Wednesday, July 29, 2015

This study is originally published by The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. The study is structured in four sections, which if read in conjunction with each other, draws a complete picture of the role of Palestinian activists and networks in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip in the global BDS campaign.

The Difference between the PA and BDS Positions

There are fundamental differences between the PA and the BDS campaign:

1. Politically, the PA publicly accepts the two-state solution (on its own terms) and does not advocate a total boycott to collapse of the State of Israel, which is at the root of the BDS campaign.
2. Therefore, the PA does not boycott Israel totally, regarding the boycott as another component of its overall strategy to exert pressure on Israel and force it to accept the PA’s terms in the political negotiations.
3. In practical terms, the PA is aware of its great dependence on Israel’s economy and the difficulty Palestinian goods have in competing with those made in Israel. It is also aware that the businesses operating in Judea and Samaria employ Palestinian workers (considerations that do not affect the BDS campaign). Thus the PA has to carefully weigh the influence of the boycott of Israel on the Palestinian population.^[13]

Thus the PA and Fatah are not part of the BDS campaign and do not participate in its global activities. The PA-Fatah boycott of Israel usually focuses on merchants in Judea and Samaria. For that reason there have been strong differences of opinion between Mahmoud Abbas and Omar Barghouti. (Mahmoud Abbas once said, “We don’t ask anyone to boycott Israel itself. We have ties to Israel. We have mutual recognition.”) At the same time, the PA views the BDS campaign as one effective tool of several for exerting pressure on Israel. The PA allows the BNC to operate in Ramallah and sometimes even explicitly supports it, using for its own political, propaganda and legal campaign against Israel. The attempt to suspend Israel from FIFA was exceptional, but might indicate that the PA is beginning to adopt BDS tactics.

An Ideological Common Denominator

Despite their fundamental contradictions, PA and the BDS campaign positions have an ideological common denominator. Neither of them recognizes the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish national homeland. Both strongly support the so-called “right of return” of the Palestinian refugees, although the BDS campaign tends to emphasize the “right” more than the PA, because it regards it as a reliable way of destroying the State of Israel. Both the PA and Fatah adhere to the “right of return” and it is a permanent fixture in the PA educational system (“the return to Haifa and Jaffa,” not just to the 1967 lines). However, they do not regard it as an obstacle to political negotiations that would lead to an agreement with Israel.

In practical terms, the common denominator is not broad enough to keep the PA and BDS from taking different paths. The PA recognizes the existence of the Israeli state while opposing the existence of the Jewish national state and might also be willing to compromise on the number of Palestinian refugees permitted to return to Israeli territory (even if it persists in its fundamental refusal to waive the “right of return”). The BDS campaign, on the other hand, rejects the concept of two states as a matter of principle, and therefore also strongly objects to any possible concession regarding the “right of return,” rejecting any sign of concession or a pragmatic approach resulting from the two-state solution.

Mahmoud Abbas’ Visit to South Africa: Exposure of the Fundamental Differences between the PA and BDS

The fundamental difference between the positions of the PA and the BDS campaign was revealed during Mahmoud Abbas’ visit to South Africa for the funeral of Nelson Mandela (December 2013). He held a press conference where he called for a boycott of the products of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria because, he said, “the settlements are our territories.” However, he added, “We don’t ask anyone to boycott Israel itself. We have ties to Israel. We have mutual recognition” (The Star, South Africa, December 11, 2013).

Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks infuriated Omar Barghouti, whose worldview, and that of the campaign, is completely different. In response Barghouti attacked Mahmoud Abbas, claiming he had contradicted the Palestinian national consensus, which since 2005 had strongly supported BDS against Israel. His attack on Mahmoud Abbas was posted to The Electric Intifada, which provides him with a convenient forum:

“There is no Palestinian political party, trade union, NGO [nongovernmental organization] network or mass organization that does not strongly support BDS. Any Palestinian official who lacks a democratic mandate and any real public support, therefore, cannot claim to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people when comes to deciding our strategies of resistance to Israel’s regime of occupation, colonization and apartheid.”

“Any Palestinian official who today explicitly speaks against boycotting Israel particularly in a country like South Africa, where the ruling party, leading trade unions, churches and other civil society groups have warmly endorsed BDS — only shows how aloof he is from his own people’s aspirations for freedom, justice and equality, and how oblivious he is to our struggle for their inalienable rights.”

The Boycott of Israeli Products in Judea and Samaria

The Palestinian Authority and Fatah wage a campaign to boycott products imported from Israel into Judea and Samaria and those manufactured in the Israeli communities. The PA represents the campaign as a way to hurt the Israeli communities and support the sale of Palestinian-made products. However, so far the campaign has not been a resounding economic success.

