As we commemorate Six Day War, support AMP’s Ramadan date boycott

(WASHINGTON DC 05/05/2015) -- On Saturday, June 6, Palestinians and their supporters will mark 48 years since the 1967 Six Day War, when Israeli forces occupied the remaining 22 percent of historic Palestine left over from the 1948 Nakba.

During this military assault, which was surpassed in brutality only by Israel’s attack on Gaza in the summer or 2014, Zionist forces displaced another 350,000 Palestinians from their homes. Many refugees from 1948 were made refugees again.

Forty-eight years since the Six Day way of 1967; and 67 years since the 1948 Nakba.

How long must Palestinians wait for their inalienable human rights and their individual rights to return to their homeland? How long until the international community exercises its political will to force Israel to comply with international law? How long until the United States ends the double standard in its foreign policy and ends unconditional support for Israeli policies that contravene international law and deprive Palestinians of their basic human rights?

The international community is losing patience with Israel’s occupation.

At a high-level conference on Palestinian refugees at the United Nations this week, convened by the UN Relief and Works Agency and attended by AMP, representatives from dozens of member countries called for an end to the occupation and a political solution to the Middle East “conflict.”

“It’s clear the vast majority of members of the international community do not support Israeli policies that contravene international law,” said Osama Abuirshaid, AMP national policy director, who spoke during the comments section at the UN conference. “What we need, though, is the political will to back up this sentiment as well as a shift in American foreign policy that currently allows Israel to act with impunity.”

As proof of Europe’s impatience at Israeli impunity, many countries are turning to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) as a means to pressure Israel to comply with international law. In fact in April, foreign ministers from 16 European countries signed onto a letter demanding the EU require full labeling of Israeli goods produced in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which will make boycott and also enacting punitive measures easier.

“BDS is a tool to force Israel to comply with international law in the absence of political, financial and diplomatic pressure to do so,” Abuirshaid said. “Eventually, as BDS grows we will start to see a political shift, much like we did in South Africa as a result of the anti-apartheid boycott movement.”

This year, the commemoration of the Six Day War falls shortly before the start of Ramadan. AMP is encouraging everyone to support justice for Palestine by participating in its fourth annual Ramadan Israeli Occupation Date boycott by refusing to purchase any dates marketed by Hadiklaim and Mehadrin, or the brands Jordan River, Jordan River Bio-Tops or King Solomon.

Last year, AMP’s boycott reached 1.6 million people on social media and 20,000 postcards with the boycottable brands were distributed across the nation. AMP, with your help, hopes to surpass those numbers. Get more information on the boycott at www.ampalestine.org/justicedates or email dateboycott.ampalestine.org.