Palestinians in West Bank start boycott of Israeli products

Palestinians have begun a campaign to boycott Israeli goods sold in the occupied West Bank by means of confiscating and destroying the products.

On Tuesday, campaign leader Abdullah Kmail said activists will visit shops and target products from six major Israeli food companies in the coming days.

“We [have] entered the second phase of the campaign which is confiscating and damaging these goods,” he said.

Kmail further noted that activists drove a truckload of Israeli milk and yogurt to a main square in Ramallah, and dumped the dairy products to the cheers of supporters.

The campaign leader said 80 percent of the shops in the West Bank no longer have Israeli products in stock, and that shopkeepers were given extra time to sell the remaining goods and that no products were seized.

Last month, activists in the Fatah movement announced the boycott measures in response to the Tel Aviv regime’s decision to freeze the monthly transfer of more than USD 120 million in taxes belonging to the Palestinians.

Israeli officials took the step after the Palestinian Authority applied to join the International Criminal Court to seek war crimes charges against Israel in early January.

The West Bank is an important market for Israeli goods, and food exports fetch an estimated USD 700 million a year there. The current boycott campaign targets six major Israeli food companies, namely Tnuva, Strauss, Elite, Osem, Prigat and Jafora.

West Bank shopkeepers said the main reason behind the Palestinian boycott of Israeli products was Israel’s summer 2014 military aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel started its latest war on Gaza in early July 2014. The offensive ended on August 26 with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in the Israeli onslaught. Over 11,100 others, including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people, were also injured.