Ramallah: Despite the growing number of Israeli companies that have ceased operations in occupied West Bank colonies, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) has vowed to still go after them.
According to Dr Mustafa Al Barghouti, the Undersecretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, moving the facilities to locations within Israeli boundaries does not mean those companies are immune to prosecution.
“The withdrawal of the companies is a great victory for the BDS,” Al Barghouti told Gulf News.
“BDS’s continued success locally and internationally forces Israel’s racist apartheid regime to face worsening international isolation,” he said. “Its deteriorating standing in the international arena is expected to decline even further in months and years ahead.”
The BDS strategy has shifted the balance of power in favour of the Palestinians,” he said.
He urged the international community to support the BDS movement.
Continuous and large-scale boycott will tie Israel’s hands from creating a counter campaign, he added.
“The BDS proved to be unstoppable with no turning back and the movement is going all the way through to force an end to the Israeli aggression and brutality against the Palestinians,” he said.
Responding to the movement’s pressure on Israel, a growing number of Israeli companies operating in the Israeli West Bank colonies are moving their facilities to locations within the Israeli boundaries.
According to a report by the Israeli anti-occupation organisation Gush Shalom, high-profile companies operating in colonies are leaving the West Bank in response to boycott pressure and the BDS activities.
The organisation said the trend of leaving the West Bank is very clear with the big companies that export their goods and are interested in building international connections. “There has been a sharp decline in the number of those companies in particular,” the report said.
The report added that the relocation activities are the direct result of the growing international calls to boycott the Israeli products made in Israeli colonies.
