The PA (Palestinian Authority) will be allocating $150,000 monthly for a special fund headed by PA Prime Minister Salim Fayyad, to be used to remove all goods originating from “settlements” from PA autonomous areas. In his statements earlier in the week, Fayyad called it the National Pride Fund.
PA officials are determined to remove settler goods and they will be replaced with local products, explaining this is in retaliation for Israel’s policy prohibiting PA goods in the Israeli marketplace. They are also calling on Israeli firms to oust the settler goods, explaining “the settlements are not legal and not legitimate” and therefore, their products should be banned.
PA officials report that currently sales of settler goods in PA areas reach $500 million annually. This exorbitant sum has not been confirmed.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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2 Responses
Since the yishmaelim really view ALL Israelis as “settlers”, I think they should not use ANYTHING produced in Israel. That would include food, electricity, medicines and medical care, cell phones, etc., etc., etc.
This sounds look good old fashioned protectionism, and has nothing to do with politics. Any country benefits by substituting its own goods for imports, as long as the imports are compatible in terms of quality and price. Most of the goods the Israelis produce that are uniquely Israeli are items they would never sell to the Palestinians. Israel is a world-class maker of military hardware, but except for drugs (both the legal and the not so legal), it isn’t a unique producer.
However this is really about economics and not about politics, and would be happening even if relations were peaceful.