Israeli settlements dates violate US laws and defraud consumers

By Aref Assaf

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://blog.nj.com/dr_aref_assaf/2012/07/israeli_settlement_dates_violate_us_laws_and_defraud_consumers.html

Photo by Aref Assaf:  Dates produced by Israeli farms are sold in US markets without showing country of origin to avoid rejection by Arab and Muslim consumers. US laws require 'country of origin labeling' on all imported products and violators are subject to stiff fines. Israeli dates are sold under the brand names, Jordan Valley and king Solomon.

Dates grown in Israeli occupied Arab lands are sold in New Jersey are in violation of US laws.
Dates, the succulent fruit of the palm tree, especially those marketed by giant Israeli companies, such as Agrexco and Hadiklaim, have deliberately avoided showing the country of origin in fear of rejection by Arab and Muslim consumers. Israel has systematically conspired with unscrupulous importers to circumvent prohibition by many countries on importing products made in Israeli settlements which are built on occupied Arab and Palestinian lands. Under international law, Israeli settlements are illegal and many countries prohibit the import of products made in these locations.

The US does not place restrictions on settlement-produced products, allowing the sale of these dates in US markets, including those located in Arab and Muslim neighborhoods. However, the US has "COOL," or "country of origin labeling" guidelines, requiring imported products to clearly state the country of production.

Pursuant to code 19 USCS § 1304: "[E]very article of foreign origin (or its container...) imported into the United States shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or container) will permit in such manner as to indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article." Further, the law mandates that, "Any person who, with intent to conceal the information given thereby or contained therein...READ MORE

Aref Assaf: Gov. Chris Christie should not have skipped Palestine on Israel trip

Published: Monday, April 16, 2012 

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://blog.nj.com/dr_aref_assaf/2012/04/gov_chris_christie_should_not_have_skipped_palestine_on_israel_trip.html

Gov. Chris Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie look out over the city of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives during their trip to Israel on Monday, April 2. (Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)

On March 29, just before Gov. Chris Christie’s trip to Israel, I tweeted him an invitation to visit my mother in the Palestinian refugee camp, Kalandia, which lies at the now-infamous checkpoint that separates Israel from the occupied West Bank.

I sent it after learning Christie had no plans to visit the Palestinian territories or to meet with average Palestinians or Palestinian officials. My 87-year-old mother has lived in her wretched refugee camp since she and my late father were forcibly expelled from their native village, Allar, destroyed in 1948 by Jewish terrorist groups.

The governor didn’t accept my invitation.

For a governor who said he will "tread lightly" and wanted the visit to be educational, ignoring the Palestinian elephant in the room sent a contradictory message. Many speculated his trip was intended to raise his stature as he contemplates national office. If this were true, Christie broke a precedent set by many dignitaries before him, who did visit the Palestinian territories.

Christie himself denied this explanation, giving instead three Jersey-centered reasons for the trip.
First, he noted, Israel is a significant, long-term trading partner for New Jersey. His office signaled this commercial relationship as a key reason for his visit. Yet 2010 U.S. Census data shows Israel ranks a middling 14 among the top 25 countries that trade with our state, based on 2011 dollar value. If trade was a motivation, he should have visited our biggest trading partner: Canada.

Second, the governor pointed out New Jersey has a sizable Jewish population, the second largest in the nation. And he is correct. Yet, if population size were all that mattered, the governor would have been better off visiting England, Ireland or Italy. Moreover, there are more than twice as many Muslims and Arabs in New Jersey than Jews, according to data from the Association of Religious Data Archives.

Third, the governor indicated New Jersey and Israel have much in common, including their size. In fact, Israel is one of the few countries in the world that has never defined its boundaries. Other nations, including the United States, do not recognize Israel’s legal right to Jerusalem and the West Bank, yet Israel has — against international will — annexed a significant part of Arab Jerusalem. In the rest of the West Bank, Israel has built hundreds of illegal settlements for Jews only, on expropriated Arab lands.

Israel is an occupying country. Since 1967, it has controlled the lives of millions of Palestinians under an oppressive military regime whose legal system is not designed to procure justice, but to serve the interests of the occupying forces. Unlike New Jersey, Israel is not a country for all its citizens...READ MORE

 

The foreign education of Chris Christie: Palestine is part of the Holy Land

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://blog.nj.com/dr_aref_assaf/2012/04/the_foreign_education_of_chris_christie_palestine_is_part_of_the_holy_land.html

by Aref Assaf

Published: Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 6:06 PM

Chris Christie arrived in Israel Monday for a visit billed as a “Jersey to Jerusalem: Economic Growth, Diplomacy, Observance” - accompanied by his family and a delegation of 14 business and Jewish leaders. Chris Christie, New Jersey’s Republican governor, is in Israel for four-day trip that mixes official and personal business. I had Tweeted to our governor on Saturday March 29, extending an invitation to visit my mother in the Palestinian refugee camp, Kalandia, which lies at the now-infamous checkpoint that separates Israel from the occupied West Bank: “@GovChristie, please visit my Palestinian mother in Kalandia camp to really learn the story of democratic Israel.”
I sent the invitation because I learned that the governor had no plans to visit the Palestinian territories or to meet with average or official Palestinians. For a governor who said he will “tread lightly” and that he wanted the visit to be an opportunity to inform him about the world, ignoring the elephant in the room, the Palestinians, seems at odds with his principled political outlooks. Moreover, it is a regrettable oversight not so easily brushed aside by the large Arab and Muslim residents of New Jersey.

The governor, I believe, has received the wrong advice about the obvious political insensitivity, even if unintentional, exhibited by his decision to forgo a visit to the Palestinian territory. In fact, most if not all foreign dignitaries, incumbent, or aspiring politicians have attempted not to appear to take sides in the volatile Israel-Palestine conflict by visiting both areas. After all, no one can honestly expect to become even familiar with the inexorably linked past and future of both the Jewish and the Palestinian people without seeing firsthand the outcome of de facto decisions that have changed both the demographic and topographic landscape of historic Palestine. As it happened, when the governor visited the Mount of Olives overlooking the golden Dome of the Rock, he was in fact standing in occupied Arab lands, which Israel conquered in 1967. 

That is why I invited the governor to visit my 87-year-old mother in her refugee camp. My mother has been living in this wretched place since she and my late father were forcibly expelled from their native village, Allar, which was destroyed in 1948...READ  MORE

Dr. Aref Assaf: Whether Palestine... "We have a dream too: a place to call a homeland"

http://blog.nj.com/dr_aref_assaf/2011/09/whether_palestine.html
Whether Palestine

By Dr. Aref Assaf

"A banner at a recent pro Palestine demonstration at the UN summed it up: "We have a dream too: a place to call a homeland".

Related: The official Palestinian position on the UN vote bid is contained in a 35-page booklet that was given to every United Nations delegation. Titled "Recognizing Palestine: An Investment in Peace" it lists four reasons the Palestinians have taken this course: acts by Israel that undermine peace, international responsibility toward the Palestinians, the growth of Jewish settlements and intensifying Israeli designs on East Jerusalem. Click here for the link. (It may take a while to download)

Full transcript of President Abbas speech at UN General Assembly http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/full-transcript-of-abbas-speech-at-un-general-assembly-1.386385 According to a recent survey more than 80% of Palestinians support the push for Statehood recognition. http://www.pcpsr.org/survey/polls/2011/p41ejoint.html A plurality of Americans (42%) than oppose (26%) the United States recognizing Palestine as an independent nation, while nearly a third (32%) express no opinion. http://people-press.org/2011/09/20/palestinian-statehood-mixed-views-low-visibility/ "