She noted the text, entitled “interpretative notice”, is only four pages long and that half of it is footnotes, which shows “just how technical and legal the document is”. “Expressions such as ‘Product from Golan Heights (Israeli settlement)’…could be used”.
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The European Union has defended the decision, arguing that Israeli settlements built on land occupied since 1967 are illegal under the Geneva Convention. It’s strong enough to weather this, but it’s the Palestinian workers in Israeli enterprises in Judea and Samaria that will be hurt.
“The European Union does not support in any form boycott or sanctions against Israel”, he asserted. He added that the move is “technical”, and, contrary to claims by the Israelis, had no political motive or part of a boycott effort.
Cabinet minister Yuval Steinitz said ahead of the decision that “we can not conceive it but as a few disguised anti-Semitism”. The 36 senators from both sides of the aisle on Monday sent a letter to the EU’s foreign policy czar Federica Mogherini protesting what they called a “de facto boycott” of Israel.
Israeli lobbyists in Europe echoed the complaint.
He drew the same comparison in September when he said that Israelis “remember history and we remember what happened when the products of Jews were labelled in Europe”.
Moshe Kantor called the guidelines problematic and a “double standard”, pointing out in a statement issued Wednesday that there are “no comparable guidelines for any other territorial dispute or what are perceived as occupations anywhere else in the world”.
Senior Israeli politicians, including from opposition parties, have branded the initiative anti-Semitic, comparing it to yellow stars Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust.
Once the labelling is implemented, European consumers will be able to read on the label of most products if goods – mostly fruit and vegetables – was produced on Israeli settlements.
Israel insists the step was inspired by an global boycott movement and noted that it comes at a time when the country is confronting a “wave of terrorism” amid stepped-up Palestinian attacks.
Ayelet Shaked, Israel’s justice minister, said the EU code is “anti-Jewish” and reflects “European hypocrisy and… hatred of Israel”. A petition signed by over 500 prominent Israeli figures, including former ambassadors, parliamentarians and Israeli prize winners, welcomed the measures.
“EU labelling of settlement products is a step in the right direction but insufficient”, the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) negotiations affairs department said on Twitter. “Millions of Israelis and Palestinians may now hope for a better future if the global community continues to be involved”.
Exports from Jewish settlements – which consist mostly of agricultural products since there are no major technological companies – are minuscule compared to those from Israel proper.
Martin Konecny, from EUMEP, a Brussels-based NGO which promotes rule of law in the Arab-Israeli conflict, also praised the move.
The island has been split since a 1974 Turkish invasion; the south is controlled by Cyprus’s internationally recognized government and is an European Union member country.
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The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks broke down a year and a half ago, and President Barack Obama recently acknowledged there probably would be no more talks, much less an agreement, in his term.
