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Summary
President Mahmoud Abbas swung behind a campaign this week to stop Palestinians buying goods produced by Israeli settlements in the West Bank, urging all Palestinians to shun the products. Abbas dismissed Israeli accusations that the campaign amounted to incitement of hatred against the Jewish state -- something the United States has urged him to prevent as it mediates indirect peace talks between the sides. The 75-year-old Palestinian leader opened his door to volunteers distributing leaflets detailing products from furniture to wine and soft drinks which the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority has banned from Palestinian markets. Abbas called on Palestinians in public to boycott settlement goods as part of a campaign spearheaded by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Abbas placed a sticker on his door declaring the house free of settlement goods. It is understood that we do not boycott Israel because we have relations and we do import from Israel but regarding the settlements (products), we encourage and not only encourage we have established a legislation in order to ban these products from entering Palestinian homes, Abbas said, distinguishing between products produced by Israel and those made in settlements built on occupied land.
