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Boycott Israel Movement Stunts the Palestinian Economy
(Forbes) Carrie Sheffield - A push to "boycott, divest and sanction" (BDS) Israeli companies has limited impact on the credit profile of Israel, yet it directly harms its intended beneficiaries, the Palestinians. "The impact of BDS is more psychological than real so far and has had no discernible impact on Israeli trade or the broader economy," said Kristin Lindow, senior vice president at Moody's and its lead analyst for Israel. "The sanctions do run the risk of hurting the Palestinian economy...as seen in the case of SodaStream." Israel (population 8.3 million) has a GDP of $291 billion, the Palestinian territories (population 4.1 million) $11.3 billion. Such asymmetry shows the Palestinians needs Israel, economically speaking. Yet the BDS crowd would impair economic ties, despite evidence that trade between peoples lessens the outbreak of war. Israel employs 110,000 Palestinians and has built 16 industrial parks in the West Bank and east Jerusalem hosting 1,000 facilities where Jews and Arabs work shoulder-to-shoulder.