Palestinians in West Bank: It’s Impossible to Boycott Israel

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bds-boycottShop owners in the West Bank lament that it is impossible to boycott Israel, Jordan-based Albawaba news reported.

According to the report, Palestinian political party Al-Mubadra Al-Watniya, or the Palestinian National Initiative, has launched a campaign throughout Ramallah urging consumers to boycott Israeli products, as part of the larger international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. Signs throughout Ramallah call on Palestinians to “boycott Israeli goods” and to refuse to “pay for the bullets that kill our children.”

But it appears locals are having difficulty accomplishing just that because of certain specialty goods that come from Israel. “Our gluten-free bread and lactose-free milk come from Israel,” one Palestinian businessman said, according to the report.

According to the report, most small grocers in Ramallah continue to sell Israeli goods, despite the active boycott movement.

Pharmacist Samer Toubassi told Albawaba, “We’re with the boycott, but for many products we have no alternatives,” adding that 40 to 50 percent of his medications come from Israel.

Perhaps the issue of Israeli drugs is particularly sensitive to Palestinians, as the host of a religious program on Palestinian Authority TV recently told audiences that Israel seeks to control its Arab neighbors through the dissemination of prescription drugs.

“Palestinians do not have the technology to produce medicine that is used to treat cancer, problems with the immune system, or diabetes, for instance,” said Toubassi.

One Palestinian told the Jordanian paper that he would not boycott “the settlements” — Jewish communities built on lands conquered by Israel in the defensive 1967 Six-Day War — because the settlements provide many Palestinians with work.

“I don’t believe in boycotting. If we boycott settlement products, what about the Palestinians who work in the settlements?” said Ramallah resident Mahmoud Jbbarin.

Criticizing the Palestinian government in Ramallah, he said, “If they can work somewhere else instead, then I’m fine with the idea. But at the moment the Palestinian Authority does not provide enough jobs for the Palestinians.”

“Although many Palestinians seem to willing to sacrifice their economic benefits for the national struggle, a complete boycott would imply impossible choices, like refraining from buying medicine for cancer – or even just a bag of carrots,” the Albawaba report concluded.

The Algemeiner

{Matzav.com}


6 COMMENTS

  1. For one, the Palestinians will have a problem boycotting water and electricity. Try stop driving cars or riding donkeys on Israeli built roads. Good luck with that.

  2. If the Palestinians had invested their time and money in producing their own products and drugs all these years instead of directing their time and money to the destruction of Israel, they wouldn’t have to use Israeli products and everyone would be happy!

  3. Like Obama, the BDS movement seeks to punish Israel for occupation, and for not pursuing the peace process. What peace process. Abbas won’t even sit down. The PA has repeatedly rejected every Israeli offer of land for peace. So the PA makes it impossible for progress in face to face negotiations for peace. Yet the world blames Israel.
    Let’s look at the so-called “occupation”. It is legal in international law. When land is possessed in a defensive war, the winner doesn’t have to give the land back until it has real and solid arrangements for peace. Until then, its occupation is deemed defensive and legal. Israel can’t get assurances of recognition and peace from the Palestinians. It withdrew from Gaza, and settlements in Gaza, and instead of peace, it got thousands of rockets rained on and terrorizing Israeli civilians. The PA continues to glorify and enable terror against Israeli civilians. Abbas made a speech about Palestinians using all means possible against Israel, and terrorist attacks spiked. Therefore, the continuing settlements are necessary, as was the barrier, which practically ended suicide bombings.
    The conflict could end in a heartbeat. PA and Games recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and peace will be there. The state solution would follow swiftly. The Palestinians would start to prosper. So the ball is in the Pal’s court. Only their virulent Jew hatred stops them.

  4. Like Obama, the BDS movement seeks to punish Israel for occupation, and for not pursuing the peace process. What peace process. Abbas won’t even sit down. The PA has repeatedly rejected every Israeli offer of land for peace. So the PA makes it impossible for progress in face to face negotiations for peace. Yet the world blames Israel.
    Let’s look at the so-called “occupation”. It is legal in international law. When land is possessed in a defensive war, the winner doesn’t have to give the land back until it has real and solid arrangements for peace. Until then, its occupation is deemed defensive and legal. Israel can’t get assurances of recognition and peace from the Palestinians. It withdrew from Gaza, and settlements in Gaza, and instead of peace, it got thousands of rockets rained on and terrorizing Israeli civilians. The PA continues to glorify and enable terror against Israeli civilians. Abbas made a speech about Palestinians using all means possible against Israel, and terrorist attacks spiked. Therefore, the continuing settlements are necessary, as was the barrier, which practically ended suicide bombings.
    The conflict could end in a heartbeat. PA and Hamas recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and peace will be there. The state solution would follow swiftly. The Palestinians would start to prosper. So the ball is in the Pal’s court. Only their virulent Jew hatred stops them. q

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