Leading clerics in the Gulf have urged people to boycott hundreds of US products ranging from Big Macs and Coca-Cola to Calvin Klein and Levi jeans in support of the Palestinian intifada. Sheikh Yussef Al-Qaradhawi, a Qatari cleric of Egyptian origin, led the calls, issuing a fatwa, or religious decree, at Doha's main Omar Bin Al-Khattab Mosque during Friday's prayers.
A list carrying the names of hundreds of US products to boycott was also distributed at schools, shopping centers and other establishments throughout the Gulf, notably in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The detailed three-page list included US cars, healthcare, hospitals, clothes, cosmetics, food, restaurants, computer hardware and electronic goods.
“If you cannot buy a bullet for the Palestinian fighters, don't waste the price of a bullet for the benefit of the Jews,” the list proclaimed. “Each dollar spent to buy an American product is transformed into a bullet to kill our brothers in Palestine,” it continued. “US restaurants will lose millions of dollars if boycotted.”
Yemen groups want US goods boycotted. In Sanaa, Yemen's opposition parties called on Saturday for a boycott of US goods in the Arab state over Washington's perceived pro-Israeli stance in the Middle East crisis. Yemeni political leaders, including President Ali Abdullah Saleh who heads the ruling General People's Congress Party, have been outspoken in their support for Palestinians.
Leaders and more than 500 activists of the Islamist Islah Party, the Yemen Socialist Party and several unions launched the boycott campaign, to take effect in the forthcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, at a gathering in the capital, Sanaa.
“There is a clear American bias in support of the Zionist entity (Israel) which kills unarmed elderly people, children and women in Palestine,” Parliament Speaker Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Al Ahmer, who heads the Islah Party, told the meeting.
Participants said their goal was to press the US administration to change its Middle East policy, seen as supportive to Israel during two months of clashes, which have killed at least 273 people, mostly Palestinians. — ( Jordan Times )
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
