Tel Aviv University hosted the PA’s economy minister at a seminar on the topic of the PA boycott against Jewish goods made in Judea and Samaria.
The event took place Monday evening, and was sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany and the Peres Center for Peace. International representatives and Israeli businessmen also took part.
Hassan Abu Libda, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of economic affairs, took full advantage of his Tel Aviv University platform to explain his position supporting the boycott – although it violates the Oslo Agreements in preventing free trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
He said that Israel’s towns in Judea and Samaria are illegal according to international law, are a violation of agreements with the PA, and threaten the peace process.
In fact, however, neither the Fourth Geneva Convention nor the original UN Resolutions 242 and 338 declare the settlements illegal. The Geneva Convention deals with the forced transfer of civilians to territory under a country’s military control, but it does not deal with territory as a result of a defensive war. Neither do any Israel-PA agreements preclude construction of settlements.
Regarding the alleged “threat to the peace process,” it is to be noted that opposition by PA-predecessor PLO to Israel began in 1964, more than three years before Israel built its first Judea-and-Samaria settlement.
“Our campaign of honor against the products of the settlements is part of our national efforts to build a state and strengthen our economy,” Abu Libda said.
He came out sharply against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plan for “economic peace,” which is predicated on establishing strong economic ties between the Israel and the PA as a precursor to political peace. Abu Libda said, “I challenge Netanyahu to define this economic peace that he’s trying to market. It is nothing but an illusion that exists only in his head.”