Support grows for Gaza's boycott of Israeli goods
The recent Gaza war has seen a boost in support for a local boycott of Israeli goods, but short of alternatives, it is hard to envision how such a boycott campaign will work.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a busy fruit shop in Gaza City, it's difficult differentiating between the fruits from Israel and those from Gaza. We had to first ask, “From which city do these mangoes come?” To which the owner replied, “The mangoes are from Acre.”
We asked again, “And the dates?” “From Israel, our occupied lands,” he answered. “The peaches?” we asked. The shop owner said, “All of this is from Israel — mangoes, dates, bananas, parsley, peaches, squash, tomatoes and oranges, but they are from our lands there. Our customers like these types of fruits, even if they have a substitute from Gaza.”
The difference is obvious. Mangoes from Gaza are big and green and from Israel small and golden.
In supermarkets, Israeli products are easy to spot. They were stacked on the shelves for the 51 days of war. People are spontaneously boycotting the Israeli products and not just the elite who purposely stopped buying them.
