Coca Cola to open Gaza factory

[azurnoir]

Construction of Coca Cola’s first factory in the Gaza Strip began Monday, as the IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories oversaw the entry of the initial construction equipment into the coastal enclave.

The factory, which will be located in Gaza’s Karmi industrial zone, will cost $20 million and is expected to eventually employ 1,000 workers, according to a report in the Israeli NRG news site.

The construction equipment originated in Jordan, entered Israel through the Rabin border crossing and then into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing Monday afternoon.

The project’s initiators are Palestinian entrepreneurs Munib al-Masri and Zahi Khouri. Khouri is the chairman of the Palestinian National Beverage Company and owns three Coca Cola franchises throughout the West Bank.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/coca-cola-to-open-gaza-factory/#ixzz3Mf1cBvXa

[Warpy]

1. Good for them!

So it's not the most nutritious stuff in the world, it will give people jobs and a reason to hope that there is a future at all, maybe even a better one, which is better than none.

Taking everything away from Gazans didn't stop the violence, it just increased it. If people have something to live for and something to hold onto, they'll be less likely to be suckers for the violent arm of Hamas.

This is a good start.

[LeftishBrit]

2. +1

[King_David]

3. Great

Kol Hakavod to Coca Cola

Let's hope they can keep Hamas away from turning it into a bomb factory or treating it the way they treated their greenhoised that Jewish Philanthropists had left for them after the withdrawal ( Hamas completely destroyed those and turned them into bombs)

Good luck coca cola and well done.

[Scootaloo]

4. And let's hope Israel doesn't flatten it like they do nursing homes and water treatment plants

Also, The Greenhouse libel is below even you, man.

For starters, the majority of Gazan greenhouses were flattened and demolished - a few burned - by israel and the retreating colonists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/international/middleeast/15mideast.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

The Palestine Economic Development Company invested $25 million, with the help of the gates Foundation and James Wolfensohn, to restore the Gazan greenhouses to production. There was some looting of supplies (this and the destruction from the settlers accounted for that extra $5m over the initial $20m), but by November, most of that was to be recovered from the produce grown in these greenhouses - an estimated $20m. This included eight tons of peppers, apparently.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/28/international/middleeast/28gaza.html?_r=0
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinians-export-first-crop-from-ex-Gush-Katif-greenhouses

Now the problem is, of course, this income relied on export. And export relied on the karni crossing. The CEO of the PED, Bassil Jabir, estimated that for these greenhouses to actually make a cood economic turnaround, there would need to be ~25 truckloads of shipments going through the crossing daily. Which shouldn't have been a problem as there was an intenrational agreement that his crossing was to be operating 24/7. But... It wasn't. Israel shut it down regularly, citing securoty concerns, and as a result the daily let-through of Gazan produce was around three truck-fulls.

As a result, all that produce was effectively renddered into garbage; it doesn't last very long, after all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4818478.stm

Turns out, there were no actual security threats. The Israeli defense minister was demanding hte closure simply from spite:

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the head of the Southern Command, Yoav Galant, and Aviv Kochavi, commander of the Gaza Division, recently recommended the reopening of Karni and said there was no security-related reason for its closure. But Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered the closure to continue.

Several different reasons have been given for the closure, including the upcoming Israeli elections and the recent Hamas victory in the PA elections.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/in-gaza-there-s-no-milk-no-sugar-and-tomatoes-are-rotting-on-the-vines-1.182235

The closures ended up costing PED nearly six million dollars in the first two months. By 2006 and the permanent shutdown of all crossings, there was nothing to pay the workers. There was no income whatsoever for the project. Nothing could be sold, so there were no investment. By June 2006, the costs of the project had climes to #23m, in addition to the initial $25m.
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/998FB4AFB7518C05492571E2000B304D-undp-opt-06sep.pdf

Israel did open the crossings for the 2006 harvest season, but shut them down for good after that, with the full-on blockade and embargo against Gaza. The PED project was dead, and the greenhouses were torn down and sold to farmers in Sinai.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/31/environment-egypt-border-greenhouses-dc-idUSL3111115220080131

You're repeating dehumanizing propaganda from Alan Dershowitz.

