Tia Goldenberg

Associated Press

In this Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 file photo, employees work at the new SodaStream factory built deep in Israel's Negev Desert next to the city of Rahat, Israel. The layoffs of hundreds of workers following the closure of Israeli drinks maker SodaStream’s West Bank factory has even some Palestinians questioning the wisdom of the anti-Israel boycott movement. The fundamental contradiction: While Palestinians support the international outcry against the occupation of the West Bank, businesses attached to Israel’s far richer economy nonetheless offer much-needed jobs.

SodaStream Layoffs Expose Israel Boycott Conundrum

The West Bank factory employed some 500 Palestinians, providing a lifeline to the workers in an economy where unemployment is high and wages low. But boycott activists said the factory was a symbol of Israel's nearly 50-year-old occupation.