Salaam
Sorry for the unusual title.
Just received the following on email, and considered it pertinent to bring to the attention of others:
Israeli Tourism Adverts Wipe Palestine From the Map
Posters have recently appeared in London Undergroundtube stations advertising Israel as a tourist destination. The map onthe advert depicts Israel as incorporating the West Bank and EastJerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights (see photo below).
Please write to London Underground, the Advertising Standards Agencyand CBS Outdoors - the company which manages the poster sites - askingfor the removal of these posters, which deliberately deny the existenceof Palestine. Contact details are at the bottom of this email.
A draft letter is included below. You can use this letter as it is, or take the information from it to write your own.
DRAFT LETTER:
Dear
I have noticed with concern a poster which is currently being displayed on London Underground's advertising sites.
The poster has been produced by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism as partof an advertising campaign to attract visitors to Israel.
The map on the advertisement portrays Israel as an area which incorporates the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights.
However, none of these areas are part of Israel, but instead have beensubject to military occupation or blockade by Israel since 1967.
UNResolution 242 calls on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, the GazaStrip and East Jerusalem, which are Palestinian territories, but Israelremains in violation of this resolution, and also maintains its illegaloccupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.
Israel has sealed off the Gaza Strip since 2005, making accessvirtually impossible, resulting in severe shortages of food, medicineand clean water, which has left the Strip's 1.4 million Palestiniansfacing a humanitarian crisis. Any 'tourists' would be unable to visitthe Gaza Strip, as Israel prevents even humanitarian aid workers andlawyers from entering.
In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel continues to buildsettlements in direct contravention of international law, taking landfrom the Palestinians to do so and demolishing their homes and farms inthe process.
In addition, Israel is in the process of building the ApartheidWall through the West Bank, which, when completed, will expropriate 50%of Palestinian land in the West Bank, depriving farmers and families oftheir livelihoods and water supply, and making movement forPalestinians almost impossible.
The Wall breaches numerous international agreements, including theFourth Geneva Convention's articles on the destruction of land and/orproperty (article 53) and on collective punishment (article 33).
TheIsraeli Ministry of Tourism's assertion, through the map displayed onthe poster, is insidious and wrong, and I urgently call on you toremove it from all its sites to avoid being complicit in thisdeliberate misinformation.
I look forward to your response.
Yours
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CONTACT DETAILS:
1. Transport for London
Floor 23, Empress State Building
Empress Approach
London SW6 1TR
Tel: 020 7222 5600
Email: [email protected]
London Underground Customer Service Centre
55 Broadway
London SW1H 0BD
Tel: 0845 330 9880
Email: [email protected]
What will happen: The complaint will go to the appropriate section and you will receive an answer.
2. CBS Outdoor Ltd
Email: The customer service manager, Richard Ashman
[email protected]
Tel: 020 7482 2863
Post: 28 Jamestown Road, Camden Lock, London, NW1 7BY
Whatwill happen: CBS approves advertising internally, but seek advice fromthe Committee of Advertising Practice. CBS also works in connectionwith the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA). It can be asked to removeadvertising from its sites by the ASA.
3. Advertising Standards Agency
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 020 7492 2222
Post: Advertising Standards Authority, Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6QT
What will happen: The complaint will be considered within the codes of practice, and you will receive a reply within 10 days.
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