The Gush Shalom Settlement Boycott Team decided to remove the name of the cosmetics company Intercosma from its list of settlement products, following confirmation that the company finally left the Atarot Industrial Zone on the West Bank.
"We oppose all settlements in the Occupied Territories and all industries facilitating these settlements' growth, which are a violation of International Law as well as a major obstacle to peace with the Palestinians," said Adam Keller, Gush Shalom spokesman. "We are in particular opposed to the Atarot Industrial Zone, whose main purpose is to drive a wedge between the Palestinians in Ramallah and those in East Jerusalem."
When Gush Shalom started compiling its boycott list some 15 years ago, Intercosma had both its manufacturing plant and its management in a 3,700 square-meter structure at Atarot, and it was put on the blacklist of companies whose products Gush Shalom calls upon consumers in Israel and worldwide to avoid.
At the beginning of the Second intifada in 2001, when the Atarot area became a virtual battleground, the company moved the factory to Beit Shemesh and then to Ashdod. It did, however, keep possession of the Atarot structure and established there "a distribution center", so Gush Shalom maintained the boycott campaign against the company.
Last year, however, Intercosma finally closed down the distribution center and sold the Atarot building.
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