Sept.BEN AND JERRY'S CANCELS GOLAN DEAL - ARUTZ 7 NEWS REPORT

Sept. 18, 1998 / Elul 27, 5758

A setback in the struggle for international recognition of Israel's
right to the Golan. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream company has announced
that it will cease purchasing water from a Golan Heights water
company, Mei Eden. Bram Kleppner, International Products Manager
for Ben and Jerry's, told Arutz-7 last night, "We were getting a
lot of e-mails [Info@benjerry.com] protesting the deal, and so we
figured that, all things being equal, we might as well upset less
people rather than more... As you well know, " Kleppner continued,
"[many] countries have occupied the Golan over the past 3,000
years, so who are we to decide who is right [in the current dispute
between Israel and Syria]?"

The form-letter emails sent to Ben and Jerry's
[webmaster@benjerry.com] were backed by a coalition of groups,
including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The
authors repeated the accusation that Israel is "notorious for its
expropriation of water resources," and threatened that, "We are in
the process of implementing a boycott of products generated by
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan
Heights. Similar boycotts are already underway in Palestine/Israel
and in Europe. Should an agreement indeed exist between Ben and
Jerry's and Eden Springs, and should you continue this agreement,
we will consider calling for a boycott of Ben and Jerry's
products." Avi Zinger, manager of the Ben and Jerry's franchise in
Israel, told Arutz-7, "At first, we told the managers in the U.S.
that Mei Eden is a perfectly reputable company, but after the
public pressure in the U.S. increased, we informed Mei Eden that we
would have to discontinue our water purchases from them."