Should Europeans be successful in banning Israeli products from the West Bank, this will bring about the loss of jobs of several thousands of Palestinians,” Israel’s ambassador to the European Union, David Walzer, said.
Speaking earlier this week at a press briezfing organized by the Europe Israel Press Association (EIPA) in Brussels, he declared: “The Israeli economy is very strong and it can move very quickly. Exports from the settlements represent less than 1% of our exports, maybe 0.8%. Who is investing and building factories in the West Bank ? Nobody. The only ones who are actually building something are the Israelis and they are employing Palestinians. You want to ban them? It’s terrible in human terms but the Israeli industrialists are very flexible and if they cannot produce in a settlement, they will go to the Negev desert and they will build a factory there where Palestinians will not be able to go. They will find the manpower from elsewhere.”
The ambassador said “the only way to promote peace is by launching economic projects, this is what (US Secretary of State) John Kerry is doing.”
“But if you’re successful in banning Israeli settlement products, this won’t be helpful for our Palestinian neighbours, with whom we hope very much to be able to make peace, he added.
The question of labeling settlement products has long been swirling in the European Union, although no policy has been implemented so far.
Last month, US officials reportedly persuaded the EU to delay a plan - initiated by several member states - to label imported Israeli oods produced beyond the Green Line and as a result the decision to implement the labeling scheme, which was expected to be approved at an EU Foreign Ministers meeting in May, was said to have been delayed until late June.