from decades of decadent dictators ruthlessly ruling is that everyone wants to lead and nobody wants to follow.  Thus we have too many chiefs and no warriors. It is the same with our American-Arab organizations. Every organization wants to operate exclusively from the rest of any other organization to the detriment of the American-Arab advancement.

                This past two weeks the American-Arab community missed a golden opportunity to confront bigotry and racism in the Newt Gingrich and Lowes Corporation Islamophobia incidences.   While major American-Arab organizations each individually tried to “do something” their efforts will be unsuccessful because each claps with one hand.

                The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has failed miserably to live by its mandate to fight discrimination.  When Lowes pulled its ads from the TV show “All American Muslim” because an insignificant organization called Florida Family Association objected to a positive portrayal of Muslims in the US, ADC should have taken immediate action.   This weekend, finally, ADC is trying to organize demonstrations in front of Lowes stores across the country. Too little too late.

ADC should have rallied immediate widespread support across the country to organize massive telephone calls to Lowes customer care center during this Christmas gift giving season—effectively shutting down their telephone operations.  ADC needs a rapid response action alert system whereby it can respond to acts of racism and discrimination within hours. After 30 years of operation, it is absolutely amazing that ADC does not have such a system.  ADC should use the electronic media in set up a rapid text messaging system to move the young people to action.

                Each American-Arab organization has a specific purpose.  As I stated, ADC’s mandate is to fight discrimination.  The American-Arab Institute (AAI) headed by Jim Zogby and George Salem, has distinguished itself as the leading organization in improving American-Arab participation in the electoral process by increasing the number of voters (Yalla Vote), getting people to become involved in political campaigns or assisting candidates to run for political office.  The American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine (AFRP) and other town based Palestinian organizations keep their members together because of their loyalties to their specific town. Religious organizations have a specific faith based membership.  Political organizations who owe their allegiance to a particular party or government in the Middle East have their own agendas.  Business organizations, who can really benefit from a cohesive community, have not attempted to produce an environment of cooperation.

                What is common to all these organizations is a self interest in promoting the American-Arab image. Everyone wants greater American-Arab participation in the electoral process; wants to stop the discrimination and the Islamophobia engulfing America; wants to promote family ties between members of “hometowns” in the Middle East; wants to promote religious activities within the community and wants a strong business community.  Yet each organization acts so independently that the greater good does not prevail and ironically, the interest of each organization is thus marginalized.

                ADC should reach out to AAI, AFRP and other cultural, political and religious organizations to promote the common interest of fighting discrimination and Islamophobia. AAI should reach out to ADC and these other organizations and help promote participation in the American electoral system.  The AFRP and other organizations should encourage its members to participate in ADC, AAI and others to promote American-Arab causes. 

                The problem with these leading organizations is that they operate in a mutually exclusive environment rather than a mutually inclusive environment.  Each organization is doing whatever it does with its own members rather than working together to get beneficial results which benefit the entire community. In the final analysis, the result of each organization is a dismal failure.

                Thus when Lowes and Newt Gingrich took aim at the American-Arab community, they did it knowing that the community does not have the ability to fight back.  This is really sad.

                It is time for American-Arabs to start telling its organizations to start cooperating with each other. They owe it to each other, they owe it to the American-Arab community. 


(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

Missing A Gingrich Opportunity

By: Fadi Zanayed

The American-Arab community missed two golden opportunities this past week when former House Speaker and Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stated the Palestinians are an “invented” people and when Lowes Corporation succumbed to Islamophobia by pulling its ad from the reality show All American Muslim.  Most national Arab organizations issued press releases and made an effort to call its members to action, but beyond that, nothing significant materialized.

It is unfortunate that the national Arab organizations could not meet and mount a major campaign to combat these racist actions by a politician and a major American corporation.  Action to make each of them reverse their actions is not very hard.

Let me give an example what we in Chicago did in 1985 to force a local television station to issue an apology within one hour.  On Tuesday November  20, 1985 ABC local sportscaster, the late Tim Weigel, made a derogatory statement about Arabs on the 6 pm News Broadcast because the Monday Night Football Half Time Show chose  to update the nation on what was happening in the Mediterranean Sea as the Achillo Lauro Ship was being hijacked instead of its usual highlights of the previous Sunday football games as the Chicago Bears romped the Dallas Cowboys (44-0).

The next Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., I, as the Regional Director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), called the station to demand an apology.  When I could not get through to the news director, I called local ADC members and friends and asked them to call the news station to demand an apology and to have the news director call me.  I made about 30 calls and asked people to make similar calls.  I supplied the telephone number.

