The occupation is starting to become costly for Israel.
For years, Palestinians and their supporters have been saying that the only way to end Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine is simply by making its military occupation costly for Israel.
This appears to be happening as a result of the sharp increase in awareness and support of the international boycott movement. For years, Israeli mobile phone operators have been working in the occupied territories without any restrictions. Israel refuses to allow Palestinian companies, for example, to have 3G services while its own companies work freely in the occupied territories providing 3G and even 4G.
Today, and due to pressure mostly by Egypt's BDS movement, the French telephone giant Orange is having second thoughts about its cooperation with Israel. The Israeli company that has used the Orange brand is finding that its illegal operation in occupied Palestinian territories is costly. . .
Naturally, all that has happened so far has been the result of individual, not governmental, efforts. President Mahmoud Abbas and even Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal pay lip service to "popular struggle", boycotts and other non-violent acts. But the fact is that Abbas and his government are so much under the thumb of the Israelis that they cannot make any major moves in this direction while maintaining the status quo with the occupation authorities. This was made crystal clear when Abbas was asked by reporters in South Africa if he supported the boycott of Israel.
"No, we do not support the boycott of Israel. But we ask everyone to boycott the products of the settlements. Because the settlements are in our territories. It is illegal," he replied.
The differentiation might be subtle but it is very important. BDS supporters make no separation between boycotting Israel or boycotting settlements. Boycotting settlements and their products might be easier to explain, but BDS supporters feel that one has to figuratively attack the snake at its head not at its tail. This difference is one of the main reasons why Palestinians are not in agreement in regards to the boycott movement.
Cherif Bassiouni
This was made clear in recent weeks when a Palestinian university disinvited the Egyptian-born Cherif Bassiouni, known as the "godfather of International Criminal Law" and who's on the steering committee for The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, because he spoke at two Israeli universities while he was welcomed by leading Palestinian government officials.
A similar problem surfaced in East Jerusalem over the presence of a senior Jordanian official at Al-Aqsa Mosque: Is visiting Jerusalem by Arabs and Muslims a patriotic act, as Abbas and others proclaim, or normalising relations with the occupiers of Jerusalem?
Irrespective of some of the internal problems, the boycott movement will most certainly escalate in the comings weeks and months especially if the Palestinian government goes through with its charges of war crimes against Israel regarding its 2014 war on Gaza and its illegal settlement policies. If the ICC makes a ruling in favour of Palestine, it will greatly benefit the efforts to sanction Israel internationally.
https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/occupation-starting-become-costly-israel-110120632.html
