UK MUSLIMS BOYCOTT ISRAELI DATES

London, 6 Sya’ban 1434/ 16 June 2013 (MINA) – British Muslims are planning to launch a campaign to boycott dates produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which starts on Tuesday, July 9.

“We want to draw everyone’s attention to the ‘Check the Label – Boycott Israeli Dates’ campaign by holding a national day of action,” the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) said in a statement cited by Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday, June 15.

Buying these dates will mean that your money is going towards supporting the theft of Palestinian land and the oppression of Palestinians,” asserts the MAB, according to OnIslam net report monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

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Being the biggest market for Israeli dates, produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley, the British Muslim community plans to launch a Ramadan campaign to boycott Israeli Medjoul dates.

Starting Friday, 21 June; roughly two weeks before Ramadan, the campaign would call on Muslims to boycott settlement dates, deemed as their most profitable crop.

The campaign activities include distribution of leaflets outside mosques after Friday prayers and putting up posters in mosques and local shops.

Campaigners would also make a list with the supermarkets that label the Israeli dates as their own product, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Tesco.

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The campaign against the Israeli dates is supported by more than 20 organizations, including Friends of Al-Aqsa and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the biggest anti-Israeli group in the UK and Europe.

There are more than 164 Jewish settlements in the West Bank, eating up more than 40 percent of the occupied West Bank.

The international community considers all settlements on the occupied land illegal.

According to the Boycott Israel Campaign in the UK, over 50 percent of the world’s Medjoul dates are produced in Israel and 60 percent of Israeli dates are grown on illegal settlement plantations in the Jordan Valley.

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Israeli made profits of $265 million from dates in 2011.

Britain is home to a Muslim community of nearly 2.7 million.(T/P08/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)