Czech parliament votes against labeling West Bank settlement products. Hungary, Germany and Greece have pledged to disregard the EU ruling.

The Czech Republic's rejected the EU directive to label goods imported from the West Bank and the Golan Heights on Thursday.

Deputy Chairman of the Parliament Jan Brtosk called on the government not to implement the guidelines, saying that "it starts with the marking of Jewish products, but how will it end? We must reject all attempts to discriminate against the only democracy in the Middle East."

On November 11, the EU introduced a measure to label settlement produce imported to Europe as such rather than "Made in Israel".

The same day, Israel said it was suspending various scheduled EU meetings in response to the labeling move, which it harshly condemned.

Israel calls any such move a boycott, while the EU insists it is merely providing customers with information.

The EU insisted that a decision to label products from Israeli settlements was taken for legal reasons relating to the origins of goods and was not a political stance.

• A group of US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a resolution expressing their opposition to the guidelines.

The resolution proposed by Nita Lowey (D-NY), Peter Roskam (R-IL), Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Ed Royce (R-CA) stated that "new European Commission guidelines to single out Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank and other areas only encourage and prompt consumers to boycott all Israeli goods."

"This is counterproductive to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, harmful to US national security interests, and contributes to the deeply misguided anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Boycotts chip away at economic integration, which negatively affects Israelis and Palestinians alike. The establishment of the European Economic Community was predicated on the notion that peace and security are achieved through trade, economic cooperation, and job creation – not boycotts and isolation. The same is true for Israelis and Palestinians."

• A few countries including Hungary and Germany and Greece have pledged to disregard the EU ruling.

“We do not support that decision. It is an inefficient instrument. It is irrational and does not contribute to a solution [to the Palestinian–Israeli conflict], but causes damage,” said Hungary's Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
  i24news.tv
17/12/15
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