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Who Exports Israeli Goods

Carmel-Agrexco

Agrexco are a 50% state owned Israeli company who export fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs from Israel and the occupied territories. Agrexco are one of the three biggest Israeli companies exporting from occupied Palestine and account for 70% exports of fresh produce. Agrexco operate under the Carmel, Jaffa and Coral brandnames. Their products are bought by all major British supermarkets as well as small stores. Britain is an important market for Agrexo accounting for 60% of their imports to Europe. It is likely that Agrexco often mislabel their settlement produce as made in Israel.

Agrexco export minimal amounts of Palestinian produce,particularly from Gaza. They often use this as an argument against boycotters. Many Palestinians, however, refuse to work with them.

Agrexco say that 90% of the goods they export are from Israel, 5% from the occupied territories and 5% from elsewhere.

Thousands of Palestinians are employed in packing houses on Israeli settlements packing goods to be exported by Carmel Agrexco. These packing houses are often on land which has been forcibly taken from their communities  Palestinian workers may be paid as little as 30 shekels (4 pounds) a day and have no sick pay, holiday pay, rights to unionise or contracts. Children are often employed on these settlements. These workers are compelled to work for the settlements because of the complete strangulation of Palestinian agriculture by the occupation. Many settlement workers have called on the international communtiy to boycott and campaign against Carmel Agrexco.

All Carmel Agrexco's directors, shareholders and company records are in Israel.

Recently plans have been made public to sell off Carmel Agrexco.

Actions Against Agrexco:

2005 - Seven activists blockade Agrexco's depot in Middlesex using metal cages made of Hares fencing and D-locks. All deliveries are stopped for over eight hours from the early hours of the morning. General Manager Amos Orr says the action cost the company over 20 000 pounds. Seven arrested for aggravated trespass. See https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/11/301360.html
 
2006 - Trial of the Uxbridge seven - The activists arrested in 2005 argue that Agrexco is ancillary to war crimes and crimes against humanity including the crime of 'Apartheid' under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, an element of English law, and therefore they cannot be charged with 'Aggravated Trespass' as one of the elements of ths offence is ' intent to disrupt a lawful business'. The Judge in the trial rules that Agrexco must provide disclosure of their dealings with the settlements. Agrexco provide a list of settlements that they deal with in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere. The Judge entertains the defendants argument and Amos Orr and other employees of Agrexco are questioned on the subject of their knowledge of and complicity in war crimes. At the close of the prosecution case the judge rules that there is no case for the defendants to answer as the land where the defendants staged their blockade actually belonged to another company. The court effectively acquitts the defendants so as not to have to deal with the questions posed in their defence. A press conference is held at ULU about the court case.
 
2006 - Agrexco Blockaded again  - Activists use similar tactics but make positive attempts to trespass in order to run the defence mentioned above. Activists unlock after eight hours. Police make no arrests. See https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/09/349971.html

2006 - Further Blockade of Agrexco - This time activists use metal cages and lock on to traffic barriers inside company car park. Police make no arrests and admit that the company have instructed them that they will not cooperate with any prosecutions. See https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/11/357149.html

Feb 2007 - Mass Valentine's Day Demo at Agrexco - Over 120 activists converge at the depot in protest at the import of Valentine's day flowers from Israel and the occupied territories. Valentine's Day is one of Agrexco's busiest times. The following day an affinity group locks the factory gates and occupies the front of the depot. See https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/361972.html

May 2007 - Palestinian Flag hoisted at Agrexco - An Affinity group removes the Israeli flag, hoists the Palestinian one, occupies the depot and locks on to trucks in the car park. Again no arrests are made. Staff violent towards activists. See https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/376532.html
 
August 2007 - Climate Camp Action - 80 activists protesting the seizure of Palestinian land and the environmental impact of freight transported fresh produce enter the depot. The Palestinian flag is hoisted, Activists lock on to the gates, a samba band plays in the front of the depot and the company offices are trashed. Seven arrests are made on suspicion of burglary but all charges are later dropped. See Where Do all the Flowers Come From

September 2007 - Campaigners from the Brighton-Tubas Solidarity Group enter a packing house in the settlement of Tomer and photograph boxes marked both Agrexco, Tescos and 'Made in Israel' See http://brightonpalestine.org/blog/?p=216

October 2007 - Lock on to Factory Gates - Activists lock on to factory gates during a day of action called for by the BIG campaign. Action cut short by violence from staff. See

