Israeli winery moves from settlement to Kibutz in northern Israel

Monday September 01, 2008 09:42 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC News

The Israeli wine company Barkan, moved its factory from the Barkan settlement in the northern West Bank into a Kibutz Hulda in northern Israel, the Gush Shalom movement in Israel reported.

The current Barkan Winery (Photo: Barkan Website)

The moving process started four years ago, and the Gush Shalom has been monitoring it, as the Barkan winery was on its boycott list for the past ten years.

Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc) supports distributed leaflets and stickers at supermarkets as well as other places asking the public to boycott this winery, because it is based in a settlement, which is a breach of international law, since the settlements violate international law.

The company directors' report to their stockholders stated: "In the past, the location of the company's winery at the Barkan area caused a negative image and made difficult the exporting of the Barkan brands. The company is acting to change this image, especially in light of moving production activity to Kibutz Hulda. (…) Due to severe limitation caused by the size of the Barkan location, as well as due to problems connected with operating a winery beyond the Green Line, the company decided to remove the winery from the Barkan Industrial Zone and relocate it to the Hulda site".

The decision, according to the Gush Shalom report, came also as a result of a partnership between “Tempo” a soft drink company which holds the ownership of Barkan Wineries, who partnered with the Dutch Heineken beer company and formed a new company called, Tempo Drinks.

Apparently, such partnership caused some worries that Heineken maybe face public criticism for partnering with a settlement-based company.

Several European and American human rights groups are trying to expand the boycott campaigns on various levels. While some demand that their countries boycott Israeli companies until Israel stop its daily violation of human rights in Palestine, others demand boycott of settlement products only.

israel | miscellaneous | news report george at imemc dot org