Yehuda and Shomron Thriving Despite BDS

Business in Yehudah and Shomron is thriving, despite the global boycott campaign against products manufactured in the region, according to a report on Ynet Thursday.

Demand for products is stronger than ever, and factories are going up to accommodate the demand.

At the Shahak industrial park being built in the Shomron, 25 acres have been sold to developers. The Barkan industrial park outside of Ariel is planning to add 60 companies to the 160 already in operation there.

Another industrial park is set to open — the Gates of Shomron Industrial Park, located next to Sha’ar Tikvah and Oranit, a 20 minute drive of Petah Tikvah. The industrial park will include both manufacturing and hi-tech companies, and will be owned by the Shomron Regional Council in conjunction with the Oranit and Elkana local councils.

Head of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan explained, “On the one hand, international companies don’t really comply with EU decisions. On the other hand, Israeli companies aren’t ready to give up on the advantages (of operating in these areas), and are marketing their products to places other than Europe, such as Africa, India, and China.”

However, the Palestinians have not given up on the economic war on Yehudah and Shomron. On Thursday, a Palestinian official threatened to expand activities in the BDS campaign.

“We will come back to the settlements issue…not only regarding the labeling of settlement products, but pertaining to the boycott of settlement products,” Riyad al-Maliki, the Palestinian Authority foreign minister, told the Jordanian Al-Dustour newspaper on Thursday.

The Palestinians are talking about targeting not only products, but people as well.

“We are also discussing boycotting settlers. We must start talking about a blacklist, at least with the names of the settlers…to prevent them from entering certain countries,” Maliki said. It was not immediately clear how they would accomplish that, and he gave no details.