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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Activism Home page  back Print  Send To friend Letter of thanks to Italian grocery chain Coop Italia for not selling settlement produce Dear all, Following lobbying efforts by the Italian Coalition Against Carmel-Agrexco - created in the fall of 2009 and which fully endorses the Palestinian BDS call, together with a growing number of Italian and international organizations - two major Italian supermarket chains, COOP and Nordiconad, since they could not recognized which products were rom the settlement in the occupied territories, announced the suspension of sales of products from Agrexco, the principal exporter of produce from Israel and the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Following the letter I sent to marketing direction of Coop and Nordiconad to express gratitude for their decision. Best regards, Luisa Morgantini Former vice President of European Parliament Italian Peace Association ************** To: Coop Italia Kind attention of Mr. Maurizio Zucchi, Marketing director Letter of appreciation to Coop Italia from Luisa Morgantini Dear Coop Italia and Mr. Zucchi, It is with deep joy and gratitude that I received your letter dated 18/05/2010, received in response to issues raised by the Italian Coalition against Carmel-Agrexco and by Coop members, about the produce sold by your supermarkets and coming from Occupied Palestinian Territories . I am writing to you to express my sincere appreciation for your extremely important decision to suspend the provisions of goods produced inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories but labeled as `Made in Israel`, which is a step in the long road to respect the international law and to build a just and equal peace in Israel and Palestine. I understand how difficult it was to take this decision, which is why my gratitude is even more: it is important to know that your action is compliant both with international law, as with the address given by the European Union at the time of conclusion trade agreement with the State of Israel. Paragraph 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement provides that - in order to reach tax breaks on customs duties to import products in our markets - the country from which the goods comes have to respect human rights and International law. Recognizing as illegal all the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the European Union does not accept as `made in Israel` products from these colonies. Therefore, their marketing in Europe under the brand `Made in Israel`, is illegal. Your decision not only represents the choice to draw up in support to the International law and human rights, but fund a basic step towards the coherence of the EU policies. I really hope that the position taken today can be maintained in the future, and can contribute to tell to the Israeli governments that they cannot always be above the law. Time has come for Israel to leave the Occupied Territories and to give back to the Palestinian people freedom and self-determination, with their own State side by side with the State of Israel. With my Best regards, Luisa Morgantini Former Vice President of European Parliament Italian Peace Association gm Links to the latest articles in this section Refusing the war! Demonstration today, Thur. Apris 24, at 7.30 pm, Habima Square, Tel Aviv Refusing the war! Demonstration today, Thur. Apris 24, at 7.30 pm, Habima Square, Tel Aviv Saturday night protests: No to Netanyahu`s war!