HEBRON (Ma’an) -- The Palestinian Authority's economy minister Hassan Abu Libda said Monday that during 2010 settlement products were substantially reduced throughout the Palestinian marketplace.
“It is shameful for us as Palestinians to support settlement activities and to contribute to their well-being while they’re occupying and confiscating our land,” Libda said.
The law banning sale of such goods put a big dent in the settlement economy, which was estimated at some 200 million shekels per year when it was last legal to buy and sell them in 2010, he said.
“The idea was to gradually clean Palestinian markets from any Israeli settlement products and still our goal is to completely not have any products of settlements in our markets,” Libda said.
However, the minister added, “What we have failed at doing is to create jobs for Palestinians as an alternative from working in settlements by the end of 2010,” once a key goal of the boycott campaign.
Although the PA will continue banning settlement goods despite Israel's controversial boycott law, Libda noted that trade in goods from inside Israel would continue as before.
“I do not call for boycotting Israeli products. A focus on consuming national products will eventually improve the quality … You’re working on liberating Palestine and that won’t happen through politics only."
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