BDS pris trés au sérieux par une multinationale

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Unilever déplace son usine des colonies vers l’intérieur des frontières
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BDS Success : Unilever to Move Factory out of West Bank

Tuesday, 12 October 2010 15:10 Alternative Information Center (AIC)

Unilever Israel Foods is planning move its Beigel & Beigel company plant from the Barkan industrial zone, located in the occupied West Bank, to a location inside Israel, reports the Hebrew-language daily Maariv.

This moves follows intense Palestinian and international pressure on the parent company, Unilever International, to move its operations out of the settlement industrial zone or to divest from the factory, which collects profits due to the advantages given to Israeli businesses in the West Bank, including extensive subsidies by the Israeli government.

Unilever International, the UK and Dutch-owned multinational company, has been trying to divest from Beigel & Beigel since 2008, following the refusal of British stores to sell products manufactured in Israeli settlements. However, given the location of the factory in the illegal Ariel settlement and the growing international calls for accountability from the settlements industries, the company was unable to sell its shares.

"Following the divestment in recent years of a number of non-core businesses ... the decision has been reached to divest of its interests in the bakery business and will therefore seek to find a buyer for Unilever’s share in the Beigel & Beigel partnership," the company said in a statement at the time.

United Civilians for Peace, a Dutch organization, published a report in 2006 entitled Dutch economic links to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and/or Syrian territories, and then began “a constructive dialogue with Unilever Netherlands on the ethical implications of the company’s investment in the settlement,” according to the UCP website.

According to the UPC report, “The land of the Barkan industrial zone was confiscated from surrounding Palestinian villages by a military order issued by the Israeli Defence Force in 1981, and declared "state land". International Law prohibits the confiscation of occupied land not for military purposes.”

UCP also noted that the “Location in the settlement makes Unilever complicit with violations of international law, Palestinian human rights and labour rights,” and that “Beigel & Beigel benefits from subsidies allocated by the Israeli government to the industrial zones in the settlements. Also, the factory has been guaranteed a state grant for a plan of expansion.”

According to a 2008 Guardian newspaper article, “At Beigel & Beigel, 45% of the 140 workers are Palestinians from the surrounding villages whose land was confiscated for the construction. Most of them work on the assembly line operating machines and contrary to Unilever’s own labour standards, they are not paid the Israeli minimum wage.”

In 2008, Unilever Israel, which bought half of the Beigel & Beigel pretzel company in 2001, said their plan to sell Beigel & Beigel stocks was was strategic, not ethical, but given their inability to sell stocks and divest from the company during this two year time period, Unilever’s recent action is a tacit admission that their decision to divest was a direct result of the pressure of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement