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WHAT’S IN YOUR SLEIGH? Your choices make a difference!

This Christmas,can help bring a just and lasting peace to the Holy Land with careful shopping.

The United Methodist General Conference has called on all nations to boycott products made inillegal settlements on occupied land. This is not a boycott of Israel or Israeli goods.

It is a boycott of products made outside Israel’s internationally recognized borders and falsely labeled to get US tax exemptions.

The UMC opposes Israel’s occupation of land outside its internationally recognized borders. The town of Bethlehem is in occupied territory.

Bethlehem’s people are suffering, occupied and imprisoned. They have urgently asked for our help. “Our word is a cry of hope ” - from the Kairos Palestine Document signed by almost 3,000 Palestinian Christians!

Bethlehem today is a real town in the occupied West Bank Bethlehem is inside the West Bank.

Inside Bethlehem are watchtowers, checkpoints, refugee camps, & walls

The Nativity Church is all most tourists see in Bethlehem, before they board their busses back into Israel. Church of the Nativity

They fail to meet the Palestinian Christians struggling to keep a Christian presence here despite Israel’s cutting of olive trees and destruction of land belonging to Christian families and institutions. September 2015

Bethlehem is surrounded by expanding Israeli settlements built in violation of international law.

The settlements are sustained by industrial zones like the one above. These are subsidized by the Israeli government, and products made there compete unfairly with goods made in legitimate locations in Israel and elsewhere.

Products made in illegal settlements and industrial zones support oppression through: Confiscation of Palestinian land & water (If you are Israeli you get 4 times as much water as a Palestinian next door.) Home demolitions (Most of the homes demolished have nothing to do with terrorism.) Building of new illegal settlements (This building continued all through the “peace talks” of the past 20 years.) Pollution of Palestinian farmland (Untreated waste runs down onto fields and pollutes groundwater.) Health problems, (These include cancer and kidney disease, due to soil and crop contamination) Theft of resources from occupied territory (Raw materials are mined by settlement companies and taken into Israel.)

Israel has destroyed over 25,000 Palestinian homes

and countless orchards that families depend on Photo by Chris Goecke EAPPI

Hazardous waste flows from settlement industries onto Palestinian land.

Boycott, a form of nonviolent direct action, has worked many times to end injustice.

It can work again! Please boycott settlement goods, including….

Ahava Ahava products are made in Mitzpe Shalem, an illegal settlement, with minerals and mud from the Dead Sea. They are sold in depart- ment stores and pharmacies, and are carried frequently by TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, and Ulta.

Keter Plastic Products Plastic containers Tool boxes Furniture Toys Outdoor storage & Indoor storage Made in an illegal settlement

These are made in Barkan, an illegal settlement. They are sold by Edushape as Interstar Toys and by Toys R Us as part of its Imaginarium Discovery line. These toys are sold by many stores as Interstar Toys and by Toys R Us as part of its Imaginarium Discovery Line. They are made in Barkan, an illegal settlement. Plastic Connecting Toys Falsely marked “Made in Israel”

Royalife Linens Sold as Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn brands! Williams Sonoma, which owns Pottery Barn, imports sheets from Royalife. Their labels say “Made In Israel” but some are from the illegal settlement of Barkan inside the West Bank.

Smart-Fab Disposable Art & Decorative Fabric Smart-Fab is sold online through Staples, Wal-Mart, Amazon and other vendors and school supply stores. It is made by Dispobud in the settlement of Barkan.

So what should we buy? What should we give?

The greatest gifts we can give are love and support for justice. Isaiah 1:17 says “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed.” If you do buy gifts, here are some suggestions:

Fair Trade Products from Caanan Fair Trade canaanfairtrade.com Canaan Fair Trade Olive Oil and other delicacies come from Jenin, Palestine Fair Trade creates equity in commerce that is sustainable and can provide hope.

Fair Trade products from Ten Thousand Villages Tenthousandvillages.com Phoenician Glass from Hebron

Fair Trade products from Diyar in Bethlehem

Fair Trade products from Sunbula at sunbula.org

Remember…. Our buying decisions can make a difference! Please keep this in mind as you shop this holiday season.

For more information,contact Answering the call from Palestinian Christians