General motors cancels sponsorship of Israeli settlement conference

General Motors has cancelled its sponsorship of a conference in the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The holding of the conference in an Israeli settlement inside territories occupied by Israel was opposed by various Arab organizations, the Arab League, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Palestinian national authority and the Israel peace group Gush Shalom.

The conference was slated to be held November 13 through 15 in the College of Judea and Samaria, located in the West Bank town of Ariel.

An article by "Jerusalem Post," reporting on the cancellation says GM subsidiary, GM-UMI Technology R&D, "appears to have rescinded its sponsorship of the conference after the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Israel-based Gush Shalom sent out releases calling on the automobile giant to stay out of the West Bank and Gaza."

The story also recalls that in 1998, Ben & Jerry's ice cream stopped using water provided by Eden Springs after Arab groups threatened to boycott the ice cream makers for using water from the Golan Heights.

The Israeli daily lists other actions that had to be cancelled as a result of protests. At Disney's Epcot Millennium Village, Jerusalem was depicted as the "capital of the Millennium" after various groups protested the original depiction of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In October 1999, Benetton closed a sportswear factory in the West Bank following threats of a boycott from Arab groups and Palestinian officials.