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Boycott demo Outside Tescos

On Saturday 13th September 17 people set up a stall outside Tescos in Hove and handed out leaflets to shoppers urging them not to buy Israeli goods.

Two members of the group entered the store, identified herbs and medjoul dates from illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank, piled them in a trolley, and complained to the Assistant Manager on duty that these goods should not be on sale. They explained to him that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, that the produce exported from them is grown on land that has been stolen from Palestinians, and that Tesco is complicit by selling settlement goods. He asserted that buying policy was made by Head Office and it was therefore not his responsiblity.

Palestinian farmers under the Occupation

How do you make a living as a farmer when your land and water has been stolen from you by the Israeli invaders? The answer is that you don’t. You join the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in refugee camps in Jordan, or you work for a pittance in the illegal Israeli settlements spreading like a cancer over the once fertile land of Palestine. The Jordan valley was once the most fertile region for Palestinian farmers.

Settlement Slavery

Waking up before dawn in the small village of Fasayil, deep in the heart of the Jordan Valley, we did not know what to expect. We were hoping to see, and maybe speak to some Palestinians that work in the nearby Israeli settlement farm: Tomer. After a walk down a mud track we arrived outside the farm gates. As the sun started to come up, the workers began to arrive – buses full of women and trucks full of men. It wasn’t until one had passed us by that we saw the line of children, perched along the back end – some no older than 12 or 13. Before long a factory worker arrived.

A Tale of Two Worlds

Edward Said used to say that Western support for the Palestinian cause could only be built through the creation of a national narrative strong enough to challenge Israel’s, and to do this the same story would have to be re-told over and over again until the world starts listening. Writing about a first visit to Palestine feels a bit like becoming a part of that essential retelling.

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