Last week we posted on the new British government recommendation that Israeli products produced in West Bank settlements be clearly marked on store shelves. Here is one response in today’s Guardian:
Letter
Stop the sale of ‘West Bank’ produce
The Guardian, Monday 14 December 2009
Under new labelling rules, customers will be able to distinguish between Israeli settlement products and Palestinian goods from the occupied West Bank (Report, 11 December). It should also be made clear that those settlements are illegal under international law.
But since when has the implementation of law been a matter of individual choice? It was the government, not shoppers, who signed up to the Geneva conventions and security council resolutions that made the settlements illegal. It’s up to the government to enforce its own commitment and ban the import and sale of what amount to stolen goods.
Meanwhile, in the absence of proper enforcement, I have been conducting my own "citizen’s seizures", removing "West Bank" dates from supermarket shelves. I have offered Tesco and Sainsbury’s repayment if they can show the dates are not the produce of illegal settlements.
Some dates I have "sold" in aid of Gaza charities, and some I have sent to UK lawmakers and enforcers with an invitation to consider who stole them. A recent consignment is on its way "home" to Gaza with the Viva Palestina convoy.
More important is for the UK to implement the laws it has signed. The history of Israel/Palestine has been bedevilled by contradictory commitments and selective enforcement. Now the import and sale of settlement products must be stopped.
The Foreign Office may not be calling for a boycott of Israeli goods, but it must honour the human rights clause included in the EU trade agreement with Israel. There should be no favoured entry for Israeli goods into Europe until the rights of Palestinians are respected.
Greg Wilkinson
Swansea