PA institutions also boycott Israeli products. The Palestinian customs authority enforces the boycott and its confiscation of Israeli goods is widely publicized. The Palestinian customs authority also spreads false allegations that Israeli goods contain carcinogens. The Palestinian council for consumer protection in the ministry of the economy is also part of the campaign to boycott “products from the settlements.”

Politically PA encourages the European countries to label products manufactured in the Jewish settlements to make them difficult to market. Mahmoud Abbas recently called on the entire world to adopt the policy of Europe and to label products from the settlements. He said, “I call on the world to take steps similar to those taken by the EU regarding the labeling of products manufactured in the settlements so that it will be possible to recognize the danger arising from purchasing and using those products, which are illegal according to international law…” (Mahmoud Abbas in an interview with the Egyptian weekly political magazine Ruz al-Yusuf, June 17, 2015). At a summit meeting of the African Union he also called for the labeling of products from the Jewish settlements (Palestineeconomy.ps, June 15, 2015).

The issue of product labeling was recently endorsed by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a think-tank which frequently informs EU policy. It called on the EU to extend the practice to labeling Israeli banks operating in the Jewish settlements, including the granting of loans and mortgages (For further information see the July 22, 2015, Reuters and Haaretz, “Think tank tells EU: Target Israeli banks dealing with settlements.)

Omar Barghouti, the most prominent BDS campaign figure, rushed to respond to the ECFR recommendation. He called on the Palestinians to exert pressure on the European public to encourage their countries to speed up the “steps to punish” Israel. He clamed that the Israeli banks were genuinely worried by the ECFR report, but said the EU decision would not be implemented as long as there was no great public pressure (Voice of Palestine Radio, July 23, 2015). So far the PA has not responded to the report.

Fatah

In Judea and Samaria, Fatah activists lead the campaign to boycott Israeli products. The most prominent figure is Mahmoud al-‘Aloul, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee and the head of a network called the “supreme national committee for the struggle against steps taken by Israel.” On February 9, 2015, he told a press conference that the council had decided to keep the products of six Israeli companies out of Judea and Samaria: Tnuva [dairy products], Strauss [dairy products], Elite [chocolate], Osem [pasta and baked goods], Prigat [frozen juice concentrate] and Jafora [soft drinks]. The committee gave Palestinian merchants a two-week grace period to get rid of their products (Quds.net, February 9, 2015).

Asked why those six companies had been chosen, Mahmoud al-‘Aloul said that they controlled a large sector of the market and that their products could be replaced by Palestinian-manufactured goods. He added that there would be future lists of Israeli companies whose products were to be boycotted (Palestinian TV, February 21, 2015).

After the announcement activists and Palestinians took the law into their own hands to implement the boycott: on March 2, 2015, dozens of ordinary Palestinians and activists hijacked a truck of Tnuva products. They emptied its contents onto the ground in the Menara Square in the middle of Ramallah (Al-Watan al-Youm, March 2, 2015). On March 11, 2015, Fatah activists stopped a truck carrying Strauss ice cream, emptied it and torched its contents (Ma’an News Agency, March 11, 2015). Nevertheless, such steps do not seem to have an economic effect because of the deep Palestinian dependence Israeli-made goods.

Calls have recently been heard from Fatah’s middle-level activists to extend the boycott campaign using BDS tactics:

1. Sabri Saidam^[14], deputy secretary of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, called for the campaign to be broadened and for all the Palestinians diplomatic legations to promote it. He claimed the campaign had to include all Israeli products and not just those manufactured in the settlements. He claimed the boycott should be made an integral part of the strategy to “resist the occupation,” which should also include persecuting Israeli “war criminals” in international courts (Interview with Palestinian TV, May 11, 2015).
2. Jamal Nazzal, Fatah spokesman in Europe, called on all the student councils in British universities to vote in favor of the boycott of Israel, following the 19 councils that were already supporting it. He also called on all the universities in Europe to join the boycott of Israel and end all collaboration with it (Ma’an News Agency, June 3, 2015).

The Attempt to Suspend Israel from FIFA: the PA’s Possible Adoption of BDS Tactics

The PA has not yet adopted a BDS-like policy of a comprehensive boycott of Israel. Nevertheless, it may have begun drifting in that direction, as seen by the campaign led by Jibril Rajoub to suspend Israel from FIFA (the International Football Federation). Jibril Rajoub is a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, a rival of Mahmoud Abbas and head of the Palestinian football association. His campaign against Israel was also motivated by his personal ambitions and the internal Palestinian competition for the position of leader in the post-Abbas period.

