“I’m sure it was an honest mistake”, said a Peace Now member after receiving the gift. There was a bottle of wine… made in a West Bank settlement. But for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, its small gift baskets sent ahead of the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, came with more diplomatic baggage than most.
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Members of Peace Now, a group opposed to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, had to do a double take when they opened up a gift basket from the United States embassy in Tel Aviv, sent ahead of the Jewish New Year.
The organization was surprised to find a wine bottle produced by Zion Winery, a company that manufactures its products in the industrial area of Mishor Adumim.
Peace Now received settlement products.
Settlement goods, including wines, have been the target of boycotts both inside and outside Israel over the past several years.
“We would not have included the wine had we known that it was from the settlements, ” U.S. embassy spokeswoman Valerie O’Brien told the newspaper.
The move was at odds with the State Department’s well-known position on Jewish communities in the West Bank, which it considers the main “obstacle to peace” between Israel and the Palestinians. “Administrations of both parties have long recognized that settlement activity and efforts to change facts on the ground undermine the goal of a two-state solution”.
It is traditional in Israel to send pre-holiday gifts to friends and co-workers. But amongst the products in the package this year was an Israeli wine produced in the settlements – which led to question marks as to whether the USA has changed its stance on settlements.
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The inclusion of the settlement wine in the U.S. Embassy’s gift basket was likely merely a faux pas by somebody in the protocol office, and not a hint at changing policy. Our newsletter features a comprehensive round-up of the week’s events.
