Comments on: Payback time http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2007/05/31/payback-time/ Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:04:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: W Dean http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2007/05/31/payback-time/#comment-151944 W Dean Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:06:05 +0000 http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2007/05/31/payback-time/#comment-151944 I read a while back that the South Africans where trying to get all diamonds from Israel treated as blood diamonds. That's a boycott that would really <em>hurt</em>! [T]he fruit debate was only the tip of the iceberg. “It’s not only avocado. The main item that concerns us is diamond. Israel imports diamond from South Africa; polishes it and cuts it before selling it back to South Africa at almost ten times its original value. It does the same with gold,” Mohamed told IPS by phone from Cape Town. <strong>“Israel imports diamond worth three billion rand (about 430 million dollars) from South Africa a year. Israel doesn’t produce a single diamond. Yet 30 percent of its GDP gross domestic product) comes from diamond. The diamond could be polished and cut in South Africa to provide jobs for the estimated 40 percent unemployed South Africans,” he said.</strong> Slowly, the anti-Israeli coalition is growing in South Africa. “We haven’t made the call to impose sanctions against Israel yet. We know Israel commits atrocities against Palestinians. But we are moving there. It’s just a matter of months,” Masemola said. “We are making a call to mobilise South African workers. We want all diamonds from Israel to be treated as conflict diamonds. We urge people not to buy diamonds from Israel,” said [Shaheen] Mohamed [coordinator of the South Africa branch of the Sanctions Against Israel Coalition]. http://www.factsontheground.co.uk/?p=131 I read a while back that the South Africans where trying to get all diamonds from Israel treated as blood diamonds.

That’s a boycott that would really hurt!

[T]he fruit debate was only the tip of the iceberg. “It’s not only avocado. The main item that concerns us is diamond. Israel imports diamond from South Africa; polishes it and cuts it before selling it back to South Africa at almost ten times its original value. It does the same with gold,” Mohamed told IPS by phone from Cape Town.

“Israel imports diamond worth three billion rand (about 430 million dollars) from South Africa a year. Israel doesn’t produce a single diamond. Yet 30 percent of its GDP gross domestic product) comes from diamond. The diamond could be polished and cut in South Africa to provide jobs for the estimated 40 percent unemployed South Africans,” he said.

Slowly, the anti-Israeli coalition is growing in South Africa. “We haven’t made the call to impose sanctions against Israel yet. We know Israel commits atrocities against Palestinians. But we are moving there. It’s just a matter of months,” Masemola said.

“We are making a call to mobilise South African workers. We want all diamonds from Israel to be treated as conflict diamonds. We urge people not to buy diamonds from Israel,” said [Shaheen] Mohamed [coordinator of the South Africa branch of the Sanctions Against Israel Coalition].

http://www.factsontheground.co.uk/?p=131

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