[King_David]

5. If Hamas is true to form and turns it into a bomb factory

Or if Hamas does what it usually does and uses the factory as terror central and attempts to fire missiles onto innocent civilians ---- then I'm pretty sure Israel will flatten it.... Good chance actually and it's all up to Hamas.

As for Detshowitz... Yes yes it's well known how AntiZionists feel about Jewish Democrats. Zionism being the Jewish national project and that's why people feel the way they do about anything to do with Israel - period.

[Scootaloo]

6. I figured you would ignore everything I just said

it's what you do when you get caught in a lie, after all.

You may now return to your emoticon arguments.

[King_David]

7. Huh ?

[Scootaloo]

8. Excellent response

You have a pleasant Festivus, Dave.

[oberliner]

9. Looters strip Gaza greenhouses

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip — Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses on Tuesday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.

American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own cash.

Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements, and commanders complained they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized assets. In some instances, there was no security and in others, police even joined the looters, witnesses said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9331863/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/looters-strip-gaza-greenhouses/#.VJjOx7gGBA

Troubled season for Gaza's greenhouses

Hoping to save the jobs of thousands of Palestinian farm workers, international donors enlisted by former World Bank President James Wolfensohn paid Jewish settlers $14 million on the eve of the pullout from Gaza. The hope was that they would leave behind at least 800 acres of greenhouses, which grew flowers and produce, to be ready for September planting.

But that hope was jeopardized when Palestinian looters damaged many of the greenhouses, stripping them bare, for instance, of computers that the settlers used to monitor crops. Irrigation pumps were stolen, electricity networks paralyzed, and protective sheeting for the hothouses were torn.

Greenhouses covering one-fourth of the land were damaged during looting after the handover, according to Palestinian officials. The inherited farms have the potential to nearly double the output of the local agriculture industry, the largest domestic private-sector income engine in Gaza's $1 billion economy.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1025/p04s01-wome.html

Greenhouse project endangered in Gaza

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, a Page One story Monday about greenhouses in former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip stated that Israeli settlers sabotaged greenhouses before withdrawing from Gaza in August. The article should have said some settlers dismantled their own greenhouses before leaving, and that Palestinians looted some greenhouses after the Israelis withdrew. A Palestinian official, Mahmoud Abu Samra, asserted to the reporter that Israelis had sabotaged some greenhouses, but he did not provide evidence to substantiate the allegation.)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/10/31/greenhouse_project_endangered_in_gaza/?page=full

[azurnoir]

10. thanks for the stories but you 'forgot': Palestinians repair Gaza Greenhouses

Gaza greenhouses herald economic harvest

Less than three months after the Israelis departed, Palestinians have repaired scores of greenhouses left by the settlers, planted an autumn crop and are preparing to harvest an estimated $20 million worth of strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, and an array of herbs and spices. The produce is intended mostly for export to Europe, but some will also be headed to Israel, Arab countries and the United States.

After overcoming numerous obstacles, the Palestinians said their main worry now is the Karni border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, a source of blockage in the past and a focus of negotiations involving the Israelis, the Palestinians, the World Bank and even the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

Still, the harvest, which begins in about 10 days, will be the first tangible measure of development in Gaza, which has been in an economic free fall for most of the past five years.

"We are employing thousands of people in these greenhouses," Jabir said during an interview in the former settlement of Gadid, in the southwest corner of Gaza, as he visited the flourishing greenhouses. "We kept the growing cycle intact. We have pumped a lot of money into the Gaza economy."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/world/africa/27iht-gaza.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

but sadly when the harvest came

Left to Rot in Gaza

The harvest is underway inside a row of greenhouses here on the grounds of a razed Israeli settlement. But most of the tomatoes and sweet peppers, usually shipped to European markets, will rot in a nearby ravine.

"We keep getting it, but we don't know what to do with it," said Abdul Fatah al-Eilah, the greenhouse manager, as workers stacked boxes of vegetables in a storage shed while tractors towing flatbeds full of produce lined up to enter.

