Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Photo: wiki commons.

Representing the latest move in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s economic phase, Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday called for a boycott of Israeli products, Reuters reported.

“Today, I call upon citizens to boycott Israeli products as an answer to the aggression directed against us, to defend our right to survive,” Fayyad said in Ramallah. “We will take the necessary steps to implement that.”

By unilaterally seeking and obtaining nonmember observer state at the United Nations Nov. 29, the Palestinians’ violated their contractual obligation of reaching a final status agreement with Israel through negotiations, according to the 1993 Oslo Accords. In response, Israel last week said it would stop transferring tax revenues collected on behalf of the PA until at least March.

Additionally, the Israeli Finance Ministry said 435 million shekels ($115 million) that were to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in December would be used to compensate the Israel Electric Corporation for the more than 600 million shekels ($160 million) it is owed by the Palestinians.