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7/31/2019 Ahava Blog

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Palestinian NGO muddies the waters with Dead Sea claims

Ahron Shapiro

Mud-slinging allegations by the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq that Israel had committed

war crimes by purportedly allowing the Israeli Dead Sea cosmetics company Ahavato plunder Dead Sea resources inside the West Bank became the focus of a

controversial article by Fairfaxs Middle East correspondent Ruth Pollard this week.

In the September 4 article Cosmetics firm accused of plundering Dead Sea, Pollard

lent credence to allegations from the Palestinian group that Ahava has been using

materials in its products supposedly excavated from an undisclosed mining site in the

jurisdiction of the Megilot Regional Council, where Ahava maintains a factory and

outlet store.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/cosmetics-firm-accused-of-

plundering-dead-sea-20120903-25afd.html

It is in the settlements of Mitzpe Shalem and Kalia that Ahava mines and

manufactures cosmetics from mud extracted from the occupied Dead Sea area, wrote

Pollard, without substantiation.

Ahava, whose manufacturing facilities are located in Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem on the

south-eastern fringe of the West Bank, emphatically denies it uses West Bank-sourced

minerals in its products. In a September 2010 letter to Ahavas retailers, the companys

CEO said Ahava collects all of its Dead Sea products from the southern tip of the Dead

Sea, which is within Israels pre-1967 borders.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/codepink4peace.org/downloads/AhavaLetter.pdf

However, the Al-Haq report disputes this,

http://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index?

task=callelement&format=raw&item_id=104&element=304e4493-dc32-44fa-8c5b-

57c4d7b529c1&method=download

based upon a report in May by the anti-occupation Israeli NGO Who Profits

http://www.whoprofits.org/content/ahava-tracking-trade-trail-settlement-products

. This report includes a translated letter from the Israel Defence Forces Civil

Administration that says Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd. [Ahava] was granted a permit to

mine mud from the West Bank portion of the Dead Sea in 2004.

The letter appears to say that the mining operations based upon the permit are still in

use today, but says specifically that the IDF does not know the quantities of mud that

are removed. The Who Profits report claims they have asked Ahava to explain the

information revealed in the IDF letter but have failed to get a response. The Al-Haq

report ignores this entirely and simply uses the Who Profits report and its IDF letter as

the basis of an unfounded allegation that Ahava offers an infinite range of products

manufactured from the occupied Dead Sea land next to the settlement.

The IDF letter (see the English and Hebrew versions here and here)
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/cosmetics-firm-accused-of-plundering-dead-sea-20120903-25afd.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/cosmetics-firm-accused-of-plundering-dead-sea-20120903-25afd.htmlhttp://s3.amazonaws.com/codepink4peace.org/downloads/AhavaLetter.pdfhttp://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index?task=callelement&format=raw&item_id=104&element=304e4493-dc32-44fa-8c5b-57c4d7b529c1&method=downloadhttp://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index?task=callelement&format=raw&item_id=104&element=304e4493-dc32-44fa-8c5b-57c4d7b529c1&method=downloadhttp://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index?task=callelement&format=raw&item_id=104&element=304e4493-dc32-44fa-8c5b-57c4d7b529c1&method=downloadhttp://www.whoprofits.org/content/ahava-tracking-trade-trail-settlement-productshttp://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/cosmetics-firm-accused-of-plundering-dead-sea-20120903-25afd.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/cosmetics-firm-accused-of-plundering-dead-sea-20120903-25afd.htmlhttp://s3.amazonaws.com/codepink4peace.org/downloads/AhavaLetter.pdfhttp://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index?task=callelement&format=raw&item_id=104&element=304e4493-dc32-44fa-8c5b-57c4d7b529c1&method=downloadhttp://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index?task=callelement&format=raw&item_id=104&element=304e4493-dc32-44fa-8c5b-57c4d7b529c1&method=downloadhttp://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index?task=callelement&format=raw&item_id=104&element=304e4493-dc32-44fa-8c5b-57c4d7b529c1&method=downloadhttp://www.whoprofits.org/content/ahava-tracking-trade-trail-settlement-products


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mouthpiece, WAFA. In Israel, The Jerusalem Postcarried it in a brief.

On a final note, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign which Al-

Haq subscribes to - disavows Israels use of any Dead Sea resources, even from its

internationally undisputed south-eastern basin.

This story came into focus earlier this year in an article published in the pro-Palestinian

news site Palestine Chronicle about BDS activists in Adelaide. In that protest, members

of the Australian Friends of Palestine (AFOPA) were objecting to the sale of Seacret

Spa Dead Sea cosmetics.

Although they were carrying signs that read Psst Seacret steals its product from

Palestinian land, there has been absolutely no dispute that Seacret procures its mineral

products exclusively from Israels portion of the Dead Sea.

When confronted by the journalist with this reality, an AFOPA member said that it

made no difference to her they would boycott the company anyway.

http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19107

QUOTE

Firstly, because Israel has never defined its borders so it is impossible to say where

Israel starts and ends and Israel is still changing its borders, [AFOPA member]

Margaret [Cassar] says.

Secondly it is still obtaining a resource from illegally occupied lands and is

contravening international law.

Thirdly the BDS campaign targets all Israeli companies.

END QUOTE

Ahron Shapiro
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19107http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19107

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