Palestinians start mass boycott of Israeli products in protest at tax revenues freeze

Palestinian activists in the West Bank have started confiscating goods and urging people to boycott Israeli products.

The confiscation began after activists from the Fatah political movement, whose leader is President Mahmoud Abbas, dumped a truckload of Israeli milk and yoghurt in the main square in Ramallah, AP reported.

Boycott leader Abdullah Kmail explained that activists will confiscate products from six major Israeli food companies: Tnuva, Strauss, Elite, Osem, Prigat and Jafora.

"The campaign is serious," Kmail said. "We entered the second phase of it which is confiscating and damaging these goods."

Activists had announced they would start a boycott months ago, urging shop owners to remove Israeli products from their shelves or they would destroy what remained.

The boycott came into place in retaliation to Israel's decision to halt the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian government.

The tax freeze was imposed after Palestine announced it would join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and urged investigations into potential war crimes committed by Israel during last year's Operation Protective Edge, in which some 2,200 Palestinians were killed.

Israel's decision to freeze tax revenues was criticised by the EU as a violation of the Oslo Accords, stipulated between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1993.

The accords started the Oslo peace process, aimed at reaching a peace agreement that could guarantee the right of the Palestinians to self-determination.