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News ID: 85829
Publish Date : 25 December 2020 - 21:19

Palestine: U.S. ‘Made in Israel’ Labeling War Crime

RAMALLAH (Dispatches) – The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that labeling the Zionist regime’s settlement products by the United States as products ‘made in Israel’ is a war crime.
The ministry said in a press statement that the U.S. move "is a violation of international law and international resolutions, and ... an attempt to legitimize them.”
"It encourages the occupation to commit war crimes against humanity and our people. The decision undermines our people’s legitimate rights in an attempt to fragment Palestinian land,” the statement said.
The ministry rejected the attempts "to divide the occupied State of Palestine, including East al-Quds, into different regions and names.”
The statement called on the international community and freedom-loving people to boycott products made in Zionist settlements, as they represent a blatant violation of international conventions as per the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The United States has begun requiring products from Zionist settlements - built contrary to international law in the occupied Palestinian territories - to be labeled ‘Made in Israel’, saying the move was "consistent with the United States’ foreign policy approach”.
The policy shift was announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in November following an unprecedented visit to an illegal Zionist settlement in the Palestinian West Bank.
According to the policy, goods from Palestinian areas of the West Bank will be marked as made in the ‘West Bank’, while Gaza-produced data-x-items must indicate they were made in ‘Gaza’ - the Palestinian coastal enclave.
Since the 1995 Oslo Accords, U.S. guidelines have stipulated that all products produced in the occupied West Bank, including the illegal settlements, be labeled as ‘Made in West Bank’.
The directive was republished in 2016 by the administration of former U.S. president Barack Obama, which warned that labeling goods as "Made in Israel” could lead to fines.
It is unclear whether the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will uphold the new order.
Most world bodies, including the United Nations General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, consider the construction and continued existence of settlements on occupied Palestinian land to be illegal under international law. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention outlaws such practices, stating: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”