You are not quite right about Cyprus.

The UN sanctioned final status referrendum (with mechanisms to solve land and compensation claims) on the re-unification of Cyprus was voted for by an overwhelming majority of Turkish Cypriots only a minority of whom are recent ’settlers’ from Turkey.

This measure was supported politically by Turkey (but not by Greece which is the most dangerously nationalist anti-EU country in the EU).

Greek Cypriots voted overwhelmingly against the measure but still wanted full EU membership.

The foolish EU assuming that a reunification was going to happen in a spirit of reconciliation as the carrot for EU membership, not expecting naked greed and advantage to motivate Greek Cypriots, had no back up stick so they admitted Cyprus anyway.

As there is only one internationally recognised Cyprus the EU admitted the whole Island and now illegally supports the Greek blockade of the North, preventing the free movement of people, goods, capital and services.

So smug is Greek Cyprus that they will even, in violation of all EU treaties, fine EU citizens who enter the south of Cyprus from the North for breaking their embargo and blockade.

So poor northern farmers do not get to reclassify their goods as anything that can enter the EU (where they live but are blockaded by the south from partaking of their new rights).

The only choice is for Northern goods to be marked product of turkey and then held up as a sign of Turkish duplicity.

Meanwhile the latest bad faith tactic of the EU (heavily supported by Greece of course) in negotiations with Turkey is to stall further by claiming that Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot trade is a violation of its free trade agreements.

It is high time that northern Cypriots brought a massive mutli-million euro claim against the south and EU in the ECJ in Luxembourg.

Greek Cypriots are already attempting to use EU law over property claims against British people who have bought land in the North claimed by Greek Cypriots in the British courts (where Turkish Cypriots are denied standing by illegal actions of the Greek Cypriot community).

The EU should have clearly made membership contingent on reunification by plebicite and negotiation, as it now tolerates a divided island and an embargoed enclave where EU law is not allowed to run by the malfeasance of the Greek Cypriot polity.

In this case Turkey is really not the baddie and those who care about the poor farmers should preferentially source goods from Northern Cyprus, but the government is so concerned about identifying and labelling West Bank Israeli settler produce marking that they seem to be rather tardy on providing consumers with all the global ethnic, religious and communal shopping information they obviously so desperately need.

Maybe the British government should ask itself why it supports the illegal embargo of Northern Cyprus and why the unique refusal to grant Northern Cypriots alone the rights and entitlements they actually have as members of the EU (not recognised by Greek Cyprus) and why this is a major impediment to a lasting peace and reconciliation in Cyprus’ national interest.

Yes you are right that HM government is hypocritical but it is even more obviously and insidiously in the wrong in the case of Cyprus, where it is plainly within the government’s power as a strong member of the EU to do the right thing, than at first appears.

The Labour party must be ousted ASAP.

When the “settlers” are forcibly removed, nobody calls it “ethnic cleansing”, and nobody calls the Jews that the Arab world threw out “refugees”.

Judea and Samaria were part of Israel thousands of years before Nasser and Arafat cooked up the myth of Arab Palestine. Jews had a continuing presence there until Jordan threw them out.

If one does choose to buy into the myth of “Arab Palestine”, then you also buy into its including Jordan (and parts of Syria & Lebanon).

Half of the “Palestine” shown on old maps is now in Arab hands. Over three quarters of the British Mandate is in Arab Hands.

There is no moral, historical or cultural reason why Israel shouldn’t include the West Bank and certainly no reason why “settlers” (i.e. Jewish people) shouldn’t be able to live there.

The Arab world should house the “Palestinians” (specifically the parts of the Arab world that included “Palestine”). The fact that this isn’t and has never happened, is down to the Arabs. Israel & the Jews shouldn’t suffer for their draconian political chess game. The world shouldn’t blame israel for the plight of their pawns.

We need to start forcing the emphasis on the Arab states for solving the “Palestinian crisis” that THEY CREATED and stop harassing Israel into giving up land in Judea & Samaria.

Many Israelis would like nothing better than to send all the religious extremists to Iran or Saudi Arabia as part of their 9limited) education as to where religiously inspired education and justice systems lead.

However, a lot of the settlers are not like that and many of those more secular settlers went there for economic purposes or a feeling that Jews are entitled to settle in the West Bank. Some of the remaining settlements are not next to large Palestinian populations . The biggest example is Arial which is more secular than religious. In ‘The West’ one tends only to hear about the extreme settlements. I can’t change this any more than I can change the ‘Baby journalism’ employed throughout much of the ‘Cast Lead’ campaign.

Near where I live is Shaarei Hatikva where, as far as I have seen, all the residents are secular. The settlement is not built on private land but ‘government land’. That is, land owned by the Jordanian government pre 1967. That is the situation with most of the settlements anyway.

Any boycott, for the most part, can be circumvented. Not in the case that IsraeliNurse brings to our attention. But then, the factory that IsraeliNurse specifies is producing specialised equipment and anybody purchasing it would probably give a ‘flying f__k’ for a boycott. They would want the best equipment available for the appropriate price. And the other small factories in the West Bank will simply market the produce in a different way to hide the actual source.

It is an empty gesture and not appropriate to the generally good relations between this UK government and the Israeli government.

The only thing it does is to let the anti Israel crowd crow and feel ‘full of themselves’.

It doesn’t change the issues on the ground at all.

Can I have mine?

I want to boycott olives WB Settler Sephardic Reconstructionists.

When can I have my label from the UKs “We label Jews ingredients like calories” ?

concerned

http://www.birminghamitsnotshit.co.uk/