'Germany Backs Labels For Goods From Settlements'

[Purveyor]

German gov't document gives backing to EU efforts to put "Made in Israel" label only on products from within pre-1967 lines.

By JPOST.COM STAFF06/02/2013

The German government has given its tacit approval of European Union efforts to label products manufactured in Israeli-controlled territory beyond the Green Line, Army Radio reported on Sunday morning.

The IDF-run radio station said it obtained an official German government document that was produced in response to a parliamentary motion by opposition lawmakers in Berlin. The document reportedly enunciates Germany’s stance on the issue.

“In our view, it is permissible to label products with the ‘Made in Israel’ sticker only if those products are manufactured within the 1967 borders,” reads the document obtained by Army Radio.

The Jerusalem Post obtained a letter which confirms the Army Radio report.

MORE...

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Germany-backs-labeling-products-made-in-settlements-315143

[dipsydoodle]

1. I think something similar is already done in the UK.

The TUC took up the issue a while ago. Problem is that Israel bluffs it by making it look as though stuff dont come from the settelements.

[azurnoir]

2. why so much 'controversy' over honesty in labeling?

or is this a signal that the settlements are in fact already considered part of Israel, by some?

[oberliner]

3. What do you consider them?

Are the Jews who live in these settlements Palestinians or Israelis?

[delrem]

4. Racist colonialist outposts??

[oberliner]

7. There is actually a lot of racial diversity in the settlements

Moreso than in many Israeli towns (and certainly Palestinian ones).

From The Daily Beast:

Racial diversity: When you live in a settlement like mine, you know that all of your neighbors are Jewish. But those Jews might be of any number of racial and ethnic backgrounds. We live in a religious settlement among religious Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, Yemenite Jews, and Ethiopian Jews. There are a number of Peruvian converts, and their children, in our town, who were of Native Peruvian ethnicity. Furthermore, I here had the pleasure of teaching a number of young Chinese men who had Jewish ancestors and had chosen to convert to Judaism. In the Ashkenazi community in which I grew up in England, a Sephardi Jew was something of a rarity, let alone a black or far-eastern Jew. Growing up here, among religious Jews of many racial backgrounds, my children know first-hand that the Jewish people is a multi-racial and multi-cultural people; that Jewish fraternity is colorblind.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/06/leaving-the-settlements.html

[delrem]

20. When you live in a settlement like mine, you know that all of your neighbors are Jewish.

eta: there should be quote marks around that beaut of a sentence. It's a sentence that captures an essence, so it ought to be attributed to the settler who uttered it.

[oberliner]

22. Dr. Samuel Lebens

Dr. Samuel Lebens studies at Yeshivat Har Etzion, holds a PhD in metaphysics and logic from the University of London, and is the chair of the Association for the Philosophy of Judaism.

Here's another interesting piece he wrote about the settlements a few days ago:

Israeli Peace Camp: Empower Moderate Settlers

The readership of this blog has a large and varied array of opinions regarding the moral and legal legitimacy of Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line. But, in this post, I'd like to put that important issue to one side. Instead, I want to talk about ways in which the settler population, whether you love them or loathe them, can become real partners in the creation of a two-state solution.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/29/israeli-peace-camp-empower-moderate-settlers.html

[azurnoir]

26. "When you live in a settlement like mine, you know that all of your neighbors are Jewish."

now haven't we been told here that Jews (save converts) are an ethnicity ?

[oberliner]

27. Maybe this will help you

It's from your favorite site!

Jewish ethnic divisions

Jewish ethnic divisions refers to a number of distinctive communities within the world's ethnically Jewish population. Although considered one single self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinctive ethnic divisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating Israelite population, and subsequent independent evolutions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_ethnic_divisions

[azurnoir]

28. "Although considered one single self-identifying ethnicity....are primarily the result of geograpic

branching, actually your wiki entry speaks out both sides of it's mouth simultaneously, or yes but no

[azurnoir]

29. Is this the norm for all Israeli settlements?

or is it just one Orthodox settlement?

