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A message from Jo Fallshaw—owner of Fallshaw Group
Fallshaw Group is part of the International BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions) movement, where companies of good conscience refuse to buy and sell to Israeli owned companies (and companies and organisations facilitating the illegal military occupation) while they are in breach of the United Nation’s resolutions and the International Court of Justice and Internation Criminal Court rulings regarding genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
However, we are conscious that sometimes Palestinian companies operate from Israel-Palestine and there are some Israeli companies who have active and deliberate policies to foster multiculturalism and equality who have no part in Israel’s actions. We do not penalise companies who share our human rights values.
If you are an Israeli or Palestinian company that has tangible human rights policies and practices, then please call or email us and we’ll have a conversation and make sure you are not subject to collective punishment in our trading policies.
For the avoidance of doubt, we recognise and value the many Jewish Voices for Peace and are grateful for their friendship and solidarity. Our criticism is solely directed to the actions of the State of Israel and are in no way antisemitic.
We wish for peace and good will to all.
On a personal note
I am horrified by the man-made famine that Gazans are suffering. We note that starving children are not only at risk of dying but also having permanent cognitive damage and damage to internal organs. Starving children are much more prone to disease – and the destruction of Gaza's water distribution and sanitation systems means disease is now rife. This catastrophe must be prevented. 'Never again' meant 'never again' for everyone.
This article clearly describes why the US-Israeli aid delivery system (being implemented after 3 months of a total blockade) is a weapon for ethnic cleansing and genocide masked as ‘humanitarian aid’.
Key points:
There are only 4 aid distribution centres: 1 in the centre and 3 in the South. This is so that Northern residents (about half of Gaza’s population) must abandon their land if they want to eat. They won’t be allowed back. Israel will steal that land.
It is designed as a tool of coercive control over the Gaza Strip’s civilian population. It limits families to just one aid parcel per week under highly restrictive security conditions. All heads of households collecting aid will be subjected to strict security checks using biometric data, putting them at risk of illegal enforced disappearance or arbitrary arrest, particularly given the presence of Israeli forces near the distribution sites and along the access roads.
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The food packs don't include any fresh food, powdered milk or meat. They are basic starvation rations at 240g per person per day. The only vegetables (to share between each family for one week) are one tin each of tomatoes, kidney beans and peas with carrots and one 500g bag of chickpeas. Thr rest of the calories are made up of pasta, rice, flour, oil and salt. That won’t provide sufficient nutrition for growing children (who are 47% of Gaza’s population). Israel plans to systematically control a scarce flow of food to keep the enclave’s population in a state of ongoing destitution and extreme hunger.
The remote location of aid forces a representative from each family to travel up to 30km every week. The hardship will be compounded by the lack of paved roads, extremely high cost or total absence of transportation.
In addition to the arduous journey, residents must travel under the constant threat of bombardment and targeting by Israeli forces. This makes aid inaccessible to the starving, the sick, and the elderly.The long distances involved will compact the population into around 10% of Gaza - which is about 33sqm per person. The close living confinements and lack of sanitation will concentrate the spread of disease. The higher density will also mean that Israel’s continued bombing of tent cities doubles or trebles the kill rate with each bomb.
There are tens of thousands of families who will be unable to access food under this plan. Does that mean they are condemned to starve to death?“Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly stated that the displacement of the population from the Gaza Strip is one of his government’s conditions for halting military operations in the enclave. At the same time, Bezalel Smotrich, Finance Minister and member of the Security and Political Cabinet, declared that the Israeli army is working to demolish all buildings in the Strip and to crowd the population into a narrow section of Rafah as a step toward their expulsion from the enclave and the consequent Israeli takeover of it.”
“Imposing a coercive environment devoid of basic survival resources will undoubtedly pave the way for the expulsion of Gazans from their land, and is plainly part of Israel’s colonial project aimed at erasing Palestinians’ existence and forcibly annexing their territory.”
All people of good conscience should be speaking up to prevent this catastrophe.
