Following decisions from the South African government and Switzerland’s largest supermarket chain to distinguish between products made in the occupied territories from those west of the green line, the Associated Press reports on the "Made in Israel" label.
From "Made in Israel? Not a simple question":
Asked to explain the "Made in Israel" label for products made outside Israeli territory, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor reached for an unorthodox defense, arguing that it is not intended as a geographical indication.
"My point is not the sovereignty over the West Bank, but who is the authority that has supervised the product," Palmor told The Associated Press. "Since the products of the settlements are made under Israeli regulations and standards, they are 'made in Israel.'"
He said there were other cases of contestable labeling, including by the Palestinians who label products from parts of the West Bank governed by the Palestinian Authority as "Made in Palestine." There is formally no state of Palestine, he noted.
The Palestinians have long called for a boycott of goods made in Israeli settlements and even have lit bonfires to destroy them.
"We are calling for boycotting the Israeli products simply because the Israelis shouldn't benefit from occupying our land and our people," said boycott activist Murad Sudani, who heads the Palestinian Writers Union . .
Yigal Dilmoni, a settler leader, said the criticism is unfair. "All the communities in Judea and Samaria are part of the state of Israel," he said, using the biblical terms for the West Bank. "So of course these products are made in Israel."
*”My point is not the sovereignty over the West Bank, but who is the authority that has supervised the product,” Palmor told The Associated Press. “Since the products of the settlements are made under Israeli regulations and standards, they are ‘made in Israel.’”*
Fascinating. Who would have thought he would give such a striking articulation of why Israel is an apartheid state?
“Since the products of the settlements are made under Israeli regulations and standards, they are ‘made in Israel.’”
“Israel” only retained personal jurisdiction over its citizens in the occupied Palestinian territories. That means there’s no uniform enforcement or application of Israeli labor and industrial laws in the occupied territories.
Nothing is stopping the producers or manufacturers from putting all of the applicable conformance testing marks from the Standards Institution of Israel (SII), UL, CSA, TÜV, & etc. on their products. But that has nothing to do with Country of Origin Marking.
Our own Treasury Department directives prohibit labeling products from the West Bank and Gaza as made in Israel:
62 FR 12269 – Country of Origin Marking of Products From the West Bank and Gaza link to gpo.gov
He said there were other cases of contestable labeling, including by the Palestinians who label products from parts of the West Bank governed by the Palestinian Authority as “Made in Palestine.” There is formally no state of Palestine, he noted.
Nonsense the State of Palestine was declared in 1988 and has been formally recognized by about 130 countries which can demand that products be labeled with Palestine as the country of origin.
Statehood was never a final status issue of the Oslo Accords or Quartet Road map. In fact the Interim Agreement of 1995, which is the major post-Oslo agreement, specifies that neither party shall be deemed “to have renounced or waived any of its existing rights, claims or positions” (Art. 31-6). So the Palestinians position on statehood was preserved.
Is Yigal Dilmoni claiming that Israeli sovereignty has been extended to the West Bank with his comment? If he sincerely believes himself and other settlers to be living IN Israel, then the indigenous people should AT ONCE demand all the rights of FULL citizenship that they have been thus far denied!
So Israel is a virtual state, which exists wherever Israel decrees it does. What a convenient way of colonising others. Israel is an ideological construction, not a real country, one based on an invented people with an invented history. No wonder they have to keep inventing their borders.
Absolutely. Brilliantly put.
>> Yigal Dilmoni, a settler leader, said the criticism is unfair.
Poor whiny little settler leader. Someone forgot to tell him that aggressor-victimhood’s a tough gig. :-(
Yigal Palmor is talking nonsense, he should consult the decision of the highest court of the European Union the ECJ in BritaGmbH v Hauptzollamp Hamberg Hafen case No 386/08 in 2010 here the court declared that products manufactured in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Gaza strip by an Israeli company do not qualify for preferential EU treatment because no part of those territories are part of Israel and they say an examination of both Euro med agreements the EC signed with Israel and the PLO for the PA confirm that fact. Also the Generalised system of preference[GSP] by which the European Union determine where goods originate ie, not where they have been shipped from, but where they are deemed to have been produced or manufactured is also clear. This will have huge consequences for Israel if Palmor persists in this nonsense.
Thank you. I assume you are a lawyer as you know so much of the law!? Proving there honest lawyers out there.
A consumer boycott, whether it’s a boycott of Israeli goods, or a boycott of products of the illegal settlements, is unlikely to have a big economic effect on Israel. Instead, it’s a way for the world to voice the world’s disapproval of Israeli policies.
Israeli leaders are proclaiming in public that the developing boycott won’t have any effect.
But then why are Israeli leaders working so hard to stop the boycott? They seem to be in fact very worried.
If a consumer boycott grows and develops, it will enable people around the world to oppose Israeli policies. This will give permission to national leaders to oppose Israeli policies, if they choose to do so. And an official economic boycott of Israel – not just a consumer boycott – could cause major problems for the Israeli economy.
So as usual the zionist occupiers want their cake and eat it too. They want to occupy the west Bank and control it but will not bankroll it in any way, shape or form (unless they are illegal Jewish settlers of course) and they want to profit from those illegal settlements without any doubt. Shameless.
“made by illegal settlers on illegally occupied Palestinian land”
I’m all for Yigal Palmor’s ‘Made in Israel’ definition:
Made in Israel
white phosphorus gaza
Made in Israel
settlers burn mosque
Made in Israel
israeli checkpoints
Made in Israel
israeli apartheid
Made in Israel
uprooted olive trees palestine
Made in Israel
idf kills children
Made in Israel
home demolitions palestine
Made in Israel
hebron settlers
Made in Israel
tear gas idf
Made in Israel
gaza siege
Since Palmor describes Made in Israel as “the authority that has supervised the product” I will also do this:
Made in Israel
netanyahu congress ovations
“My point is not the sovereignty over the West Bank, but who is the authority that has supervised the product,” Palmor told The Associated Press. “Since the products of the settlements are made under Israeli regulations and standards, they are ‘made in Israel.’”
Reminds me of Beinart’s exemption of East Jerusalem (and the Golan) from boycott, because resident Palestinians (and Syrians) have the theoretical possibility of obtaining Israeli citizenship. The difference is that Palmor is an Israeli government spokesman, whose job it is to make up pseudo-rational explanations for illegal Israeli policies.
Just boycott Israel period. Maybe that can be the next step.
Israel is responsible for the settlements.
American,
That’s a good first step. The boycott should include Israel and those who support Israel. That support is necessary, too.
That the AP felt forced to discuss this, is another win for BDS.