RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Supreme National Committee decided Feb. 9 to ban products from the Israeli companies Tnuva, Strauss, Osem, Elite, Prigat and Jafora. The products of these food companies are extremely popular among Palestinians. The ban against them, which took effect Feb. 11, is the first in a series of measures to be taken in response to Israel’s Jan. 3 decision to withhold transferring Palestinian tax revenues and thus threatening the ability of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to fulfill its financial obligations. The chairman of the committee, Mahmoud al-Aloul, told Al-Monitor that the next step will be to “expand the list of Israeli companies and products that would be banned” to put pressure on the Israeli economy, for which the West Bank and Gaza are consumer markets.

Aloul said that the committee is working with government agencies, stating, “We had a meeting with the prime minister, who placed this issue on the cabinet’s table for discussion,” and asserted that the leadership is in the process of putting more distance between itself and Israel. Although the decision of the committee — consisting of representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and parties from the private sector, unions and customs control — is not an official government decree, a source on the committee confirmed to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, adding, “Our work intersects with the various government agencies’ work.”

According to the same source, the decision to enact the ban is in line with the thinking of President Mahmoud Abbas, who said Feb. 13 during a meeting with Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn in Luxembourg, “We are forced to take challenging steps, should Israel not release our money.” The source also said that a PLO Central Council meeting scheduled for March will discuss a potential series of measures.

Such pronouncements and recent moves have raised questions on the Palestinian street about the next steps and concerning the PA’s ability to break from the 1994 Protocol on Economic Relations (or Paris Protocol), which regulates economic and commercial relations between the two parties. The Paris Protocol is an economic supplement to the Oslo Accord, which established a transitional period of five years, ending in 1999. The protocol is still theoretically in force, including several articles allowing Palestinians to work in Israel. Under the protocol, Israel is supposed to collect taxes (clearance revenues) on behalf of the PA for goods and products destined for Palestine via Israeli ports. Israel receives a 3% service charge and is supposed to transfer the tax funds to the PA on a monthly basis. The Paris Protocol also deals with the flow of goods and services between the two markets and security coordination.