Feb 2008 - International day of Action against Agrexco - Lock on to gates and delivery trucks at the London depot despite extreme violence from staff Action at Agrexco's depot at Liege airport carried out by Belgian Activists. Local groups carry out high street actions at supermarkets. See https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391542.html

June 2008 - Activists commemorating the Nakba entered Agrexco's depot, locked both gates, locked onto a truck and occupied the roof of the truck, flew a black flag over the depot and shut down the depot for nearly six hours. No arrests were made. See https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401745.html

Film about Agrexco and its links with the Jordan Valley

The Future of the Campaign Against Agrexco:

Carmel-Agrexco has potential as a target for the boycott campaign where international activists can work together, across Europe, Israel and Palestine. It is a settlement company, linked to the Israeli state and zionist expansion.

Agrexco in the UK are currently refusing to cooperate with the police in prosecutions of activists due to unwillingness to have their business practices exposed to scrutiny by the courts. 

Further Reading/Resources

War on Want: Profiting From The Occupation
Agrexco Workers in the Jordan Valley (video)
Interview with Agrexco Worker (video)
Where Do all the Flowers Come From (Video)
AIC - Workers in the Jordan Valley
PSC - The Israeli Annexation of the Jordan Valley

In July 2006 the Palestine Solidarity Campaign sent the following letter to Agrexco UK:

This is to inform you that your business is not lawful.

The business carried out at Agrexco, Swallowfield Way, Middlesex cannot be defined as lawful business as your supply of produce from illegally occupied territories makes you ancillary to Apartheid and other Crimes Against Humanity under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (Hereafter the Act).

Crimes under the International Criminal Court Act are criminal offences under English law.

Your company has disclosed that you export fresh produce from several illegal Israeli-Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley, West Bank, Palestine. For example, your company deals with Mehola settlement in the central Jordan Valley.

The Jordan Valley is part of the West Bank, a Palestinian territory, that was illegally invaded by force and occupied during 1967. From 1968 Israel began colonising the valley and transferring its civilian population into illegal settlements there.

The transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory is a War Crime under the Act and is a crime under English Law. It is a crime under English Law to be ancillary to (or complicit in/accessory to) a War Crime.

Agrexco has had a packing house at Mehola settlement for a considerable period of time and has, by providing financial support through trade, to the illegal settlers living there, facilitated the subsistence and growth of Mehola settlement.

Settlement growth in the Jordan Valley has lead to the forceful expropriation of at least 95% of the land in the valley. This is land that was previously owned by the indigenous Palestinian population. The theft and cultivation, achieved through state violence and the threat of violence, of this land is a War Crime under the Act and it is a crime under English Law to be ancillary to it.

The building of settlements and settlement infrastructure in the valley has lead to damage being caused to Palestinian Civilian objects and territory. This damage has included the building, on occupied territory, of a wall along the length of the Jordan River and the building of a series of checkpoints, such as those at Al-Hamra and Al-Tayasir. It is a War Crime under the act for an occupier to damage civilian property.

In establishing the threat of violence in the Jordan Valley, to allow the construction of settlements like Mehola, the Israeli army has been guilty of Murder, a War Crime under the Act.

The situation established in the Jordan Valley can be correctly characterised as Apartheid. The minority settler population controls 98% of the land and a majority of the water in the Valley. The majority Palestinian population are marginalized on the land and are subject to a system of Israeli military law whereas the civilian settler population are subject to Israeli Criminal Law. Settlement expansion is facilitated by a state policy of Ethnic Cleansing against the Palestinian Civilian Population. Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley must apply for permits to live in the valley from the Israeli military. The military has engineered a situation where residents increasingly lose their permits and have to leave the valley. This is coupled with a ban on new building in the valley, resulting in the majority of the Palestinian population, in some areas, living in tents. This restriction on building is enforced by house demolitions by the military of any new Palestinian structures. Ethnic Cleansing is a War Crime under the Act.

The above situation has been engineered by the state to allow the cultivation of land in the Jordan Valley, the most fertile area in the West Bank. Agrexco, a partly state owned company, has directly benefited from, and facilitated this situation:

 

Agrexco, of Swallowfield Way, Middlesex are ancillary to

• Murder
• Theft and Damage of Occupied Land
• Collective Punishment
• Apartheid
• Ethnic Cleansing

Which is a Criminal, arrestable offence under English Law. Therefore Agrexco's business cannot be considered legal.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign www.palestinecampaign.org

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