|
Norwegian Minister
Boycotts Israeli Goods
OSLO, January 5, 2006
(IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) Norwegian Finance Minister Kristin
Halvorsen reiterated on Thursday, January 5, support for boycotting Israeli
products in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian
people.
"I have not bought Israeli
products for a long time and naturally I support my party's campaign for a
boycott of goods and services from Israel," the minister told the daily
Dagbladet.
Halvorsen's party, the Socialist
Left, is a junior member of the three-party left-wing ruling
coalition.
The Socialist Left joined several
organizations last year in a pro-Palestinian campaign called "Boycott Israel",
aimed at denouncing "Israel's scandalous policy towards the Palestinians which
violates human rights".
Last month, the Wiesenthal Centre,
an international Jewish organization, protested a decision by the
Soer-Troendelag region of western Norway to join the
boycott.
Not Official
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr
Stoere, of the Labour Party, stressed, however, that a boycott of Israeli
products was not an official government policy.
"That's not the government's
policy," he told the public radio NRK.
He also ruled out as "completely
unthinkable" the possibility of the government implementing such a boycott of
Israeli good.
Halvorsen, for her part, said the
government "has to accept that there are different views within the political
parties on the measures to use against Israel."
She went on: "We want to use more
vigorous methods than others within the
government".
The Presbyterian Church USA has
threatened to divest from five American giant companies, accusing them of
supporting and helping maintain the Israeli occupation of
Palestine.
The New York Times reported on Friday, August 5, that the Episcopal Church USA and
the United Church of Christ were considering divestment as a means of swaying
Israeli policy.
The World Council of Churches, the
main global body uniting non-Catholic Christians, encouraged in February members
to sell off investments in companies profiting from Israeli control of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip.
In October 2002, 18 of the
22-member Arab League vowed to "reactivate" a half-century-old ban on trade with
Israel as they wrapped up a meeting of the Leagues Boycott Office of Israel
(BOI).
Arab states once boycotted not
just Israeli firms themselves, but third-country companies which do business
with Israel.
However, the indirect boycott has
largely lapsed since the launch of the Middle East peace process in
1991.
Washington, Israel's main alley,
has been laying immense pressures on Arab countries to call off the
boycott.
On Tuesday October 11, Bahrain's
parliament rejected a decision by the government to lift a ban on Israeli goods
as part of a trade deal with the United States.
Washington has also managed to
secure a Saudi pledge to ease boycott of Israel in swap for helping the kingdom
join the World Trade Organization (WTO). http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-01/05/article05.shtml (6 Jan
06)*************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
SPONSORED LINKS
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
|
