UK issues advice on labeling West Bank and Gaza products

Food labels should distinguish between the products from Palestinians and from Israeli settlements, the UK government department advises.

On Dec. 10, British Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) issued a technical advice on the labelling of produce grown in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, available here (PDF file). According to the government department, the document was produced in response to the requests from British retailers, consumer groups and NGOs, calling to distinguish between products from Palestinian producers and products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. As a result, Defra advised British traders and retailers, as follows:

For produce from the West Bank, labelling currently states country of origin as ‘Produce of the West Bank’. Traders and retailers may wish to indicate whether the product originated from an Israeli settlement or from Palestinian producers. This could take the form, for example, of ‘Produce of the West Bank (Israeli settlement produce)’ or ‘Produce of the West Bank (Palestinian produce)’, as appropriate.

Israeli Foreign Minister spokesman Yigal Palmor, quoted by the Jerusalem Post, said issuing these guidelines was tantamount to:

caving into Palestinian organizations, and will only radicalize Palestinian positions even more. The decision comes at a critical phase and harms Israeli and international efforts to renew the peace process on the basis of mutual agreements.

British Foreign Office spokesman, quoted by the Guardian, said:

This is emphatically not about calling for a boycott of Israel. We believe that would do nothing to advance the peace process. We oppose any such boycott of Israel. We believe consumers should be able to choose for themselves what produce they buy. We have been very clear both in public and in private that settlements are illegal and an obstacle to peace.