Ahava: Tracking the Trade Trail of Settlement Products

 A new report by Who Profits investigates the business and trade of Ahava – Dead Sea Laboratories, a private Israeli cosmetics corporation which operates from the occupied West Bank. Ahava is the only company which sells Dead Sea cosmetics and is located in the occupied area of the Dead Sea. The Ahava factory and visitors' center is located in the Mitzpe Shalem settlement, on the shore of the Dead Sea in the occupied part of the Jordan Valley and a large percentage of Ahava shares are held by two Israeli West Bank settlements.

The purpose of this report is to explore the various companies that make up the supply chain of a company involved in the occupation as these companies are participating in practices that, on their face, are in violation of international law. As this report exposes, the company also uses natural resources from the occupied area in its mud products. 

 This study is part of a series of reports aimed to highlight various aspects of corporate activity in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The report is part of the ongoing effort of Who Profits from the Occupation, a project of the Coalition of Women for Peace, to expose corporate involvement in the Israeli control of Palestinian and Syrian occupied territory.    

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"Made in Israel": Agricultural Export from Occupied Territories  

The following Flash-report is an update on the major Israeli agriculture export companies presently operating in Occupied Territories. The report further indicates the harsh implications of an Israeli-only agriculture in occupied Palestinian and Syrian land.

In 2010, Israel exported fruit and vegetables in the total worth of 2.1 billion USD, 66% of which were exported to the European market. Some of this produce originated from occupied territories. The Israeli control over the water and the land in the West Bank prevents the development of a Palestinian agriculture. Better yet, the agriculture in the West Bank has turned the settlements themselves into profitable corporations through the establishment of water facilities, crops and export companies. 

Until its formal liquidation in September 2011, Agrexco was the main agricultural exporter of Israeli produce to Europe. Since then, most of the farmers and packing houses that worked with Agrexco have begun to look for alternative marketing options..

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Barkan Mounting Systems relocated its production from the oPt

Barkan Mounting Systems, a manufacturer of mounting systems for consumer electronics, closed its factory in the industrial zone of Ariel, an illegal settlement in the West Bank. Earlier this week, the owner of the company, Mr. Lior Barkan, notified the Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) in an e-mail that "the factory in the [occupied] territories was closed, all the production was relocated to China.

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