Palestinians asking the people to boycott diamonds processed from Israel

Rasa – Palestinians have asked the international community to boycott diamonds processed from Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian nation.

News ID: 96

Date: 10 February 2013 - 15:52

Rasa News Agency Reports from Australiansforpalestine.net – Over 50 Palestinian organization including international organization in harmony with the Palestinian struggle for equality, justice and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine have issued an appeal to everyone with conscious and jewelers worldwide to reject diamonds.

Samir Abed-Rabbo, a coordinator of the campaign for a global rejection of Israeli diamonds said: “Revenue from Israel’s diamond industry is a major source of funding for the Israeli military which stands accused of war crimes by the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.  Diamonds processed in Israel evade the human rights strictures of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme which only bans ‘conflict diamonds’ or rough diamonds used by rebel groups to finance conflicts against legitimate governments.”

Pointing out the repeated refusal of the Kimberley Process to ban all blood diamonds he said: “The failure of the Kimberley Process to broaden the definition of a “conflict diamond” and ban polished diamonds that fund war crimes means that diamond purchasers are being sold blood diamonds, which are falsely labeled conflict-free by jewelers, including most, if not all, of the world’s most iconic jewelry establishments.”

Decrying the lack  of security for Palestinians he continued: “International governments, the US and EU in particular, have failed to protect Palestinians from Israel’s diamond-funded military which last November killed 170 Palestinians, mainly civilians, including 33 children and in the last four weeks shot and killed six unarmed Palestinians. He said: “Diamonds are Israel’s most important manufacturing export commodity; accounting for 30% of Israel’s manufacturing exports.  Without revenue from the diamond industry Israel could not afford the financial burden of the illegal occupation, construction of Jewish colonies on Palestinian lands and the brutal subjugation of the Palestinian people. ”

He concluded by calling on diamond-purchasers to: “be wary of claims by jewelers that “ethically sourced” or “responsibly sourced” diamonds are conflict-free, as the diamonds may still be blood diamonds if they were cut and polished in Israel where diamond-revenue funds a regime guilty of war crimes. Consumers should demand to know where a diamond was cut and polished as well as where it was sourced.” They need to be aware that when they buy a diamond processed in Israel it is tarnished with the blood of innocent Palestinian men, women and children.

The Palestinian civil society organizations and international solidarity groups call upon:

Jewelers worldwide to immediately end the trade of diamonds processed in Israel, and

women and men of conscience in the world to reject diamonds from Israel which fund a military regime that murders, maims and terrorizes innocent men, women and children with impunity.