RAMALLAH // Haytham Karasha was not overly concerned. The manager of a Ramallah branch of the supermarket chain Bravo, he said his store had not stocked any goods that originated in settlements for more than a year, and even then it was only one item, a chocolate syrup.
Efforts to ban products that originate in settlements, said Mr Karasha, would thus have no effect on his shop, where purchase orders already specifically stipulate that such goods are not wanted.
But Mr Karasha may be one of the lucky few. As a government drive to boycott products that originate in Jewish settlements in the occupied territories begins to pick up speed, those who profit from a trade that some estimate has a value as high as US$600 million (Dh2.2billion) a year, or a 15 per cent share of the market, are beginning to feel the effect.
On Tuesday, Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, could be found tossing confiscated settlement goods on to a fire in the town of Salfit near Nablus. Such goods, Mr Fayyad explained to reporters, support "industries built on confiscated Palestinian land". Settlements, he said, are one of the prime obstacles to Palestinian aspirations for statehood. Boycotting goods that originate in settlements is therefore a "collective responsibility".
"The Palestinian National Authority will be the first supporter, but we must join all our efforts, on official and popular levels, to ensure the continuation of this campaign to clean our markets of settlements' products," Mr Fayyad told the Palestinian Maan news agency. The government drive is in part a belated implementation of a Council of Ministers decision in 2005 that prohibits the entry of any goods produced, manufactured or packaged in settlements.
That decision was reaffirmed in June of last year in a direct request to the ministry of national economy to begin implementation.
Not until November, however, did the first confiscations take place and only now is the PA beginning to crank into gear a public relations campaign to raise awareness.
The ministry of national economy is due this month to publish its calculations of how big a market share settlement goods have in the occupied territories.
Current estimates for what is essentially a black market, at least on the Palestinian side, are of necessity very rough.
The move to ban settlement goods has been welcomed by activists as well as the business sector. Local businessmen have for years complained that local products were being squeezed out of the market in favour of Israeli ones. A move against settlement products would ease some of that competition.
"It's long overdue," said Sam Bahour, a local entrepreneur, about the government effort, which he said "seemed serious". "It is welcome not only from the private sector and the business sector, which have to compete against these illegal products, but also as a private Palestinian citizen, who wants to see settlements removed and dismantled."
That the current government, unlike its many predecessors, has actually stepped into the breach and translated words into action has surprised some, but is a reflection of the growing confidence within Salam Fayyad's administration, both in political terms and in its ability to deliver.
A restructured and retrained security sector provides the government with a solid foundation to be able to implement laws, for the first time in years, while the issue of settlements generally has become the overall focal point of Palestinian political efforts. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, is still resisting increasing foreign pressure to return to negotiations with Israel for as long as settlement construction continues.
"We now have a motivated leadership," Mr Bahour said. "This government wants to translate the threat that settlements pose to peace in the future by addressing issues such as settlement products and settler violence. I think [the boycott campaign] has potential to pick up huge momentum."
But the process is far from simple. For a start, not all products are labelled with anything other than "Made in Israel", a problem the EU has met in its attempts to regulate imports from Israeli settlements.
"There are some well-known labels that we know come from settlements," said Ghassan Khatib, head of the Palestinian Authority's Media Centre. "So partially, it is doable, although probably not 100 per cent."
Moreover, there is a perception problem among Palestinian consumers, who in many cases believe Israeli products generally are superior to Palestinian products or products from the Arab world. While banning settlement products will not remove Israeli alternatives from a saturated market - Mr Karasha said 70 per cent of the items his branch of Bravo stocks are Israeli - some hope that banning settlement products is a step toward a comprehensive boycott.
"Ultimately, a larger boycott is what's needed," Mr Bahour said. "But people who have lived under occupation for 40 years have been conditioned to Israeli products. It will take time to remove that conditioning and fill the gap. But step one is the one that no one doubts. Settlement products are illegal and settlements are illegal and we should not be supporting them."
Email:okarmi@thenational.ae
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
If you go...
Etihad flies daily from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, with fares starting from Dh2,807 return. Frequent high speed trains between Zurich and Vienna make stops at St. Anton.
%3Cp%3EThe%20Punishment%20of%20Luxury%3Cbr%3EOMD%3Cbr%3E100%25%20Records%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
More on Quran memorisation:
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
