For 30 years, members of the League of Arab States (Arab League) have engaged in a boycott of Israel, a country with which they have been at war and remain in a state of hostility. As an instrument of this state of war, the boycott is intended to prevent Arab states and discourage non-Arabs from directly or indirectly contributing to Israel's economic and military strength.
For most of its existence, the boycott has been a practically dormant dimension of Israeli-Arab politics and almost unknown and irrelevant to the United States. During its first 20 years there was no U.S. legislation concerning