Abbas is opposed to boycott of Israel , calling for a boycott of settlement products only. The statement was made at a press conference in South Africa The Supreme Court will shortly deliberate on the Gush Shalom appeal against “The Boycott Law " which is designed to prevent calls for a boycott of the settlements

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen ) has stated that he opposes a comprehensive boycott against Israel, but does call for a boycott targeting Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. The comments were made at a press conference which Abbas held in South Africa, where he arrived on the occasion of the funeral of Nelson Mandela: “No, we do not support the boycott of Israel,but we ask everyone to boycott the products of the settlements. Because the settlements are in our territories. It is illegal. The Israelis should first of all stop to build in our territories, should stop everything in our territories. But we don’t ask anyone to boycott Israel itself. We have relations with Israel, we have a mutual recognition with Israel.”

The last was a reference to the Oslo Agreement, which was signed by Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in 1993, and which stated the "The Government of the State of Israel and the PLO, representing the Palestinian people, agree that it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, and recognize their mutual legitimate and political rights”.

The Chicago-based website " Electronic Intifada ", maintained by Palestinian Americans, harshly criticized Abbas for his remarks and accused him of “subservience to Israel”. " However, President Abbas refused to change his position on the issue.

The position expressed by Mahmoud Abbas in his latest statement is similar to that expressed by the Gush Shalom movement during many years of activity. Since 1996, Gush Shalom called upon Israeli citizens to avoid buying products originating at settlements beyond the Green Line , in order not to help finance the settlement project. For this purpose, Gush Shalom activists distributed at the entrances to supermarkets detailed lists of settlement products offered to Israeli consumers. At the same time, at meetings of Gush Shalom with peace and Human Rights activists from abroad we have called upon them to take similar action, boycott settlement goods coming into their countries – thus making clear that they accept Israel within its internationally recognized borders but reject its occupation of the territories conquered in 1967 . A similar position was expressed by Gush Shalom also in meetings with EU representatives , both those visiting Israel and those at EU headquarters in Brussels and at various European capitals. Indeed, in recent years the European Union adopted an official policy along such lines .

In 2011, the then right-wing majority in the Knesset passed “The Boycott Law " which provides for large-scale tort claims against anyone calling for a boycott of settlement products . In practice, to date no such claims have been filed against Gush Shalom, nor against other organizations calling for a boycott of the settlements such as " Peace Now " and Masad group led by Naftali Raz . Nevertheless, the " Boycott Law " continues to hang like a sword over the heads of peace groups and activists in Israel.

On February 16, 2014 a special panel of nine judges at the Supreme Court , headed by Supreme Court President Asher Gronis, will hear the petition filed by Gush Shalom and by former Knesset Member Uri Avnery, via Adv. Gaby Lasky , asking the court to declare the "Boycott Law " to be an unconstitutional violation of the Freedom of Expression and the Freedom of Assembly and of Political Activity in Israel. At

Likewise discuss that date petitions filed by individuals and other entities in the same subject. extensive lineup set to hear petitions against the boycott law indicates that the justices consider the issue as a problem of fundamental constitutional raises important issues . Press Release March 19, 2013

It is a badge of shame to almost all political leaders in Israel . The President of the United States had to come to Jerusalem and say all the things which our politicians avoided saying with all their force. President Obama said it clearly and unequivocally - and won a standing ovation and prolonged applause from the representatives of Israel’s younger generation.

For years “peace” had become a dirty word in the Israeli discourse. It fell to President Obama to remind us that peace is possible and necessary, that we do have a partner for peace, that the Palestinians are here and cannot be ignored and that Israel must end the occupation, for reasons of morality and justice but also and especially for the the sake of Israel’s own future.

It’s a shame for those who thought it possible to establish a government in Israel focusing on an “internal civilian agenda” - on recruiting the Ultra-Orthodox to the IDF, as if this is the existential issue facing us, and to forget the occupation and the settlements, peace and the Palestinians. The best which these “new politics” could produce is empty chatter of “negotiations" whose failure is assured in advance and therefore would not break up the present government coalition. With the challenges directly ahead, this would prove a meaningless folly.