The main trade passage between the Gaza Strip and Israel has been closed for much of the year, despite an agreement brokered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in November that required Israel to "ensure the continued opportunity to export." Israeli security concerns, heightened by Hamas's parliamentary victory in January and the almost daily rocket fire from Gaza, have rendered the deal largely moot.

To protect Gaza's small farmers from competition by Eilah's Palestine Economic Development Corp. and its 1,000 acres of greenhouses, the corporation is barred from selling its produce locally. But without regular access to the outside world, the corporation has had to donate some produce to local charities and dump the rest. Losses so far add up to millions of dollars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/18/AR2006031801329.html

[King_David]

11. There is no libel here:

You say :

There was some looting of supplies

Oh boy , SOME ???

That was the primary reason for failure , there was almost total looting of almost all greenhouses to the point of total destruction.

Put away your whitewash.... Because there ain't enough in the world to believe your :



"There was some looting of supplies"

[Scootaloo]

12. No, it wasn't the "primary reason for failure."

The inability to get produce out was the primary cause of failure.

Read the links I provided.

[King_David]

14. Thats simply not true

Most of the Greenhouses were turned into bombs just like most of the building supplies in Gaza were turned into tunnels to attack civilians , HAMAS.

[azurnoir]

15. destruction of greenhouses pt1 :Israeli Settlers Demolish Greenhouses and Gaza Jobs

About half the greenhouses in the Israeli settlements in Gaza have already been dismantled by their owners, who have given up waiting to see if the government was going to come up with extra payment as an inducement to leave them behind, say senior officials working on the coordination of this summer's Israeli pullout from Gaza.

Under international pressure to save what is left for Palestinian economic development, Israeli and international officials are working on a plan to pay settlers to hand over the remaining greenhouses and a dairy to Palestinians, to preserve jobs and production. These businesses provide thousands of jobs to Gazans.

Of the roughly 1,000 acres of agricultural land that were under greenhouses in the 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza, only 500 acres remain - creating significant doubts that the greenhouses could be handed over to the Palestinians as "a living business," the goal cited by the Israeli coordinator of the pullout, Eival Giladi.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/international/middleeast/15mideast.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

most of the rest happened via Israeli bombing during Operation Summer Rain in 2006

part2 amage across Sectors

The initial damage estimates per sector hitherto yielded are:
1.
Municipal infrastructure
(including bridges water and wastewater lines and roads)
US$ 8 million
2.
Energy
(including the electricity lines and power station)
US$ 8 million
3.
Agriculture
(including olives and citrus orchards, greenhouses, poultries and
livestock farms, water wells)
US$ 23.5 million
4.
Housing
US$ 2 million
5.
Public buildings
(both governmental and NGO)
US$ 4.2 million; and
6.
Industry US$ 0.3 million

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/998FB4AFB7518C05492571E2000B304D-undp-opt-06sep.pdf

[King_David]

16. Oh please cut the whitewash revisionism.

Palestinian militants ransack former Gush Katif greenhouses


Damage is irreparable; international donors had purchased the greenhouses from evacuated settlers for benefit of the Palestinians.



http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/palestinian-militants-ransack-former-gush-katif-greenhouses-1.179788

[azurnoir]

18. seems like a bit of BS as your article is dated February 10 2006 and a sizable harvest was

obtained after that, you did know that European dating reverses month and day? my link to same article uses US dating, hope that helps, you wouldn't have wanted folks to think it was October 2 2006, right?

http://www.haaretz.com/news/palestinian-militants-ransack-former-gush-katif-greenhouses-1.179788

[King_David]

20. Article from Haaretz as it happened

No future revisionism

[azurnoir]

23. seems there is here is a report of damage to Gaza's greenhouse from Israeli bombing 6/06-8/06

Damage across Sectors

The initial damage estimates per sector hitherto yielded are:
1.
Municipal infrastructure
(including bridges water and wastewater lines and roads)
US$ 8 million
2.
Energy
(including the electricity lines and power station)
US$ 8 million
3.
Agriculture
(including olives and citrus orchards, greenhouses, poultries and
livestock farms, water wells)
US$ 23.5 million
4.
Housing
US$ 2 million
5.
Public buildings
(both governmental and NGO)
US$ 4.2 million; and
6.
Industry US$ 0.3 million

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/998FB4AFB7518C05492571E2000B304D-undp-opt-06sep.pdf

[King_David]

25. Relief web vs Haaretz ?

[azurnoir]

26. yes and there's still that date problem too NYT reported a large harvest after your article

in fact more than a month after your article

[King_David]

27. Quite the amateur Internet sleuth huh?

Bottom line :

Greengouses looted beyond repair after donated by Jews to Gaza.

