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As Israeli products are available at a local mini-market in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the owner told Xinhua he is ready to cooperate with a boycott and remove these products off the shelves.
A Palestinian committee announced recently to boycott products of six Israeli companies, and banned them from coming into the West Bank.
The committee gave grocery store owners a two-week-deadline to clear current stock of Israeli products, explaining that the boycott comes in response to Israel's decision to freeze tax funds to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), as well as other measures such as settlement building and land confiscation.
Head of the Committee for Confronting Israeli Practices against the Palestinians said on Monday that the ban will build up gradually.
This is the first decision of its kind from a committee related to the PNA and will be enforced on the ground.
"The government didn't make this call but the committee did as a national responsibility ... the Customs Authority will monitor banning the entry of these products into the Palestinian lands," Committee member Wasel Abu Youssef said. Abu Youssef is also a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization executive committee.
"We called the importing companies to ask them not to deliver any goods to the West Bank," Abu Youssef said. He added that the first phase of the process to boycott included products that have alternatives in the local market. The six banned companies sell dairy food and juices.
Analysts saw the decision was important, but they said that the PNA doesn't want any real confrontation with Israel.
"This boycott decision is considered one of the most important decisions until now," Khalil Shahin, a political analyst at Masarat think-tank told Xinhua.
"It's an attempt to redefine the economic relationship between the Palestinian community and Israel economy. This means that there is a Palestinian attempt to convince the Israelis that making peace is less costly than the continuation of the occupation," he said.
The government itself didn't announce the call, yet the committee that made the announcement has members of different political parties and workers' syndicates.
According to the Paris protocol that is a part of the Oslo agreement, the PNA can't declare any boycott to Israeli products. Analysts believe that this decision spares the PNA from accusations that it breached the signed agreements.
"There are demands for the PNA to reevaluate the relationship with Israel and revisit the past political, economic and security commitments and the path that led to signing the Oslo agreements. Yet, this option can be costly to the PNA which is why it prefers that the civil associations lead such boycott calls," Shahin added.
In the streets of Ramallah, many people remain skeptical as to whether this step will actually be implemented.
"Boycotting products is a must and a national duty by everyone. Yet, we know that Palestinians usually speak of boycott yet the decision usually fade away after a while," Amin Mohammed, a Palestinian worker, told Xinhua.
Previous attempts of boycott have slightly lost momentum. These public calls have seen an unprecedented support in July 2014 when Israel launched a military operation on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
In the heat of public fury, many stores announced they supported the boycott.
However, as the Palestinians do not control over their borders, they can't enforce these decisions fully. Head of the Palestinian Customs Authority said their personnel would supervise the implementation of the decision in areas where the Israeli goods are delivered.
This attempt aims to affect the Israeli economy to make the Israeli occupation costly. Yet, this influence can't go too far as Israel is the sole provider of water, electricity, and fuel to the Palestinians.
As Palestinians can't give up basic life materials, it is estimated that a long-term boycott of Israeli products would only cost Israel 400 to 500 million U.S. dollars a month, a relatively small part in the Israeli economy.
Yet, many see the boycott as a moral responsibility to bolster the Palestinian economy in order to develop and improve their local industries.
"These attempts come as a part of a series of responses against the Israeli occupation. This signals that we have practically entered a state of confrontation with Israel which could escalate into a larger diplomatic, international and a field confrontation, " Shahin said. Enditem
