They said the campaign was a response to Israel's recent decision to halt the transfer of tax revenues to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. Israel took the step after the Palestinian decision to join the International Criminal Court, where the Palestinians have threatened to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.
Mahmoud Aloul, the Fatah official overseeing the campaign, said shop owners were given two weeks to clear their shelves of the Israeli products.
Abbas' Palestinian Authority, fearful of breaching past agreements with Israel, asked the Fatah-led Palestine
Liberation Organization to lead the campaign, officials said.
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The campaign targets Tnuva, Strauss, Elite, Osem, Prigat and Jafora. Tnuva and Strauss declined comment, while the other companies did not return messages or could not be reached after business hours. Israel's Foreign Ministry also declined comment.
The Palestinians have called for similar boycotts in the past, but the campaigns have never succeeded because of a lack of Palestinian alternatives and demand for higher-quality Israeli goods.
"There is no way for the Palestinian milk companies to fulfill the needs of the local market" said Faraj Abu Faraj, a shopkeeper in Ramallah. He nonetheless said he would comply with the order.
Yitzhak Gal, an expert on the Middle East economy at Tel Aviv University, estimated Israeli food exports to the West Bank at about USD 700 million.
"In some products, the Palestinian market is very important for the Israeli companies," he said. But he said it would be difficult for the Palestinians to enforce the boycott, and predicted Israel will resume the tax transfers and the boycott will end.