Israeli
Firm Calls for Boycott of Air France, French Groups Call for boycott
of Israeli Goods
IslamOnline & News Agencies
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM
12 July 2002
An Israeli telecom company called for its employees to boycott
Air France in protest at a pilot's "Israel-Palestine"
comment, while in France, an association of 30 French groups called
Thursday, July 11, for consumers to boycott Israeli goods in protest
against the occupation of the Palestinian West Bank.
The Israeli telecom company Bezek has called for its thousands
of employees to boycott Air France in protest at a pilot's "Israel-Palestine"
comment last week, army radio reported Thursday.
A row broke out between air crew and passengers on an Air France
flight between Paris and Tel Aviv on July 5 after the pilot announced
the destination as Israel-Palestine, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
said.
Ilan Biran, the head of Bezek, sent a letter to the French carrier's
representative in Israel warning the boycott would stay in place
until the pilot was fired, the radio said.
"We are Zionists and proud of it, and Israel is our home.
We have had enough of the double-talk of certain people," Biran
said in the message.
In France, meanwhile, an association of 30 French groups campaigning
for Middle East peace called Thursday for consumers to boycott Israeli
goods in protest at Israel's occupation of Palestinian areas in
the West Bank, AFP said.
"We call on the public to no longer buy Israeli products as
long as the occupation by Israel of the Palestinian territories
continues," the president of the Coordination for Calls for
a Fair Peace in the Middle East, Olivia Zemor, told a media conference
in Paris.
Israel "is practicing a virtual apartheid on the Palestinian
population," she said.
The boycott comes three months after the European parliament suspended
an economic association agreement with Israel because of its violations
of international law.
Israel exports more than 100 million euros (dollars) of farm products
to France, an expert at the media conference said.
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