ScarJo, BDS and the Economic Impact of Israeli Settlements
▻http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2014/01/scarjo-bds-and-economic-impact-of.html
... one of the most pernicious responses in this debate from the anti-BDS crowd has been to claim that such a boycott would hurt Palestinian workers employed at SodaStream’s factory in the illegal Israeli colony of Mishor Adumim. (...)
Yes, a Palestinian working in a settlement may not otherwise have a job. Unemployment in the West Bank is above 20%. The problem is that the settlements and the system they are part of reinforce the economic realities that force Palestinians into choosing working within the very system that oppresses them.
The problem is that many Palestinians are confronted with the choice of seeking livelihood within this system or having no livelihood to speak of. This is a reflection of the captive labor market dynamics of the occupation. Palestinians should have the choice to work for and within their own independent economy but they don’t. That is the problem here and it is a problem that is created, enforced and supported by Israeli settlements.
Yes, a small number of Palestinians may derive their livelihood from work on a settlement, but a much more significant number is suffering because of these settlements. To use the former to justify the later is absurd and yet it is precisely what Sodastream and the anti-BDS chorus has done in this case.
How do Israeli settlements impact the Palestinian Economy? The list is long and devastating but here are a few of the ways.
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