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H&M

LLAMADO AL BOICOT DE H&M
H&M ENCUBRE LA COLONIZACIÓN DE JERUSALEM

H&M Whitewashing Israel's Colonization of Jerusalem
BDS National Committee calls for Boycotting H&M!

Occupied Palestine, March 16th The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls for international protests
leading to a boycott of Swedish fashion giant H&M, particularly in the
Arab World, in response to its opening of its second store in Israel,
this time in the "Malha Mall" in Jerusalem, at a time when Israel is
intensifying its illegal colonization of the occupied eastern part of
the city. Malha is one of the Palestinian villages that were ethnically
cleansed during the 1948 Nakba and whose original Palestinian
inhabitants are refugees denied their UN-sanctioned right to return to
their lands. Israel, to this day, continues its policies of ethnic
cleaning in Jerusalem by evicting Palestinians from their homes and
replacing them with Jewish colonial settlers and by constructing tens of
thousands of housing units for those settlers in the occupied
Palestinian territory. All Israeli colonies are regarded as war crimes
under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In addition to opening stores in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, H&M has
announced its decision to open additional stores in Haifa, Petah Tikva,
Netanya, and Rehovot [1]. While H&M is clearly not the only
international chain that is operating in Israel, its decision to invest
substantially in Israel after its criminal war of aggression on Gaza and
in the midst of its intensified colonization of Jerusalem in
contravention of international law can only be understood by
Palestinians and supporters of just peace around the world as a form of
support for Israels abhorrent violations of international law and human
rights.

H&M claims to adhere to the UN Global Compact, a corporate social
responsibility initiative that obliges it to ensure it is "not complicit
in human rights abuses" [2]. The UN's Goldstone report has recently
condemned Israel for committing not just grave human rights abuses but
also war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during its Gaza
massacre. By ignoring this and investing heavily in Israel's economy at
this time, H&M is violating its own commitments to the UN's principles
of ethical investment.

Solidarity activists in London picketed H&M's flagship London store on
Saturday, 13 March, and gave shoppers information about the Palestinian
call for BDS. Groups in H&M's native Sweden also picketed stores and
called on the firm, which made profits of USD 2.2bn in 2009, to end its
Israeli operations [3].

It is worth mentioning that Sweden and other Scandinavian countries have
taken serious measures in the last few years to exclude companies
implicated in Israel's occupation and illegal building of colonies and
the Wall from their pension funds [4]. Most recently, Danske Bank, the
largest in Denmark, decided to divest from Elbit Systems and other
Israeli companies involved in systematic human rights violations.

The BNC calls on solidarity organizations and people of conscience
around the world, particularly in Arab states, to escalate their civil
protests against H&M, reaching a total boycott of the chain, until it
has ended its complicity in Israel's system of occupation, colonization
and apartheid against the Palestinian people. Conducting business as
usual with Israel is not only unethical; it is detrimental to the
pursuit of a just peace based on international law.


[1] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155805.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://palsolidarity.org/2010/03/11656
[4] http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11084.shtml