OSLO (Dispatches) – Norway has adopted a strict labeling scheme to identify products that come from the illegal Zionist settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, a move that has infuriated the Zionist regime.
The Norwegian government announced in a statement that the occupying regime’s agricultural goods coming from the occupied West Bank, East Al-Quds, and the Golan Heights must be labeled with their place of origin, citing a 2019 ruling by the European Union’s top court requiring products from these areas to be labeled as originating from an “Israeli settlement.”
“Foodstuffs originating in areas occupied by Israel must be marked with the area from which the product comes, and that it comes from an Israeli settlement if that is the case,” the statement said.
The statement added that “Norway considers the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories to be contrary to international law.”
The statement underlined that the measure mainly concerns imports of olive oil, fruits, vegetables, and potatoes.
The European Commission recommended its member states follow the labeling scheme in 2015, a decision confirmed by the EU’s European Court of Justice in 2019.
The Norwegian government said the principle behind the announcement of its decision, as set out in the 2019 ruling, is that consumers should not be deceived by misleading labeling on the origin of the products.
The Zionist regime’s foreign ministry censured the move by Norway’s government, saying it “will negatively impact bilateral ties between Israel and Norway.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry hailed the decision by Norway, saying it is a “right step” in fulfilling international obligations, including imposing sanctions on the regime.
The ministry made the remarks in a statement on Sunday, 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.
Norway is not an EU member but is part of the European Single Market. It is also part of the European Free Trade Association, a four-country organization that inked a free trade deal with the occupying regime in 1992.
Norway’s largest pension fund, the KLP, previously announced that it would no longer invest in 16 companies, including telecom equipment giant, Motorola, over their links to Zionist settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Between 600,000 and 750,000 Zionists occupy over 250 illegal settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Al-Quds.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Al-Quds as its capital.