“From us and in us, our product is enough for us.” The slogan of one of the campaigns to boycott Israeli products has spread in the occupied West Bank, since the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, which coincided with similar calls to boycott companies that support the occupation in countries of the Islamic world and beyond. .
The campaign also supports Palestinian products, and is led by branches of a chain of well-known major stores in the West Bank.
Spread campaign
The manager of one of the points of sale in Ramallah, Omar Bawatna, points to a sticker on boxes of water, milk, washing powder, and tissues that says “Made in Palestine,” indicating the spread of the campaign.
The supermarket chain estimates that consumption of Israeli products has increased from 90% to 60% since the beginning of the war.
Bawatna believes that young people in major grocery stores in the West Bank “have developed a political conscience and are consuming more and more Palestinian products. They are looking at labels and browsing Internet pages to find out the list of products that must be boycotted.”
You can find out about the products under the boycott umbrella through the website of the BDS movement, which was founded by Palestinian civil society organizations in 2005, calling for the imposition of political and economic sanctions against Israel because of its treatment of the Palestinians. Israel and its main ally, the United States, accuse the movement of anti-Semitism.
Historical rights
“The BDS movement categorically opposes all forms of racism, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism,” says Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of BDS.
According to Barghouti, the idea of the boycott movement was inspired by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.
The demands of the Boycott Israel Movement – according to its website – reflect the ambitions and rights of all the historical components of the Palestinian people, from the Palestinians of the 1948 territories to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, to the camps and diaspora, which were fragmented by “Israeli settler colonialism in stages.”
BDS has gained global momentum and has branches in 40 countries.
The Israeli member of the movement, Ofer Neiman, supports BDS because he believes that things can only be changed through international pressure, according to him.
The left-wing activist adds that it is a very good campaign that uses the principles of non-violence and human rights to bring about change “and provides everyone, everywhere in the world, with the opportunity to participate.”
Israeli approval
The World Bank notes that “all investment and development projects are subject to Israeli approval” and notes that the Palestinian territories depend on international aid.
In East Jerusalem, it is difficult to find Palestinian alternatives, so the shops there are filled with Israeli products.
Bawatna goes back to saying that merchants use a wholesale system supervised by an Israeli official who “makes sure there is a balance” between Israeli and Palestinian products.
As for Ali (a merchant), he makes sure that his store has “zero Israeli products” and indicates that he was subjected to “intimidation” by the occupation soldiers, who one day threatened to close his store.
