AMP announces date boycott to coincide with Ramadan

(WASHINGTON DC 06/15/2015) -- The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a national education and advocacy organization, announces its fourth annual boycott of Israeli dates in advance of the start of Ramadan on Thursday. The campaign, “This Ramadan, Make a Date with Justice,” is an answer to the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel to force it to comply with international law in the absence of international diplomatic, political or financial pressure to do so.

Because Muslims typically break their daylong fasts by eating dates and sipping water, they are one of the largest consumer groups of Medjool dates in the United States. The USDA valued Israeli imports of the Medjool date variety at $51 million, according to a 2011 World Bank report. Israel exports the majority of the world’s Medjool date variety. They’re grown on farms located in the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea area, regions in the West Bank now under Israeli occupation. The land, which once belonged to Palestinians, now houses Israeli settlements, in violation of international law.

 Since the occupation has decimated the Palestinian economy, many Palestinians, even children, are forced to work on settlement farms under harsh conditions, for substandard pay and with no job security. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has said that nearly 7,000 Palestinian children, ages 5-7 years old, worked in settlements in 2008.

AMP is calling for a boycott of Jordan River, Jordan River Bio-Tops, King Solomon brands and any dates bearing the logos from distributors Hadiklaim or Mehadrin. Instead of buying dates grown in Israeli settlements,

AMP encourages people to “buy American,” and offers links to date farms in the Bard Valley in California.

“Sometimes consumers think they’re buying from Palestinians when they see brands like Jordan River,” said Osama Abuirshaid, policy analyst and director of AMP’s Washington DC office. “Buying Israeli dates helps to support the settlement industry and that, in turn, helps Israel maintain its occupation, in contravention of international law.”

Abuirshaid added, “Even US policy says settlements are an obstacle to peace. Our goal is to raise awareness of how settlements detrimentally impact Palestinians and to encourage people to embrace BDS, a tool to force Israel to comply with international law.”

The date boycott is especially relevant this year, in light of the success of the global BDS movement and the recent push by the Israeli government and its American supporters to counter it. On June 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a commitment of about $26 million (NIS $100 million) to the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Information to fight BDS. Netanyahu also pledged Israeli government support to the attendees of a ‘secret’ meeting in Las Vegas organized last week by Jewish-American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, whose purpose was to build counter BDS strategies. Adelson purportedly raised $51 million to combat BDS in the United States.

Last year, AMP distributed more than 20,000 date boycott postcards in mosques across the country and a social media campaign reached 1.6 million in just one hour. This year, numbers are similar and interest is growing, even among non-Muslims. Also this year, ethnic grocery store owners are joining the boycott and are displaying “Proud to be Israeli Occupation Date Free” posters in their shops.

“We know that this campaign is relatively small compared to global efforts like those against Soda Stream or Hewlett Packard, but it’s an excellent way to bring BDS to the Muslim-American community,” said Kristin Szremski, AMP national director of media and communications. “Globally, boycotts of agricultural products from Israeli settlements caused a 14 percent fall in revenue in 2013. We are all just pieces of a larger effort called BDS that one day will bring justice for Palestinians.”

In keeping with its mission to educate the public, AMP has made materials available for free. Postcards, brochures, talking points, a Power Point Presentation and video are all available for download for people wanting to put on a date boycott presentation or help spread the boycott.

More information is available at www.ampalestine.org, or email [email protected] for materials