By 10 a.m., the news director called the ADC office, asked to speak to me and made an apology.  I demanded an on –the-air  apology which was given later that evening.  The news director asked me to call off the telephone calls as they were disrupting the news station.  I redoubled my efforts.

The lesson here is that we used an unorthodox method to shut down a business that made disparaging remarks about Arabs and we won.  In retrospect, I should have demanded more—such as a personal apology at one of our dinners or a sensitivity training course for the news staff.

This week, we as a community should have shut down the Lowe’s headquarters.  We should have sent thousands of calls from all over the country to demand an apology; to resume the ads; and to make a significant contribution to ADC to help fight the Islamophobia that has engulfed this country.  We should have demonstrated in front of Lowes stores all over the country until our demands were met.

This week, we as a community should have shut down the Republican National Committee telephone lines by sending thousands of telephone calls to demand that the RNC distance itself from the racist statement by Gingrich.   

We did not do any of these things because our national organizations are too bent up looking for their own personal glory rather than working for the glory of the community as a whole.

I sent an email to the American Arab Institute, after receiving an email action alert to call the RNC, which I did.  I called upon James Zogby’s organization to mount a telephone tree campaign to get people to call.  I heard nothing back.

The National ADC office issued its email newsletter which contained both incidents.  Whether people did anything is not noteworthy as neither Gingrich, the RNC, or Lowes apologized to the American-Arab Community.

In essence, the American-Arab community fumbled yet another opportunity to once and for all stop the discrimination against us. We got romped!. 

The telephone number for the RNC is 202.863.8500).

The telephone number for Lowes is (1-800-445-6937).

(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

HITTING ISRAEL WHERE IT HURTS---ECONOMICALLY

"Thinking through the box!"

As we enter 2012, we Palestinians, along with our supporters, need to start thinking “through” the box. I say “through” the box because our march through independence is not unlike that of the South Africans march to overthrow apartheid and is not unlike India’s march to overthrow the colonization of Great Britain.  We can also learn from African Americans in their struggle for racial equality. We can learn from what they did and at the same time, be creative as well.

In South Africa, Nelson Mendala endured over 27 years of prison to bring international support against the White Apartheid Regime in South Africa. Mohandas Gandhi inspired his people to revolt against the imperialist British empire by walking over 240 miles to the ocean to make salt, which theretofore had to be imported from England at a very high tarriff. Dr. Martin Luther King organized boycotts at a bus company for its segration politices and march to Selma, Alabama to protest the restrictions on voting rights of the African-Americans.   Each of these human rights leaders led by doing what was most practical for their environment.

Palestinians need to do the same.

There are those who want to boycott Apartheid Israeli products because of the apartheid practices of the Apartheid State of Israel visa via the Palestinians. While I concur with this sentiment with those that live outside of Palestine, those that live in Palestine cannot totally boycott Apartheid Israeli goods. The reason is that Apartheid Israel has made the Palestinians totally depended on its goods.

Israel, through it’s strangle hold on Gaza and it’s carving up of the West Bank, has done this by destroying Palestinian industry and agricultural life. The Apartheid settlers are destroying olive groves by the hundreds of acres.

Because of this dependency on Israeli goods, Palestinians in Palestine cannot totally boycott all apartheid Israeli goods. It is not practical.  Therefore, we need to think through the box. We need to boycott limited goods from Apartheid Israel to drive the Israeli business and farming communities to become scared.

I was told by a friend in Gaza that if he wanted a cucumber, he needed to get it from an Israeli farmer who supplied it to the Gaza residents.  I replied can you go without cucumbers for a week or two? Imagine if Palestinians ordered, yes I said ordered, their grocers to stop buying cucumbers and then Palestinians did away with cucumbers from their dietary needs.  What will happen to the cucumber farmers in Apartheid Israel? The cucumber will rot in their warehouses. This will drive the cucumber farmer into bankruptcy.  The farmer will go out of business.  Then the following week Palestinians can then boycott bananas or any other product that is supplied by Apartheid Israel. And the following week another Israeli product will be boycotted…and so on.

Imagine how worried the Apartheid Israeli business and agricultural communities will be wondering which of their product will be targeted.

This is a simple plan. It is non-violent. It is what is needed to change the status quo.

If the Apartheid Israeli business and agricultural communities are happy with the status quo, the status quo will not change.  We have to change the status quo.

Palestinians in Palestine need to boycott, but boycott one or several products at a time. Let’s drive the Apartheid Israeli businesses and agricultural communities crazy.

We have to be creative. We need to help ourselves. We need to take control of our destiny. We need to think through the box.


( © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)