Are Companies Boycotting Israel?

Boycott in Israel

The article is explaining how the executive of the French company Orange, Stéphane Richard went to Israel to meet with Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize.  The article covers how there is a “rumor” that companies are boycotting Israel.  The company Orange was said to be pulling out Israel as a part of a growing movement to boycott companies that operate in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.  The Orange Company wanted to make it totally clear that it has never supported any kind of boycott against Israel.  He went on to say, “Isreal is a fantastic place to be in the digital industry, and, of course, our will is to strengthen and to keep on investing here.”

The Prime Minister goes on to say, “We seek a genuine and secure peace with our Palestinian neighbors, but that can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions.  It will not be achieved through boycotts and through threats of boycotts.”

This article applies to the road map to peace between Israel and Palestine.  These are benchmarks designed to move Israelis and Palestinians towards the creation of a Palestinian state that exists in peace with Israel.  This was intended to be done in a three-year period.  The two countries are still working towards this; however, it is still a work in progress.

The road map idea has good intentions.  It also calls for progress toward peace agreements between Israel and Lebanon, and Israel and Syria.  The suggested timetable was for peace by the end of 2005.  This means that this plan has obvious hiccups.  It is supposed to be based on performance and would move forward only when they have been met.