IPSC Demo Fyffes AGM, Mon 31st May

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Wednesday May 26, 2004 22:53 by . - Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign supportpalestine at ireland dot com 085 7169 127

Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign calls on Fyffes to support the growing boycott of Israeli goods


Demonstration 10am Monday 31 May outside Fyffes Agm, Burlington Hotel

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign will demonstrate outside the AGM of Fyffes at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel on Monday where it will call on the company to cease trading with Israel until the human rights of Palestinians are respected.

Fyffes are the sole distributors of Israeli fresh produce in Ireland.

Salah Afifi, spokesperson for the IPSC said:
“With the recent escalation of violence towards the Palestinian people, and
in particular those of Gaza, we demand that Fyffes explain its continued
support for the Israeli fruits industry. As sole distributors of Jaffa and
Carmel, Fyffes has a responsibility to ensure its products are distributed
from sources which respect human rights”.

Furthermore, much of the Israeli fruit industry is located on Palestinian
land annexed illegally in 1967, with Fyffes full knowledge.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the European umbrella body for
Palestine support groups, the ECCP, recently handed the Secretary General of
the Department of Foreign Affairs petitions signed by 275 European
parliamentarians and 210 European NGOs, calling for trade sanctions against
Israel unless human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories are ended.

The parliamentarians' petition, signed by 52 Irish TDs, Senators and MEPs
from all parties as well as independents, pointed out that the construction
of the 'separation wall' through the West Bank is the culmination of years
of human rights abuses.

In particular, Fianna Fáil senator Terry Leyden has called for a boycott of
Israel, drawing parallels with the boycott of South African goods by Dunnes
Stores workers during the apartheid regime.

The further 12,000 Irish signatures collected by the IPSC can leave no doubt
that the boycott is growing rapidly. The IPSC demand that Fyffes should
take action in support of human rights, and ignoring that call will bring
further and more intensified consumer actions to bear on the company.

While Israeli products flow freely across the world, Palestinian homes,
crops and livelihoods are increasingly being destroyed.

The IPSC will be protesting outside the Burlington Hotel, Ballsbridge at
10.00am on Monday 31st May to create awareness amongst Fyffes shareholders
attending their annual general meeting.