With South Africa taking the lead in banning all products from the Occupied Territories labeled as Israeli products, and now the Republic of Ireland and Denmark to follow suit it seems the Palestinians themselves have yet to join this new cause.With South Africa taking the lead in banning all products from occupied territories labeled as Israeli products by settlers, and now the Republic of Ireland and Denmark to follow suit it seems the Palestinians themselves have yet to join this new cause.
Products from settler communities are still seen stacked on supermarket shelves in the West Bank and apparently locals see no reason as to why they should stop buying settler products.
Mustafa Barghouti has led this Palestinian boycott initiative and it has been gathering momentum. Barghouti along with other senior Palestinian officials welcomed South Africa’s decision but it seems they have yet to have the same effect within their own jurisdiction.
Within Bethlehem brand names such as Tnuva, Osem, Elite are still displayed in Hebrew and Arabic on the shelves and indeed with advertising throughout the stores and on the shop fronts also.
Faiz Hamadan and Khaled Saleima, stall owners at the market in Bethlehem, said they had no political issue with selling Israeli made produce so long as it did not originate in the settlements.
‘The Palestinian Authority patrols the stores and examines the country of origin of the inventory, no one here would sell anything that comes from settlement manufactories,’ they say.
However it remains to be seen what impact an international effort to ban these products will have when it becomes common knowledge that the Palestinians themselves are not following an international effort that in truth they should be leading.
