Despite the fact that there is clearly a lot of more work to be done in campaigning for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel a recent visit to the Jordan Valley confirmed that there are plenty of reasons for the BDS movement to take stock of its successes.

The fertile Jordan Valley is the largest agricultural area in the West Bank and the origin of most agricultural Israeli settlement produce (see here, for example). Hence, companies based in the Valley, such as the vegetable, fruit and flower exporter Carmel Agrexco, have been prime targets for the boycott movement. Many of these companies seem to be suffering a reduction in exports as a result. After spending a week interviewing Palestinians working in the settlements, it seems obvious to us that the boycott movement's strategies have been successful and that they are supported by the exploited settlement workers themselves.

One Palestinian 'middleman' for Mehola, who is responsible for finding the amount of Palestinian workers that the settlers of one of the biggest settlements exporting to Europe through Agrexco and Arava want each day, told us that the boycott has become a major issue at his workplace. "I used to be responsible for 22 workers," he said, "but now I only bring 15. After the Gaza war last year, exports shrunk a lot and they have not gone up again since then, so the settlement does not need as many men to work."

Another worker from Mehola confirmed this, saying that fruits, and especially dates, were now frequently left in the packinghouse refrigeration houses and not sent away for exports, and that the areas they are farming are "shrinking." According to the worker, less and less fruit, such as oranges and grapes, are being exported to the UK, with the main exports now being herbs.

On the face of it, this man could be considered one of the 'losers' of the boycott movement: normally he would spend the spring picking grapes for the foreign markets for 80 Shekels a day (about half the Israeli legal minimum wage), but this year the work is simply not available. However, his response to this development was, contrary to Israeli propaganda, positive. "Yes, I support the boycott," he said. "Now when I don't have to work in the settlement, I have time to try to farm my own land, and then maybe I can sell my own produce."

This is not an easy option, of course. Palestinian trade, even within the West Bank, is heavily compromised by Israeli checkpoints and restrictions of movement, but it is an option that gives Palestinians a way of controlling their own lives without being directly exploited by the occupation. It is, further, the only option that might one day give them the means to create an independent economy. The support for the boycott expressed by our interviewees is echoed everywhere we've been to in the Valley; by settlement workers from Bardala to Al-Jiftlik, Tamoun to Taysir.

At the recently held 5th Bil’in conference of non-violent resistance, the boycott movement was hailed as one of the main avenues for international contribution to the Palestinian popular struggle, and the UK was mentioned as one of most active countries contributing to its growing success. The workers we have talked to would rather lose their jobs than continue to be exploited by the occupation, but they need strong international support.