The Israeli assault on Gaza at the end of December
2008 and into January 2009 was a tipping point for many
with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For
CODEPINK it no longer felt possible to sit on
the sidelines and do nothing while white phosphorous
bombs rained down on the people of Gaza -- bombs paid
for by American tax dollars.
CODEPINK led several humanitarian delegations
to Gaza, in March and June of 2009, where we witnessed
the devastating wake of Operation Cast Lead, and saw
the debilitating effects of a two-year blockade on the
people of the Gaza Strip. We also went to Israel where
we met with Palestinians and Israelis who were working
for a just peace for both their peoples, and who invited
us to join their struggle.
Decades of a so-called “peace process” have
only resulted in further dispossession and oppression
of Palestinians, both inside Israel and in the Occupied
Territories: home demolitions in East Jerusalem, settlement
expansion in the West Bank, the Annexation wall separating
Palestinians from their land and from each other, and
the terrorizing of Gazan fishermen and West Bank farmers.
What recourse do we have as concerned citizens, whose
tax dollars are subsidizing a brutal occupation and
whose government blocks any meaningful international
response to Israel's flouting of international
law? We have at our disposal the non-violent tool of
boycott, which was successfully used during the Civil
Rights Movement here in the United States and against
the Apartheid Regime of South Africa.
In June of 2009 CODEPINK
launched its Stolen Beauty boycott campaign (www.stolenbeauty.org)
against the Israeli cosmetics manufacturer Ahava Dead
Sea Laboratories. We chose Ahava because, although it
labels its products as "made in Israel," its
main manufacturing plant is located in an illegal settlement
in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank; and its practice
of excavating mud from the shores of the Dead Sea in
the Occupied West Bank for use in its products is against
international law. The settlements in the West Bank—all
of which are illegal under international law—are
an impediment to a just peace for both Israelis and
Palestinians.
In September 2009, following the endorsement of
CODEPINK's Stolen Beauty Ahava boycott by
the U.S.
Campaign Against the Israeli Occupation,
CODEPINK Women for Peace signed onto the official
Palestinian
Unified Call for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions.
In so doing, we join with hundreds of Palestinian civil
society groups and many international organizations
committed to pressuring Israel into adherence with international
and human rights law.
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