Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a ban on products from Jewish settlement in West Bank, Reuters reported on Monday.“There’s an international consensus that the settlements are illegal and therefore it is unacceptable to support them,” the President’s legal adviser, Mr Hassan al-Awri, explained. Pro-Palestinian activists world-wide have campaigned for years for a boycott of settlement products, in some cases successfully.
According to Reuters, “Palestinians officials estimate that Israeli-run companies in the settlements sell goods worth $500 million per year into the West Bank market, from construction materials to nuts.” Ignoring the ban will result in a fine or, in worst case, jail.
Products manufactured in “Israel proper” are not included. Since the West Bank is under Israeli control, Palestinians are largely dependent on Israeli products. A UN report from 2007 showed that Israeli produced goods accounted for more than half of the Palestinian imports the year before.
