Dozens of young men toured Jenin streets of Jenin city and its markets on Saturday, August 13, 2011. Grouped under the framework the Grassroots Campaign to Boycott Israeli Goods and with participation from representatives of national parties, demonstrators chanting slogans that urge citizens to boycott all Israeli goods entered shops and spoke to citizens and traders to explain to them the objectives and the feasibility of the boycott project. They also distributed a statement issued by the Popular Campaign for the District, congratulating the Palestinian people during the month of Ramadan. The statement calls for the month of Ramadan, a month of worship and resistance, to mark a time when people do not eat foods made in Israel, since the profit goes into the treasury of the Occupation.
The activists held banners written with slogans such as âBoycott is a patriotic and religious duty,â âBoycott is popular resistance,â âDo not pay the cost of bullets that killed your sons,â âWe want to end to the occupation,â and âAll NIS buying Israeli goods goes towards the cost of the bullets that kill our children,â wandering in the commercial hub of the city of Jenin.
Khalid Al Mansour, member of the Executive Office of the Popular Campaign Against the Wall and Settlements and coordinator of the Popular Campaign for the Jenin province, said that the boycott campaign will continue and will reach every community and every house. Palestinians will not be intimidated by threats or the laws of Occupation. Mustafa Said Sheta, an activist in the People’s Campaign and a member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, said that the campaign in Jenin will be enhanced and it will use tools and innovative methods to convince people about the usefulness of the project, stressing that there is a great role for young people, especially at the level of schools and universities, to make the project a part of the national culture. Omar Mansour, a public activist member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, said the campaign will continue to work to clean up the Palestinian markets of all the products of the Occupation, and called on citizens to purchase national products, which strengthens the national economy and creates thousands of jobs for the unemployed. He warned citizens that there are a lot of Israeli products in Palestinian markets that are expired, rotten, or containing toxic chemical preservatives. The campaign also appealed to those who distribute baskets of food and aid for the poor during Ramadan to be careful to not include any Israeli products in their food baskets.
Muhammad Jaradat, Coordinator of the Popular Campaign against the Wall and Settlements, said we are providing protection for Palestinian products, especially the products of farmers who face intense competition from products of the Occupation. Jaradat called Palestinian producers to improve the quality of their products and delivery to all shops and all Palestinian communities so as not to leave the markets for goods of the Occupation. Jaradat also appealed to religious leaders to call for a boycott as a religious duty.