[oberliner]

30. French Hill is super-diverse

And predominantly secular, at least until very recently.

[azurnoir]

31. there are approximately 121 Israeli settlements in the West Bank

you've mentioned 2 that's about 1.6% as being diverse in some or another manor


http://thecepr.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=115:illegal-israeli-settlements&catid=6:memos&Itemid=34

[oberliner]

32. Most of the population is concentrated in a few of them

Look at the five largest ones - they are all pretty diverse.

[azurnoir]

33. really Muslim's and Christians live in them too? n/t

[Bodhi BloodWave]

5. What does it matter what one calls those who live there?

just because you are something does not mean that where you live is a part of that nations territory.

Would you say that the outposts are in Israel proper?

[oberliner]

6. Well, I don't think they are Palestinians

They certainly wouldn't identify that way, and I really doubt actual Palestinians would classify these settlers as such.

The outposts are definitely not in Israel proper, that's for sure.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

8. seems we more or less agree then

They are Israeli but the area they live in is not within Israel thus what is made there is not made in Israel.

Now if they were to reword it as 'made by Israeli workers' or somesuch rather then 'made in Israel' I'd have no objection to the classification.

[oberliner]

10. Yes, I agree with you

I would not object to a label indicating that the product was made not in Israel proper but in a settlement located outside of Israel. I daresay, however, that this might encourage some of the more fundamentalist types to buy the product.

[azurnoir]

18. a good deal of the employees in those factories are Palestinian

keeps labor costs lower, in fact we've quite sanctimoniously told here that BDS against settlement products will only harm Palestinian workers

[delrem]

21. But I thought that the major difference between SA and I apartheid was

that the occupiers of SA held a huge majority of subordinate "races" captive as a labor pool. It's argued that Israel doesn't do that - that Israel neither wants or needs these people.

Maybe, says the devil incarnate, it might be too much of a good thing when subordinate "races" live in desperation around you, begging for your largess.
I think at this point the devil incarnate has the floor.

[azurnoir]

9. your point being?

do we now label every product as being from the place it was made or the nation that owns the company that made it?

[oberliner]

11. "Made in Palestine" does not seem to be the right label for these goods

Neither does "Made in Israel" - what about "Made in an Israeli Settlement" ?

[azurnoir]

12. For most of the world made in Palestine would be entirely accurate

however made in Israeli settlements, or made in the West Bank territories will do for the time being

[delrem]

13. How about "Made on Stolen Land, by some miserable criminals"

[oberliner]

16. No it wouldn't

Most of the world would not label products made by Israeli settlers that way.

In fact, none do.

[azurnoir]

17. The 'world' prints the labels for products made in the Israeli settlements?

do tell, I was under the impression that products are labeled by the ones who actually made them

[delrem]

14. I wouldn't stock the diabolical things.

[oberliner]

15. Diabolical?

Wow, no hyperbole there (or in your post above).

[delrem]

19. We have diametrically opposite views regarding apartheid, and BDS to rid the world of it.

[oberliner]

23. No we don't

I completely oppose apartheid and think the world would be well rid of it wherever it rears its head. I support the Geneva Initiative and am wondering if you don't?

[delrem]

24. As I said, I wouldn't stock the diabolical things.

But then, when I say that I oppose apartheid I'm not fibbing.

[oberliner]

25. Diabolical?

Wow, no hyperbole there!

[azurnoir]

34. J-Post pulls out all the stops on this one, just what are they so worried about labeling honesty?

German neo-Nazis submit anti-Israel legislation

http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/German-neo-Nazis-submit-anti-Israel-legislation-316667

[delrem]

35. Holy crap!

The German Green Party is a neo-Nazi outfit!
Well, I put the GGP on my hateline yesterday!
Don't blame *me*!