PRSS RELEASE

Released @ 12:00 GMT 21^st May 1998

Although it came late and partial, the PCHR welcomes the recommendation of the European Commission to ban the import of settlement products to EU countries

In a report sent to the Council of Ministers of the European Union, the European Commission has recommended that countries terminate the privileges accorded to goods produced in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories based on the Euro-Mediterranean Association agreement between the EU and Israel signed in 1995. In the Commission’s view, the Israeli government has violated the agreed upon rules of origin for exports. Israeli exports to the 15 countries of the EU are either partially or completely tax-exempt. These products contain no reference as to their production in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, or the Golan Heights. The EU defines these territories as occupied according to international law, which means that they are not part of the territories of the State of Israel. A European spokesman stated that the European Commission recommends correcting the state of forgery and fraud of the European systems regarding certificates of origin concerning goods produced in Jewish settlements in the Arab Occupied Territories. This affirms the position of the EU that the Israeli territories do not include Jewish settlements, which therefore cannot enjoy the privileges of Israeli goods.

EC sources pointed out that Israeli fraud includes not only exporting products from the settlements as products of Israeli origin, but also by using its different institutions to force Palestinians to sell their products to Israeli agents rather than facilitating the direct export of these products by Palestinians. Moreover, under the pretext of security, Israel imposes tough and severe restrictions on exported Palestinian products like flowers and forces Palestinians to export them through Israeli agents. This has resulted in the Palestinians only meeting 10% of their quota to the European countries according to the Euro-Mediterranean Association agreement with the PLO signed last year, while Israel has completely met its quota. It is worth mentioning that the Israeli forgery is not restricted only to exported goods produced in Jewish settlements, but has also reached the extent that the Israeli government has exported Brazilian orange juice through forged certificates of origin, receiving complete tax exemption. According to the estimates of the EC, the loss to the EU as a result of this (before Israel took back two-thirds of the juice certificates) was $44 million.

As expected, the Israeli government has refused these recommendations. The Israeli Prime Minister threatened to deprive Europe of playing any role in the peace process in the Middle East if the recommendations are adopted. He also stated that the ban on exporting products of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories could push Israeli contractors to stop employing Palestinian workers. He added that Israel provides job opportunities for 120,000 Palestinians. If the EU adopts these recommendations, he said, the Israeli government will reconsider this policy.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights welcomes the EC recommendations and believes they represent an important and positive step. The PCHR would clarify the following:

First, although the recommendations of the EC are important and positive and should be adopted immediately by the Council of Minister of the EU in its next meeting, they should be seen as a partial and preliminary step to be followed necessarily by abolishing the European-Israeli Association agreement. Israel has not fulfilled Item 2 of the agreement, which demands that Israel respect human rights. Israel has failed to fulfill not only contractual obligations with the EU, but also the provisions of international law. It continues to occupy Palestinian and Arab territories by force and violates basic standards of human rights.

Second, the EC recommendations should go beyond the frame of economic interests to reach the level of fulfilling the obligations by the EU according to international law, especially the Forth Geneva Convention (1949) Relative to the Protection of Civilians During Times of War. According to the Convention, the EU must ensure that Israel respect the agreement in all circumstances. This necessarily demands that the EU apply pressure on the Israeli government, which both refuses to apply the provisions of the agreement and continues to occupy Arab territories. The PCHR would like to affirm that to economically boycott Israel rather than to only deprive it of its trade privileges would be a guarantee that would help to ensure respect for human rights in the Occupied Territories.

Third, the importance of the EC recommendations is that they continue to reaffirm the illegality of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories, which demands the application of international law by the European Union. This is especially true in light of the Israeli government’s systematic policy of violating basic standards of human rights and not only seeking to acquire land and Arab resources, but to legalize that acquisition and these practices. This demands that the EU take the initiative to impose sanctions on the Israeli government as a basic and important step to ensure that the Israeli government fulfills its legal obligations.

Forth, the stand of the Israeli government regarding the EC recommendations means a continued Israeli failure to abide by rules of international law, whether contractual or customary. This has reached the point of threatening an entire continent by not allowing it to play any role in a region which is only a few miles away from its borders.

Fifth, the Israeli reaction affirms that the application of economic sanctions would have great economic impacts on the Israeli government and force it to abide by international law. It is worth mentioning that Israel exports 75% of its external products to the European countries.

Sixth, the claim of the Israeli Prime Minister that Israel provides 120,000 job opportunities to Palestinians is a blatant lie. The current Israeli government endeavors to restrict the movement of Palestinian people and goods to and from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This has resulted in reducing the number of Palestinian workers to 44,000 and led to great losses for the Palestinian economy. According to the figures of UNSCO, between 1992 and 1994 the Palestinian economy lost $6 billion as a result of these measures. These measures also have affected Gaza students in the universities in the West Bank, from which they have been banned for two years. Moreover, claiming that the application of the EC recommendations would be followed by Israeli contractors terminating the employment of Palestinian workers, implies that work in settlements is an important source of income for Palestinians, which is absolutely not true based on the above figures.

Seventh, the EU, in light of the systematic Israeli policy aiming to destroy the Palestinian economy, should create frames and mechanisms to contribute to eradicating the state of prejudice that prevents the Palestinian party from fulfilling its quota according to the Association agreement.

The PCHR believes that it is time for the international community, especially the European Union, to play a more powerful and responsible role in light of the policies of the Israeli government, which violate basic rules of international law and human rights. The PCHR repeats its invitation to the international community to impose economic sanctions on the Israeli government as a legal means to apply the rules of international law and to ensure respect for human rights.