However, the campaign to suspend Israel was not only the fruit of his ambition but was also waged with the involvement of the PA leadership. On May 20, 2015, FIFA Chairman Joseph Blatter visited the PA and met with both PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. Mahmoud Abbas alleged that Israel undermined Palestinian sports and attempted to keep them from developing (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, May 20, 2015). However, the Palestinian campaign focused on an attempt to have Israel suspended by FIFA and not on solving the problems of Palestinians sports allegedly caused by Israel (Meeting with Blatter on May 19, 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed willingness to solve the problems and make it easier for Palestinian athletes to travel from place to place).

On May 29, 2015, the Palestinians proposed that Israel be suspended from FIFA. However, at the last minute they were forced to withdraw the proposal, the result of pressures and the balance of power within FIFA. Instead, the Palestinians passed (with a large majority) a resolution to form a committee to examine their allegations against Israel. Jibril Rajoub, who was severely criticized for withdrawing the original proposal, claimed the request to suspend Israel had not been withdrawn but rather postponed to a later date.

The BNC and BDS supporters were disappointed by the withdrawal of the Palestinian proposal. Abu Ali Naama, an avid BDS campaign supporter based in the United States, posted an article to The Electronic Intifada entitled “The Palestinians are disappointed but [remain] determined after the FIFA betrayal.” He wrote that while the FIFA effort had failed for the time being, the campaign to isolate Israel would continue. BNC spokesman Zeid al-Shuaibi was forced to express himself more moderately, since he is based in Ramallah, not Chicago. He said the BNC was disappointed because the FIFA congress and the PA had not conducted themselves in accordance with their obligations and stated principles.^[15]

The BDS campaign seeks to isolate Israel and expel it from international institutions. It is unclear if the FIFA affair is evidence of the PA’s intention to attempt to have Israel expelled from other international institutions. If such attempts are made, it will mean the PA has adopted BDS campaign tactics and blurred the ideological distinctions between it and BDS. That could make the BDS campaign more effective and dangerous from the Israeli point of view.

The Role of the Palestinian Left: Mustafa Barghouti and the Palestinian National Incentive Movement

The campaign to boycott Israeli products in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is also dealt with by a prominent leftist activist named Mustafa Barghouti, who heads the Palestinian National Incentive Movement, known as Al-Mubadara (he is also a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee). Mustafa Barghouti and his followers do not participate in the global BDS campaign and are not affiliated with the BNC, but their rhetoric regarding Israel and the campaign is far more extremist than the PA’s.

Mustafa Barghouti called on the leftist parties in the EU to intensify pressure on Israel by ending cooperation with it. He claimed that negotiating with Israel was “throwing sand in people’s eyes,” because there was no point in negotiating with a government that refused to recognize the existence of a Palestinian state and did not stop the illegal construction in Israel. He claimed that before negotiations were renewed with Israel sanctions first had to be imposed on it (Al-Quds, May 12, 2015).

The Contents of the Report

You can find the Introduction: Main findings and other sections here:

• Introduction: Main Findings. (Read here)
• Section One: The BDS Campaign and Its Roots. (Read here)
• Section Two: The BNC — Palestinian Umbrella Network Collaborating with the Global BDS Campaign. (Read here)
• Section Three: Profiles of the Main Palestinian BNC Activists. (Read here)

Notes:

[13] Bassam Eid, a well-known Palestinian human rights activist, had the following to say about the BDS campaign (Interviewed by Ynet, June 10, 2015): “I’m opposed to the boycott because it only ends up harming the Palestinians themselves. Take, for example, the SodaStream plant in Mishor Adumim that is now moving some of its operations to Beersheba. I’ve met with Palestinians who worked at the factory and were fired because of the move. They told me they were earning an average of 5,000 NIS [a little more than $1300] a month there, and that today they are being offered salaries of just 1,400 NIS [about $700] in the PA”. “People there are deep in debt because they have taken on long-term commitments based on the understanding that their work at the plant would continue; but reality has slapped then in the face because of the pressure created by BDS movement. Today, they are running between the courts and bailiff offices and is anyone taking any notice of them? Do you think the boycott movement cares about them at all?”

[14] Recently appointed to the post of minister of education and higher education as part of the reassigning of portfolios in Rami Hamdallah’s government.

[15] In the wake of the article an argument broke out among the talkbackers about the importance of the appeal to FIFA given by Dr. Marcelo Svirsky, a Jew who is a member of the faculty of an Australian university and supports BDS. He said that the very fact that FIFA had discussed the issue was an achievement for BDS because it was the first time an international body had formally placed Israel on trial in view of the entire world. He claimed it showed the BDS’s great political relevance (The Electronic Intifada, May 30, 2015).

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