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Posted on 12/04/2002 12:20:30 PM PST by Sub-Driver

Palestinians Give Up Their Marlboros but Not Coke By Ibrahim Hazboun Associated Press Writer

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Swept up in anti-American sentiment, Palestinians increasingly want the Marlboro man out of town. Many smokers, especially young trendsetters, have switched to French-made Gauloises, which they say are similar in taste and a dollar a pack cheaper.

American cigarettes, particularly Marlboros, have been the main target of a boycott of U.S.-made products organized several months ago by Palestinian activists. The campaign has resonance among many Palestinians upset by what they see as Washington's one-sided support of Israel.

Two other famous American exports - Levi's and Coca-Cola - have largely escaped the sanctions. At more than $50 a pair, Levi's were out of reach for most Palestinians anyway. Coca-Cola is bottled in Ramallah - the Palestinian administrative headquarters in the West Bank, meaning a boycott could endanger jobs.

So Marlboros are taking the hit.

"The United States is backing Israel to continue the occupation of our land," said 24-year-old construction worker Fadi Suleiman. The former Marlboro man and most of his buddies now smoke Gauloises. "Maybe the boycott will be a message to the Americans to open their eyes and stop being pro-Israeli."

Marlboro had always been the most popular cigarette in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, favored especially by Palestinian men in their 20s and 30s as a status symbol; most Palestinian women don't smoke.

Wherever men gathered - at work, for card games in all-male coffee shops or even at stone-throwing protests against Israeli occupation - most smoked, and the brand of choice was Marlboro. The only exception was in prison in Israeli - a waystation for tens of thousands of Palestinians - where only Israeli brands are available.

Anti-American sentiment has peaked in the past, during the first uprising from 1987-1993 and during the 1991 Gulf War, but never before has an anti-American boycott succeeded.

The sales of Marlboros appeared to begin declining in the West Bank about a year ago with the introduction of Gauloises.

Hassan al-Zain, 60, who has been selling cigarettes in Ramallah's central Manara Square since 1954, said that only a year ago, he used to sell 10 packs of Marlboros a day. Now he is selling 10 packs of Gauloises and two packs of Marlboros. Other vendors confirmed the trend.

Al-Zain said the new sales patterns are a result of the boycott, but also of the lower price - Marlboros cost $3, compared with $2 for Gauloises.

The Palestinian importer of Gauloises, Haldoun Anabtawi, said sales have increased about fourfold since he began distributing the brand in the West Bank and Gaza a year ago. He would not give exact figures.

Emad Tawil, another company official, said in Ramallah alone sales skyrocketed over the past year from 10,000 packs a month to 125,000. Sales were just as brisk in other West Bank towns, and picking up in Gaza, he said.

Officials for Philip Morris Companies, Inc., the maker of Marlboros, said they did not have sales information at hand.

Olivier Bubbe, commercial director for Africa and Middle East for Altadis, the Paris-based manufacturer of Gauloises, confirmed that sales of the French cigarettes are up, but he attributed the rise to effective marketing more than the boycott.

He said the company has been heavily promoting the brand in the Middle East after introducing it in Lebanon in 1985, and sales were rising even before the Palestinian boycott call.

Palestinian activists have also made repeated attempts to organize boycotts of Israeli products, during the first Palestinian uprising and again during the past 26 months of fighting. At times, Palestinian inspectors would search shops and confiscate Israeli products.

However, activists have been unable to change entrenched consumer preferences shaped by 35 years of Israeli occupation; Israeli milk products, snack foods and even hummus - the chickpea spread once widely considered a Palestinian specialty - are found in many Palestinian homes.

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