This week was the 94th conference for the liaison officers of the regional offices of the Arab boycott of Israel that started before Israel was reborn.
The Arab League boycott of Israel has been in place since 1945, when the brand new organization said, “Products of Palestinian Jews are to be considered undesirable in Arab countries. They should be prohibited and refused as long as their production in Palestine might lead to the realization of Zionist political aims.”
Even though most Arab countries have stopped enforcing the boycott – the only exceptions now being Syria and Lebanon – the Central Boycott Office remains.
On Wednesday, that office held a videoconference with members of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which includes Iran.
The conference also expressed its appreciation for the progress and impact of the BDS movement “in confronting the occupation, settler colonialism and Israeli apartheid, in order to achieve freedom and justice in Palestine and enable the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Meanwhile, Israel trades directly with the Arab world, officially and unofficially.
The Arab League is a living example of the Arab honor/shame mentality. It cannot officially accept that the world has changed since the days of the Arab oil embargo. Dismantling the Boycott Office would be an admission of “defeat.” And no one wants to show any cracks in Arab unity which would undermine the entire purpose of the Arab League. Since Syria prioritizes the BDS agenda, and no one opposes a paper committee that does nothing in reality, they continue to meet, twice a year, unwilling to say out loud that they are wasting their time.