Carmel Agrexco Summer Fruits Campaign
View the leaflet for the Campaign here
Summer 2008 Callout
View the leaflet for the Campaign here
vegetables and herbs from Israel and the occupied territories. Agrexco
are one of the three biggest Israeli companies exporting from occupied
Palestine and account for 70% of exports of fresh produce from the
occupied territories. Agrexco operate under the Carmel, Jaffa and Coral
brand names. Their products are bought by all major British
supermarkets as well as small stores. Britain is an important market
for Agrexco accounting for 60% of their imports to Europe. It is likely
that Agrexco often mislabel their settlement produce as made in Israel
when it is in fact made on occupied Palestinian land. Thousands of
Palestinians are employed in packing houses on Israeli settlements
packing goods to be exported by Carmel Agrexco. These packing houses
are often on land which has been forcibly taken from their communities
Palestinian workers may be paid as little as 30 shekels (4 pounds) a
day and have no sick pay, holiday pay, rights to unionise or contracts.
Children are often employed on these settlements. These workers are
compelled to work for the settlements because of the complete
strangulation of Palestinian agriculture by the Israeli occupation.
Many settlement workers have called on the international community to
boycott and campaign against Carmel Agrexco. During the Summer Carmel
Agrexco import large quantities of oranges, lemons, Galia melons,
grapefruit, grapes and strawberries into the UK as well as luxury
products like dragonfruit. Cherry tomatoes and peppers are also
imported in large quantities during July and August. Here are some
ideas of what you could do:
Highlight the need to boycott these products locally, on your weekly stall
Write to or visit local stores (supermarkets or smaller shops), make
the argument against Agrexco produce and raise awareness of what
products and brand names to avoid
Hold demonstrations, pickets or street theatre outside shops selling Agrexco goods
Contact local Trade Union branches and educate them about Carmel Agrexco products
Hold shopping trolley actions - load up your trolley with Agrexco
products, bring it to the checkout and then tell the cashier/manager
why you are not buying each of the products
[email protected] to let us know about your branches activities. Also why not post your reports at www.indymedia.org.uk. See www.bigcampaign.org and www.palestinecampaign.org for more information and for updates.
