This news was picked up by Mark Elf of Jews sans frontieres, a British site supporting a fair and just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2007/07/return-of-dunnes-stores-strikers.html
On Sunday, July 22, 2007, this article, The return of the Dunnes Stores’ strikers appeared on their site:
The above picture of a picket of one for Dunnes Stores’ Dublin branches is calling on the company to stop stocking Israeli potatoes and asking shoppers to boycott the same.
The symbolism of this is quite remarkable. It is via the humble potato (or its absence) that the Irish know more than a little about the sheer devastation of colonial rule and of course Dunnes Stores was the scene of a great battle between staff and management over the formers solidarity action with the victims of racist rule in South Africa back in the 1980s.
IPSC (Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign) Picket at Dunnes
On Thursday evening, IPSC took to the streets again in our boycott Israeli potatoes campaign. This time the target was Dunnes Stores on George’s St, where we handed out over 500 leaflets in an hour, informing people about the presence of Israeli potatoes on Irish shelves, and why they should join the boycott campaign
Shoppers and passers-by were interested – often wondering: `Why Israeli spuds?’ Answer: they’re often grown on Palestinian land using water stolen from West Bank aquifers. Also, there’s an international boycott campaign against Israel until they abide by international law and end their apartheid rule over Palestinians.
Just as we were about to leave, the management got a bit irked and called the police. The police duly came, but clearly weren’t going to do anything about people who were peacefully leafleting. When the management saw this they relented and started talking to us, letting us explain why we were there. One fellow suggested several times we should really be outside Marks and Spencers, since they have loads more Israeli goods! We parted on good terms, having distributed some leaflets to the staff, explaining why we were there.
Mark Elf commented, “Now Israel really had its chips! Geddit? Ok, I’m sorry.”
Here are some July news briefs about events in Israel-Palestine that Americans are not permitted to see, which are publicized on the IPSC site.
19 Jul 2007
Israeli occupation forces invade Hebron, Bethlehem and Tulkarem, and kidnap at least 17 civilians18 Jul 2007
Knesset passes bill barring renting or leasing “state lands” to Palestinian citizens of Israel13 Jul 2007
Israeli occupation forces kidnap at least eight Palestinians in Nablus11 Jul 2007
US Congress votes (414-0) to condemn Decision by the University and College Union of the United Kingdom to Support a Boycott of Israeli Academia (H RES 467)10 Jul 2007
Israeli occupation forces invade Nablus where they harassed and kidnapped Palestinian civilians9 Jul 2007
Settlers harass and attack Palestinians in the village of Yatta and in Hebron7 Jul 2007
end of Israeli military exercises in the Golan Heights to learn from last year’s mistakes6 Jul 2007
Irish Congress of Trade Unions passes boycott resolution
Israeli occupation forces kidnap Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank5 Jul 2007
Israeli forces attack Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps in Gaza killing at least eleven and injuring scores
We have much to learn from the Irish about the pursuit of civil and human rights, don’t we? Not really. We just have to get back to our liberal civil/human rights agenda.
