By David Singer ——Bio and Archives--November 23, 2015
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"There is indeed a demand for clarity from consumers, economic operators and national authorities about existing Union legislation on origin information of products from Israeli-occupied territories. The aim is also to ensure the respect of Union positions and commitments in conformity with international law on the non-recognition by the Union of Israel's sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967. "Promoting the EU's political position under the guise of introducing consumer protection labelling laws is reprehensible. The Notice gives credence to the infamous anti-Israel BDS campaign operating in these four territories by inexplicably and unnecessarily introducing the term "Palestine" into its content:
"For products from Palestine that do not originate from settlements, an indication which does not mislead about the geographical origin, while corresponding to international practice, could be 'product from the West Bank (Palestinian product)' , 'product from Gaza' or 'product from Palestine'.
"The decision to label products from the West Bank is not a step for consumer protection, but will lead to the creation of stigma against Israel,"Hungary's foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, terms the Commission's labelling requirements "irrational" - not contributing to solving the conflict but causing more problems and damage. Fulvio Martusciello--Chairman European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Israel - states that the labelling requirement is a mistake and that many European nations are having second thoughts about the wisdom of the EU decision. The EU Notice contains these reassuring words of comfort:
"This notice also aims at maintaining open and smooth trade, is not hindering trade flows and should not be construed to do so."Accepting this EU expression of magnanimous goodwill at face value--Israel should label Jewish products originating from the "the West Bank" as originating from "Judea and Samaria"--the correct historical, biblical and geographical names used for 3000 years until Jordan invaded and illegally annexed Judea and Samaria --designating them the "West Bank" in 1950. A few labelling ideas spring to mind:
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com