Hamas turned most into bombs.

All building materials donated to Gaza last few years was turned into terror attack tunnels by Hamas.

Here's to hoping Hamas doesn't turn
Coca Cola plant into a Rocket /Bomb making factory as is their wont.

[azurnoir]

13. The Palestinians repaired the greenhouses Israel closed the borders and refused to allow export

of the produce

Gaza greenhouses herald economic harvest

Less than three months after the Israelis departed, Palestinians have repaired scores of greenhouses left by the settlers, planted an autumn crop and are preparing to harvest an estimated $20 million worth of strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, and an array of herbs and spices. The produce is intended mostly for export to Europe, but some will also be headed to Israel, Arab countries and the United States.

After overcoming numerous obstacles, the Palestinians said their main worry now is the Karni border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, a source of blockage in the past and a focus of negotiations involving the Israelis, the Palestinians, the World Bank and even the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

Still, the harvest, which begins in about 10 days, will be the first tangible measure of development in Gaza, which has been in an economic free fall for most of the past five years.

"We are employing thousands of people in these greenhouses," Jabir said during an interview in the former settlement of Gadid, in the southwest corner of Gaza, as he visited the flourishing greenhouses. "We kept the growing cycle intact. We have pumped a lot of money into the Gaza economy."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/world/africa/27iht-gaza.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

but sadly when the harvest came

Left to Rot in Gaza

The harvest is underway inside a row of greenhouses here on the grounds of a razed Israeli settlement. But most of the tomatoes and sweet peppers, usually shipped to European markets, will rot in a nearby ravine.

"We keep getting it, but we don't know what to do with it," said Abdul Fatah al-Eilah, the greenhouse manager, as workers stacked boxes of vegetables in a storage shed while tractors towing flatbeds full of produce lined up to enter.

The main trade passage between the Gaza Strip and Israel has been closed for much of the year, despite an agreement brokered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in November that required Israel to "ensure the continued opportunity to export." Israeli security concerns, heightened by Hamas's parliamentary victory in January and the almost daily rocket fire from Gaza, have rendered the deal largely moot.

To protect Gaza's small farmers from competition by Eilah's Palestine Economic Development Corp. and its 1,000 acres of greenhouses, the corporation is barred from selling its produce locally. But without regular access to the outside world, the corporation has had to donate some produce to local charities and dump the rest. Losses so far add up to millions of dollars.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/18/AR2006031801329.html

[King_David]

17. A lot of waffle revisionism

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=90775

[azurnoir]

19. same article as above with reversed (month and day) European dating

here once again is the link to the very same article and seeing as a harvest was managed after the articles date it calls the veracity into question, you wouldn't have wanted folks to think it was October 2 2006, after Operation Summer Rain, right?

http://www.haaretz.com/news/palestinian-militants-ransack-former-gush-katif-greenhouses-1.179788

oh and in addition above you claim Hamas the article says Fatah

[King_David]

21. It's not complicated

No need to hide things among dates and details that don't exist.

Greenhouses donated by Jews -- looted beyond repair and turned into bombs by Hamas.

Now coca cola to their credit moving into Gaza... Let's hope Hamas doesn't turn it into a bomb factory.

[azurnoir]

22. they were obviously not looted beyond repair as there was a sizable harvest after your article

was published and just for you I'll repeat those articles so you can grasp them your article is dated February 10 2006

this one is dated March 18 2006

Left to Rot in Gaza

The harvest is underway inside a row of greenhouses here on the grounds of a razed Israeli settlement. But most of the tomatoes and sweet peppers, usually shipped to European markets, will rot in a nearby ravine.

