It also requires labels on such products specify whether they were produced by Israelis or Palestinians.
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The new European Union policy will begin with the labeling of food and it will then be expanded to all items originating in the areas mentioned.
Seeing how swiftly the European Union adopted sanctions against Russian Federation for alleged violations of global law in Ukraine that pale in comparison to Israel’s crimes in its decades-old occupation of Palestinian territory, one can not but accuse Europe of hypocrisy for failing to adopt the evidently more justified sanctions against Israel.
The European Union mission to Israel claimed the labeling was created to afford clarity for consumers and not to serve as a political move, though Israel rejected the claim and complained the action was discriminatory and created to pressure it on settlement building.
“As allies, elected representatives of the American people, and strong supporters of Israel, we urge you not to implement this labeling policy, which appears meant to discourage Europeans from purchasing these products and promote a de-facto boycott of Israel, a key ally and the only true democracy in the Middle East”, the letter states.
All the buzz in Brussels and Tel Aviv about European Union labeling of products from Israel’s settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory can not hide the fact that Europe’s relationship with Israel conflicts with its espoused values and legal commitments. “It’s based on the logic that any product labeled made in Israel needs to be truly come from Israel and not from areas what are not internationally regarded as Israel”, a senior official said Tuesday.
“This is reminiscent of dark periods of history, because there are about 200 territorial disputes around the world, but the only place where products are marked is here”, Nahshon pointed out and warned, “It starts with marking products from Jewish communities over the Green Line, but it can expand into a general boycott of Israeli products if the European consumer thinks he “doesn’t want to get into trouble”.
For other products, a label indicating their origin is voluntary, but it may not be “misleading”. The labels must now also show…
Mandatory labeling applies to fresh fruit and vegetables, wine, honey, olive oil, poultry, organic products and cosmetics, the commission said in a statement.
It provided examples of appropriate text and stressed that it was important to distinguish between the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
However, despite the protests, Israeli officials do not believe that many Israeli products will be affected.
For the former it should say, “product from West Bank (Israeli settlement)”, unless it is from the Palestinian territories, in which case it would say “product from West Bank (product from Palestine) or ‘product from West Bank (Palestinian product)”.
The commission noted that this designation “shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine”.
Since 2003, the European Union has placed numerical codes on products from over the pre-1967 lines, so that custom officials would know not to include those items in the EU’s Free Trade Agreement with Israel with is limited to areas within the Green Line.
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But these guidelines mark the first time that consumers will also have that information. Work on the guidelines was suspended in 2013 at the request of US Secretary of State John Kerry who was brokering a nine-month period of peace negotiations that ended in failure in April 2014.
