RAMALLAH: Palestinian Minster of National Economy Hasan Abu Libdeh said on Wednesday a committee set up by the Palestinian Authority will announce a comprehensive boycott of goods and services produced in West Bank Jewish settlements.
Abu Libdeh said during a meeting with representatives of the Palestinian private sector that “anyone dealing with these products will be accused of treason.”
He added that the national committee for the organization of internal market will take deterrent measures, including destroying products and transferring merchants who deal in them to Palestinian courts. There have been a spate of reports on international companies moving out of the Palestinian Territories to locations inside Israel following intensive pressure from European and Palestinian human rights groups to boycott goods from the settlements.
Several Palestinian politicians and human rights organizations have called for a complete boycott of products from Jewish settlements and those produced inside Israel to support the Palestinian economy.
Nasr Abulkareem, an economist at Birzeit University in the West Bank, noted that Palestinians account for only about $3 billion out of Israel’s $100 billion annual trade. He said 60-70 percent of raw materials in West Bank are Israeli.
