Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Jordan Launches Campaign: 'No Zionist Enemy Products'


Hillel Fendel
A7 News

It's not only the Palestinian Authority, and it's not only against the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Jordan, too, has quasi-officially announced a boycott on all Israeli-made products.

Doron Paskin, head of research at Info-Prod Research, reports for Calcalist that the campaign is headed by Jordan's trade unions, whose leaders held a press conference on Monday to announce the boycott. Dr. Ahmed Armouti, chairman of the Trade Unions Organization, said that the campaign was conceived to mark 62 years since what Arabs call the Naqba [Catastrophe], otherwise known as Israel's independence. In addition to the dissemination of lists of Israeli-made products so that simple Jordanians can know what not to buy, a mass burning will be held this Saturday. Fruits and vegetables from Israel will be collected from the market in Jordan's capital Amman and will be publicly burnt. The event is being organized by a body called the Committee to Make War on Normalization [with Israel].

Two of the largest traders in the Amman market have already announced their intention to stop buying from Israel, Paskin reports.

It was explained at the press conference that the boycott violates no Jordanian laws.

Jordan and Israel have officially been at peace since they signed a peace treaty in 1994. Prior to that, Jordan warred with Israel in 1948, launched many fedayeen (terrorist) attacks in the following years, and then attacked Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967 – when it lost Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to Israel.

Jordan sat out the Yom Kippur War, and friendly ties ultimately developed between its leader King Hussein and Israeli governments. Hussein died five years after signing the peace treaty with Yitzchak Rabin in 1994. His son and successor, Abdullah is not enthusiastic about the peace with Israel; he told The Wall Street Journal last month that Jordan was better off economically before it made peace with Israel.

PA Continues its Boycott Efforts

At the same time, the Palestinian Authority is continuing its campaign to boycott Israeli-made goods from Judea and Samaria – in violation of the Oslo Agreement. In addition, it has added all Israeli-made goods to its list of "products to be avoided." A gathering was held in a Ramallah suburb this past week honoring volunteers who raise awareness in the PA public regarding the "importance" of spurning the Israeli-made goods. High school and college students are being trained throughout the PA-controlled areas to engage in such activities.

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