Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has hailed a decision by Norway to label products manufactured in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying it is a “right step” in fulfilling international obligations, including imposing sanctions on the Tel Aviv regime.
The ministry made the remarks in a statement on Sunday, after the Norwegian government announced that Israel’s agricultural goods coming from the occupied West Bank, East al-Quds, and the Golan Heights must be labeled with their place of origin, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.
“Norway’s decision is an important legal and moral step in the right direction, leading to a boycott of the products [made in] Israeli settlements, banning their entry, and [banning] the entry of settlers to European countries and the world,” the ministry said.
“This is a right step in the direction of imposing sanctions on the occupying power, because settlement construction constitutes a grave violation of international law … and amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity,” it added.
The ministry further noted that the latest move came in accordance with the European Commission’s 2015 decision, as well as the European Union and Norway’s commitment to international law and the resolutions of international legitimacy, including the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.
It also said Israel’s condemnation of the move once again confirms that the occupying regime “adheres to the crime of settlement,” stressing that it is a clear declaration of a systematic policy aimed at imposing the widest possible annexation of the land of the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds.
The Palestinian ministry further urged all countries to label and boycott products made in the Israeli settlements “in order to uphold an international system based on international law and enhance the human rights situation in Occupied Palestine.”
In a statement on Friday, Norway said it had adopted a strict labeling scheme to identify products that come from the Israeli-Occupied Territories, citing a 2019 ruling by the European Union’s top court requiring products from those areas to be labeled as originating from an “Israeli settlement.”
The statement underlined that the measure mainly concerns imports of olive oil, fruits, vegetables, and potatoes.
