Stick a label on it

THE prize-winning Psagot Winery in a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem has become a favourite destination in recent years for right-wing Israeli and American politicians, eager not just to quaff Cabernet but also to score political points by highlighting the return of the Jews to their biblical homeland. Sixty-five per cent of the 250,000 bottles produced here each year are exported. Under new European Union rules adopted this week those bottles sold in Europe will no longer be labelled “Produce of Israel” but “Produce of the West Bank (Israeli settlement)”. 

Yaakov Berg, the winery owner, is not concerned for his own business. “People who buy our wines know where we are and want to buy them,” he says. “This will probably only make them more popular.” He is already planning a line of Christmas gift-boxes with additional settlement products, which he believes will be a hit in evangelical communities in America. Some of his fellow producers may, however, see sales fall as European retailers refuse to stock their products.

Labelling produce from the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem has been a subject of diplomatic disagreement between the EU and Israel for more than seven years. The Europeans, like the rest of the world, do not recognise Israel’s sovereignty in the lands captured in the six-day war in 1967 and regard Israeli settlements there as illegal. Although Israel enjoys preferential access to Europe’s market and gets grants for research programmes inside the “green line”, it has refused to abide by the EU’s previous labelling regulations. These new guidelines put the onus on EU members to ensure that imports from the settlements declare the correct provenance. 

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Jerusalem Fund.

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