Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories (www.ahava.co.il http://www.ahava.co.il> ) is a privately held Israeli cosmetics company that manufactures products using minerals and mud from the Dead Sea. The Hebrew word “Ahava” means love, but there is nothing loving about what the company is doing in the Occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank.
LITERALLY STEALING BEAUTY
The company’s main factory and its visitors’ center are located in the Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the Occupied Territory of the Palestinian West Bank. Ahava products are labeled as of 'Israeli origin,’ but according to international public law, including the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, the West Bank cannot be considered to be part of the State of Israel. Not only does Ahava profit from the occupation by locating its main plant and store in an illegal Israeli settlement, it also uses in its products mud from the Dead Sea, excavated in an occupied area, and thus it exploits occupied natural resources for profit. The fourth Geneva Convention explicitly forbids an occupying power from removing the captured natural resources for its own use, and we see this as another charge for which this company should be held accountable.
SUPPORT PALESTINIAN CIVIL SOCIETY
In July 2005 a broad range of Palestinian Civil Society organizations issued a call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel as part of a non-violent campaign to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. You can show your opposition to Israel's occupation by participating in a consumer boycott of Israeli goods and services.
JOIN US!
We have chosen Ahava Products for our boycott because they are widely stocked in cosmetics stores and pharmacies, and because the practices of the company are against international law. We are hoping you will join us in boycotting Ahava and in supporting human rights and an end to a brutal occupation. Please let us know if your organization would like to endorse our STOLEN BEAUTY boycott campaign against Ahava Products by lending your name or organization name. We’ll keep you posted on various ways to participate in the campaign.
In sisterhood and struggle,
CODEPINK Women for Peace
For more information on the manufacturer and its involvement in the occupation, go to “Who Profits from the Occupation?” (a project of The Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace)
http://www.whoprofits.org/
For more information on the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign, go to Global BDS Movement for Palestine:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/