EU: Products from West Bank and Golan cannot be labeled 'from Israel'

Can olive oil from the West Bank be labeled as a "product of Israel?" Not if it's going to be sold in the European Union (EU). Not anymore.

In a decision that has been hotly debated for three years or so, the European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- decided Wednesday (November 11) that products from the territories taken by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War can no longer be sold in the 28-country EU as having come from Israel.

Map of Israel, its neighbours and the occupied territories or settlements (shown in green) - Israeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities built on lands occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War; such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and in the Golan Heights.

While EU's outraged the Israeli government, including its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and settlers living in those territories, it was met with applause from advocates who do not support the settlements they consider illegal.Many countries and international organizations regard Israel's presence in the territories taken in 1967 as illegal. 

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu in Sochi, Russia, 14 May 2013

Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erakat praised the EU's labeling.

"We welcome this decision and consider it a significant move toward a total boycott of Israeli settlements, which are built illegally on occupied Palestinian lands.”

Orient House, the former PLO headquarters in Jerusalem - the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is an organization founded in 1964 with the purpose of the "liberation of Palestine" through armed struggle. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by over 100 states and has enjoyed observer status at the United Nations since 1974

The European Commission portrayed the change adopted Wednesday as merely a clarification of existing law, which mandates that labeling not be misleading. Mandatory labeling applies to fresh fruit and vegetables, wine, honey, olive oil, poultry, organic products and cosmetics.

Date harvest in Israel

Labeling such goods as "product from Golan Heights" or "product from West Bank" (instead of the current "product from Israel" labels) would not even be specific enough and therefore would not be acceptable. Instead, the goods would have to be labeled something along the lines of "product from the Golan Heights (Israeli settlement)" or "product from West Bank (Israeli settlement)".

Farms in the Golan Heights – produce from this region heading towards the EU would have to be labeled "product from the Golan Heights (Israeli settlement)" instead of “from Israel”

Currently, products from Israel benefit from preferential tariffs when they enter the EU, but products from the territories do not. And that situation will not change.

Ariel, one of the four biggest settlements in the West Bank

The European Union is Israel's largest trading partner, with a total trade of about 30 billion euros (about $45 billion in Singapore currency) in 2014. The European Commission says that products from Israeli settlements amount to less than 1% of the total.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)