Here's an article in the Washington Post about the Palestinian boycott of West Bank settlement products. Unbelievable take on it: that it's the Palestinians who are provoking bad will by boycotting products made in settlements that of course are part of the good will Israel is promoting towards a fair and just peace. When really, the situation is just horrible for the Palestinians who work in and help build the settlements. They take these jobs to help feed their families yet in the end the goal of the settlements is to rob them of their homes. Essentially they are working to dispossess themselves.
I see parallels with what is happening in the Gulf Coast. Fisherman who were making an honest living are forced to work jobs for BP, the company that has destroyed their livelihood, so they can feed their families.
At least the Post has brought attention to the non-violent movement.
[Weiss adds: Note the statement in the piece that BDS may well be a cover for violent Hamas goals.]
If only the Palestinian Proletarians could think like the bourgeoisie Israelis…
“Are they for partnership or struggle?” Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said at a news conference Monday. While Israel tries to ensure that Palestinians have jobs, he added, Palestinian officials “try to raise unemployment by stopping them from working.
Dealing in settlement goods has technically been illegal under Palestinian law since 2005, but Fayyad has pushed for enforcement only since the start of the year. The hope is that the boycott will encourage the international community to adopt a stronger stance against settlements while helping end the Palestinian economy’s dependence on Israel. “
It probably does.
When does The Washington Post Run this atricle : “Israeli Occupation of the West Bank Hurts Palestinians”?
Or is that too obvious a fact to acknowledge?
What caused the Post to notice the Palestinians are suffering under occupation?
>>For the Israelis, it’s “an insufferable situation,” according to Avi Elkayam, who represents the settlement’s 300 factory owners.
This looks like the settlers are suffering more than the Palestinians. Great news; 17 factories down and 283 to go.
I can’t remember if this story was picked up by Mondoweiss at the time.
“Is PA Guilty of Undermining BDS Campaign?”
link to bdsmovement.net
The author is Samah Sabawi, a Gazan now living in Australia. She spoke at the Melbourne Israeli Apartheid Week event in March and covered similar ground as the article above. The (most) sinister aspect of Netanyahu’s “Economic Peace” is the joint economic free zones now under development in the West Bank – the produce made there can legally be labelled “Made in Palestine”. This potentially undermines not only the boycott campaign in the West Bank but outside Israel also. The free zones are in effect little more than a mechanism to grant Israel access to an environment of cheap labour and little if any environmental regulation.