Monday, October 04, 2010
Elder of ZiyonThe Palestinian Authority war against the Israeli Rami Levy chain continues to escalate.
From Ma'an, September 21:
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of National Economy, charged with implementing the boycott of settlement-made goods, announced Tuesday it will be launching a boycott campaign against an Israeli chain of superstores, a statement read.
The ministry said the Rami Levi Shivok Hashikma chain, which has "spread like cancer" following the opening of new stores in Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem.
Distributors and promoters of Rami Levi products will be prosecuted for adverting or selling their goods in the West Bank, and consumers are encouraged to opt for locally made produce instead, which the ministry said is often "thrown and damaged at checkpoints" instead of being sold in the Israeli market.
The ministry further said it is working to form a "solid shield" to protect the Palestinian market and vowed to support locally-made goods.
The chain helps the destruction of the Palestinian economy, the ministry said, adding that it was working to break Israel's monopoly on the market and clear it of settlement-made produce.
According to the Rami Levi website, many of its 15 stores are located in East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements. It also has a number of sister companies, including a clothes store, real estate development, and a wholesale distributor.
"As a wholesale distributor, the company services 450 sales locations in Jerusalem and its surrounding area. The company employs around 1,000 employees and enjoys a constant, continuous growth," the website states.
There have also been scattered protests in front of Rami Levy supermarkets, where protesters try to set fire to cardboard boxes that symbolize "settlement products."
As a result, security has been beefed up at Rami Levy markets in Judea and Samaria - and the Palestinian Authority has been using that additional security as another reason to bully their people away from the peaceful coexistence that Rami Levy supermarkets represent.
From PNN:
The President of the Palestinian Society for Consumer Protection Azmi Shyoukhi said that the fact that the Rami Levy markets have had to bring Israeli security guards at the entrances and the area around the stores symbolizes a retreat on their economic plans and the failure of the store to break into Palestinian markets.
The article goes on to say that the PA has been going to the parking lots of Rami Levy supermarkets to identify cars with Palestinian Authority license plates for the aim of prosecuting the owners of those vehicles. The numbers of Arab consumers have been decreasing because of these threats, and the PA has been bragging that their campaign of threats is working.
According to the article, the stores "seek the subjugation and humiliation of the Palestinian citizen."
Yes, the PA is saying that the owners of Rami Levy are spending millions of shekels building a chain just for the express purpose of humiliating Arabs!
The "consumer protection" head also goes on to repeat the charge that Israel is using the shops to recruit Arabs for the Mossad.
PA Economic Minister Hassan Abu Libneh has also recently spoken out against Rami Levy, as well as on his attempts to "sensitively" strip some 25,000 Palestinian Arabs of their jobs working for Jews in Judea and Samaria.
(h/t Samson)