"We keep getting it, but we don't know what to do with it," said Abdul Fatah al-Eilah, the greenhouse manager, as workers stacked boxes of vegetables in a storage shed while tractors towing flatbeds full of produce lined up to enter.

The main trade passage between the Gaza Strip and Israel has been closed for much of the year, despite an agreement brokered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in November that required Israel to "ensure the continued opportunity to export." Israeli security concerns, heightened by Hamas's parliamentary victory in January and the almost daily rocket fire from Gaza, have rendered the deal largely moot.

To protect Gaza's small farmers from competition by Eilah's Palestine Economic Development Corp. and its 1,000 acres of greenhouses, the corporation is barred from selling its produce locally. But without regular access to the outside world, the corporation has had to donate some produce to local charities and dump the rest. Losses so far add up to millions of dollars.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/18/AR2006031801329.html

[oberliner]

24. This is just like what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto

I finally understand all the comparisons!

[shira]

28. Quite the pickel, as BDS is supporting a boycott of Coca Cola....

How will they react to this travesty of justice?

Aww, poor things.

[azurnoir]

29. If you say so

but Coke just might come off of the BDS list, especially if Gaza is allowed to export it, if it's only allowed to be sold in Gaza makes little difference either way now does it?

[King_David]

30. Clearly a spokesperson for the BDS movement,

None of us in this group knew , or maybe some did .... Leaders of the Palestinian people all seem to come from the USA . From Oregon to California.

Leaders of Israel sometimes came from Milwaukee.With 6 million Jews in the USA that's not surprising but why do the Palestinians leaders come from Maryland ?
That's more puzzling.

[azurnoir]

33. so having an opinion makes one a leader in your opinion-I see interesting

everyone on DU must be a leader of some sort then

Thanks you've elevated all of us

[shira]

31. I'm saying so b/c t's all over Google. Type in BDS, boycott, coca cola. n/t

[azurnoir]

32. I typed BDS coke and got this-Coke Backs BDS Group Trying to Cripple Israeli Soda Competitor

Coca Cola has donated millions to the anti-Israel group Oxfam International, which is currently backing a campaign to boycott an Israeli soda company that competes directly with Coke.

Oxfam has taken the lead in recent days in a campaign to boycott SodaStream, an Israeli-based beverage manufacturer that is under fire from supporters of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

http://freebeacon.com/culture/coke-backs-bds-group-trying-to-cripple-israeli-soda-competitor/

however my comment was in reply to your claim that this would create a problem for BDS

[shira]

36. Is that all you got from a google search? Really?

Why can't you acknowledge BDS advocates a boycott of Coca-Cola?

[azurnoir]

37. Did you read my reply or do you think no one reads beyond a title line?

but it is a very well known tactic to attempt to put a n opponent on the defensive

[shira]

38. Do you think no one can figure out your article is about a year old?

If you google BDS and Coca-Cola just for the last month alone, you'll find BDS targets Coca-Cola.

[azurnoir]

39. except at no point did I deny that in fact I've known it for years albeit

I found the article I posted a bit humorous in title but disturbing in it's content Oxfam is now antiIsrael, but do go on please

[shira]

40. Yeah, you just kept trying to deflect from that fact. Why? n/t

[oberliner]

34. Israel’s attacks on Gaza are leading to Coca-Cola boycotts

Turkish businesses have started removing Coca-Cola from shelves, more than a hundred Mumbai hotels are not selling any of its products, and Malaysian pro-Palestinian groups are calling for a boycott in response to the continued Israeli attacks on Gaza, which have killed more than 700 people.

The well-organized “Boycott Israel” movement has been around for many years, and generally ebbs and flows with the intensity of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, part of the larger “BDS” (for boycott, divestment & sanctions) campaign started in 2005. The huge civilian death toll in Gaza, which has been documented by quickly-circulated photographs, and the unrelenting nature of Israel’s missile attacks could make this boycott particularly tough on Coca-Cola, judging from growing support from social media:

http://qz.com/239722/israels-attacks-on-gaza-are-causing-coca-cola-boycotts/

[azurnoir]

35. Perhaps that's why Coke is building in Gaza

Last edited Thu Dec 25, 2014, 01:05 AM - Edit history (1)

smart business move