Greek 'Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions' activists plant trees in Estee Lauder store

Electronic Intifada- Palestine solidarity activists in Thessaloniki, Greece, engaged in a creative action in support of the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing on 28 May when they entered an Estee Lauder cosmetics store with tree saplings in tow.

According to a press release from an activist performance group calling itself the Land Annexation Society, six participants dressed in suits as members of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and “proceeded to ‘plant’ trees over the Estee Lauder shop space … flyers were distributed to shoppers and staff informing them that ‘this Estee Lauder space is currently being rezoned.’”

The JNF is an Israeli quasi-governmental institution which has facilitated ethnic cleansing operations since 1948 and continues to administer land-grabs for Jewish-only use in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, and in places like al-Araqib in the Naqab (Negev) desert. It was tasked with literally covering up the destruction of approximately 500 Palestinian villages beginning in the late 1940s by planting trees and forests over the ruins of Palestinian homes. The JNF has currently re-branded itself as an environmental charity organization, and has implemented its land confiscation policies as ones under a benign-sounding “re-greening” project in the Naqab. Read more