欧洲人民支持巴勒斯坦人地址以色列
Palestinians celebrated on Monday the recent decisions of several major European companies to withdraw investments they made in the Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Officials said that the European decision will encourage Palestinians to intensify their international boycott campaigns, while adding that boycotts can effectively challenge Israel's settlement expansion policy.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua that it is necessary to hold Israel accountable for obstructing a comprehensive peace and complicating the two-state solution.
"Israeli regime is accompanied with war crimes, mainly expansion of settlement and lands confiscation," he said.
For Erekat, boycotting Israel "is a responsible international position that could pressure Israel to be committed to the related international resolutions and conventions."
Two years ago, Palestinian politicians, academics and activists called on the international community to engage in boycotts against Israel, saying that the country should not be "above the law."
Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian lawmaker and one of the leading Palestinian activists advocating for the boycott told Xinhua that the international campaign "is growing and puts the state of Israel into a growing crisis."
In October 2013, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) sent letters to around 50 countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa urging their governments and their private sectors to boycott Israel due to its policy against the Palestinians and the confiscation of their lands.
As activists intensify the campaign, Israeli Radio reported that the growing boycott of Israel is a major concern for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
