Local News & Reports

Find out about this crucial campaign here.

Below are sample letters to the MPs in Brighton & Hove – use them as the basis for your own letter to protest about the continued appearance in our town of a shop selling products made on an illegal settlement in the West Bank, and labelling them ‘Made in Israel’. Thanks for your support.

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Date:

Caroline Lucas MP for Brighton Pavilion

Brighton Media Centre

15-17 Middle Street

Brighton

BN1 1AL

Dear Ms Lucas,

ECOSTREAM STORE IN WESTERN ROAD, BRIGHTON

I write as one of your constituents in Brighton Pavilion to ask that you make clear your opposition to the appearance in our constituency of the Eco Stream Store. Whilst I understand that the store is not itself illegal, I am profoundly disturbed by the fact that the Soda Stream products sold in the store are produced in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank. As you know, such settlements are illegal under international law. Moreover, the store’s attempt to project an environmentally-friendly public image disguises the true nature of its operation:

• Sodastream’s healthy modern eco-image is meant to disguise the fact that it has set up its factory on land confiscated from Palestinians. The Israeli government gives them tax breaks and legal support to work there. For its part the company uses the Made in Israel label to hide the fact that the products are actually made in illegally occupied territory.
• Palestinian workers often have no choice but to work in the Israeli colonies, in a situation of high unemployment rates that are a direct result of the Israeli occupation.
• A 2011 United Nations report states that Israeli government policies are destroying Palestinian agriculture and industry by confiscating land and natural resources, restricting the movement of people and goods and isolating them from international markets. To boast that Sodastream are giving employment to people, when they have had their land and freedom stolen, can only be considered immoral.
• Sodastream’s factory is in a settlement industrial zone which is expanding and taking over Bedouin land. The Bedouins themselves, the native people of Palestine, are being forcibly relocated into ‘ghettos’ by a rubbish dump in East Jerusalem.
• Sodastream itself recognises the dangers of negative publicity and a boycott of its products, but prefers to stay in the occupied territory and enjoy the favourable tax breaks and economic incentives.
  

I was heartened to see the statement on your website that acknowledges the legitimacy of the campaign to force Soda Stream to leave the West Bank. As our Green MP, I feel you have a particular responsibility to raise this issue as often as possible. I hope you will amplify the message that ‘ethnic cleansing is not green’ in the House of Commons, within the Green Party, and in your dealings with Brighton & Hove Council.

I look forward to your reply.

Signed:

Print name and address:

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Date:

Simon Kirby MP for Kemptown

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

Dear Mr Kirby,

ECOSTREAM STORE IN WESTERN ROAD, BRIGHTON

I write as one of your constituents in Brighton Kemptown to ask that you make clear your opposition to the appearance in our town of the Ecostream Store. Whilst I understand that the store is not itself illegal, I am profoundly disturbed by the fact that the Soda Stream products sold in the store are produced in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank. As you know, such settlements are illegal under international law. Moreover, the store’s attempt to project an environmentally-friendly public image disguises the true nature of its operation:

• Sodastream’s healthy modern eco-image is meant to disguise the fact that it has set up its factory on land confiscated from Palestinians. The Israeli government gives them tax breaks and legal support to work there. For its part the company uses the Made in Israel label to hide the fact that the products are actually made in illegally occupied territory.
• Palestinian workers often have no choice but to work in the Israeli colonies, in a situation of high unemployment rates that are a direct result of the Israeli occupation.
• A 2011 United Nations report states that Israeli government policies are destroying Palestinian agriculture and industry by confiscating land and natural resources, restricting the movement of people and goods and isolating them from international markets. To boast that Sodastream are giving employment to people, when they have had their land and freedom stolen, can only be considered immoral.
• Sodastream’s factory is in a settlement industrial zone which is expanding and taking over Bedouin land. The Bedouins themselves, the native people of Palestine, are being forcibly relocated into ‘ghettos’ by a rubbish dump in East Jerusalem.
• Sodastream itself recognises the dangers of negative publicity and a boycott of its products, but prefers to stay in the occupied territory and enjoy the favourable tax breaks and economic incentives.

I look forward to your reply, and in particular your plans for amplifying the message that ‘ethnic cleansing is not green’.

