Palestinians

Ron Jacobsohn Ventures Beyond the Anti Israeli Boycott to Met Palestinians who work with Israelis

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• published: 06 Jul 2016
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Ron Jacobsohn, JN1 Correspondent: There is a lot of negative talk about the turbid relationships between the Jewish settlers and the Palestinians in the West Bank, however we found out that there are many exceptions to the rules of collaborations and understanding between the two people who occupy the same land. Lipski, is one of the largest producers of plastic sanitary and plumbing products, at the Barkan Industrial Area. It moved to the Samaria area after the factory relocated from the Israeli city, Lod. The CEO, Yehuda Cohen, is extremely proud to help further the understanding between the Israeli’s and the Palestinians by hiring both to work side by side. Yehuda Cohen, CEO, Lipski: When I am here and I see the worker, the Palestinian and the Israeli and it's a really good worker, very good people. When you give good conditions and respect, you get wonderful relationship between the Palestinian worker and the Israeli worker. The Palestinian boycott affects 17% of my business when it started, because of this boycott I developed a new line of bathroom products, open me to the Israeli market and the European market. This is the right thing to be here and to build the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians and I will be here, any kind of boycott will not remove me from here. We talked some of the Palestinians workers at the factory, how they felt working for an Israeli company. We talked some of the Palestinians workers at the factory, how they felt working for an Israeli company. Rashid Morar, Palestinian Employee: We are here, half are Palestinians and half Israelis. I came to work here in 98 and now I have been here 15 years and seven months. I first came here as an employee, as an entry level employee and since then I've been promoted and today I am the head of the assembly department in the factory, the work is pleasant, it's a very good job. The relationship on the job between the Israelis and the management is fabulous. Jamal Shalawi, Palestinian Employee: It's all working fine. We work together, we eat together and drink together, and there's no problem. Basel Abu Heglah, Palestinian Employee: There is almost no difference between an Arab or an Israeli, but there is a difference in the salary. No difference in the work, but in the salary. There is not enough work in the Palestinian Authority, so some are working there and some are working here. Dan Catarivas, who heads the division of Foreign Trade and International Relations, at the Manufacturers Association of Israel claims that the boycotts everyone is talking about will have very little impact on the factories in the Samaria area. Dan Catarivas, Manufacturers Association of Israel I think that there's a lot of confusion considering boycott, ok? The only boycott that exists nowadays is actually the call for Palestinian Authority not to buy products which are produced in the settlements or in the West Bank, ok? All the other issues, I mean you've got a lot of NGO's, which are calling for boycotting but it's very, I mean the effect of that is very limited and very small. Now there are some also ideas about labeling in order to be able for the sake of consumer transparency to identify where the products come from, but we're not talking about boycott, and the overall basis, if you look at the macro picture, it has a very very limited effect which is really not very much entrenched. David Simchan created the Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce in order to show the skeptics on both sides that with a lot of good will, a better future can be achieved. David Simcha, Chairman, Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce: Israel and Palestine will live side by side with a very close and good relation. I believe that we can show the world that it can be done and I believe that it can promote business culture, sport and everything in between the two nations. Ron Jacobsohn, JN1 Correspondent: Although we can't really conclude that all is rosy between the Israelis and the Palestinians on the West Bank we were able to see some very touching human connections that can serve as an exemplary behavior to others. For JN1 I am Ron Jacobsohn in Israel.