To The Independent,
In your January 17 article entitled “Natural
History Museum Attacked over Links to ‘Illegal'
Israeli Company” there are many points
that one could argue, including the use of the
italics around the word illegal. But I will restrict
myself to two.
At the end of the piece, the reporter writes,
“The company has previously said that the
Dead Sea mud and materials used in its products
are excavated from Israeli land outside the occupied
territories and that Mitzpe Shalem is not an illegal
settlement.” This sentence contains two
claims by Ahava that I know to be patently false.
All Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian
territory of the West Bank, including Mitzpe Shalem,
are illegal under international law according
to the International Court of Justice, all major
human rights organizations, the Israeli human
rights organization B'Tselem, the UN, and almost
all governments worldwide. Only the Israeli government
and as, we are told here, Ahava make claims to
the contrary. Ahava can call Mitzpe Shalem a kibbutz,
or a collective farm, or a space station, but
that doesn't make it any less an illegal
settlement. Secondly, there is documentary evidence
that Ahava does source the mud used in its products
from the occupied shores of the Dead Sea. Responding
to a query from Who Profits, a project of the
Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace, the Israeli
Civil Administration, which governs Area C of
the West Bank, confirmed via letter (that you
can see in the original
Hebrew or in English
translation) that Ahava was granted a permit
to excavate mud from the shores of the Occupied
West Bank near the settlement of Kalia, which
is a co-owner of Ahava and subsidized by the company's
profits. By sourcing the mud used in its products
from occupied shores, Ahava is flouting the Geneva
Conventions, which specifically prohibit the exploitation
of occupied natural resources. The legal term
for this exploitation is PILLAGE.
Sincerely,
Nancy Kricorian
Campaign Manager, Stolen Beauty Ahava Boycott
New York, New York
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