Signed:

Print name and address:

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Date:

Mike Weatherley MP for Hove

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

Dear Mr Weatherley,

ECOSTREAM STORE IN WESTERN ROAD, BRIGHTON

I write as one of your constituents in Hove to ask that you make clear your opposition to the appearance in our town of the Ecostream Store. Whilst I understand that the store is not itself illegal, I am profoundly disturbed by the fact that the Soda Stream products sold in the store are produced in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank. As you know, such settlements are illegal under international law. Moreover, the store’s attempt to project an environmentally-friendly public image disguises the true nature of its operation:

• Sodastream’s healthy modern eco-image is meant to disguise the fact that it has set up its factory on land confiscated from Palestinians. The Israeli government gives them tax breaks and legal support to work there. For its part the company uses the Made in Israel label to hide the fact that the products are actually made in illegally occupied territory.
• Palestinian workers often have no choice but to work in the Israeli colonies, in a situation of high unemployment rates that are a direct result of the Israeli occupation.
• A 2011 United Nations report states that Israeli government policies are destroying Palestinian agriculture and industry by confiscating land and natural resources, restricting the movement of people and goods and isolating them from international markets. To boast that Sodastream are giving employment to people, when they have had their land and freedom stolen, can only be considered immoral.
• Sodastream’s factory is in a settlement industrial zone which is expanding and taking over Bedouin land. The Bedouins themselves, the native people of Palestine, are being forcibly relocated into ‘ghettos’ by a rubbish dump in East Jerusalem.
• Sodastream itself recognises the dangers of negative publicity and a boycott of its products, but prefers to stay in the occupied territory and enjoy the favourable tax breaks and economic incentives.

I look forward to your reply, and in particular your plans for amplifying the message that ‘ethnic cleansing is not green’.

Signed:

Print name and address:

 

ETHNIC CLEANSING IS NOT GREEN

• Sodastream’s healthy modern eco-image is meant to disguise the fact that it has set up its factory on land confiscated from Palestinians. The Israeli government gives them tax breaks and legal support to work there. For its part the company uses the Made in Israel label to hide the fact that the products are actually made in illegally occupied territory.

• Palestinian workers often have no choice but to work in the Israeli colonies, in a situation of high unemployment rates that are a direct result of the Israeli occupation.

• A 2011 United Nations report  states  that  Israeli government policies are destroying  Palestinian agriculture and industry by confiscating  land and natural resources, restricting the movement of people and goods and isolating  them from international markets.  To boast  that Sodastream are  giving employment to people  when they  have had their land and freedom stolen,  can only be considered immoral.

• Sodastream’s factory is in a settlement industrial zone which is expanding and taking over Bedouin land. The Bedouins themselves, the native people of Palestine, are being forcibly relocated into ‘ghettos’ by a rubbish dump in East Jerusalem.

• Sodastream itself recognises the dangers of negative publicity and a boycott of its product but prefers to stay in the occupied territory and enjoy the favourable tax breaks and economic incentives.
  

• It is up to us to show them the price of their illegal and immoral activity.

 

For further information read the Sodastream report online.

Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign presents

OVER THE WALL

Film show followed by Q&A session with Directors, Cast and Crew

Thursday 6th December 7.30 p.m.

(Tea and coffee from 7 p.m.)

Friends Meeting House, Meeting House Lane, Brighton

The film documents the physical and emotional journey to Egypt and Palestine of a group of  student footballers and two young directors from London in the summer of 2011. Their experiences, particularly in Palestine, become a rite of passage into growing personal awareness and dawning political consciousness.

It’s a gem!   Heart-warming and inspiring!

Directed by:  Jasper Kain & Matthew Kay

Runtime:   58 mins

Donation on the door

Watch the trailer

This is a film about the journey of a British University football team who are transformed by the events they bear witness to in the Middle East which force them to change their outlook on life.

In the year of the Arab Spring, a diverse London based team head to Egypt armed with a football and a desire to engage with local communities. International news unfolds around them. With events ranging from the siege of the Israeli embassy in Cairo to bombings in Gaza the boys quickly see that this tour is about more than just football.

The worsening situation forces the team to rethink their agenda. Do they carry on with their journey into Palestine? The outcome of their decision and the subsequent events that follow make them realise that there is a greater goal in life.

Over The Wall provides a refreshing insight into this unique group of young men who, through their journey, challenge common perceptions of 21st century London, the Middle East, football and activism. [Read more…] about Film ‘Over the Wall’ – Special screening in Brighton

At each of our weekly Saturday pickets of the Israeli Ecostream store in Western Road our numbers have continually increased, to the point where this past Saturday (10 November) there were upwards of 100 protesters, including proud Palestinian comrades visiting Brighton for a Jordan Valley Solidarity international conference.

For photographs and up-to-date commentary, visit Tony Greenstein’s blog.

Friday 9 November

There have been four disruptions of the Batsheva Dance Ensemble’s performance at Brighton Dome tonight. Over 70 people protested against the dance performance outside the venue while several people purchased tickets and protested inside the performance.

Soon after the performance began shouts of ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘End the occupation’ rang out inside the Dome. The performance was repeatedly disrupted by a total of four pairs of demonstrators.

The demonstrators are responding to a call from the people of Palestine for a campaign of ‘boycott, divestment and sanctions’ similar to the boycott campaign waged against apartheid South Africa. [Read more…] about Disruption of Israeli state-funded Batsheva Dance performance: Brighton Dome