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EU says boycotts will end if Israel achieves peace with Palestinians

Xinhua, March 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Union's (EU) ambassador to Israel informed an anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (BDS) conference in Jerusalem Monday that BDS will end if Israel achieves peace with Palestinians.

"The most effective BDS counter-measure is solving the Israeli Palestinian conflict," Lars Faaborg-Andersen said at the Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot conference.

If there was no Israeli-Palestinian conflict, BDS "would simply vanish," he said.

Faaborg-Andersen said the EU does not expect Israel to solve the conflict alone, but it should stop "being perceived as saboteurs of the two state solution" and must "express greater will to fulfil the process," he said.

He argued that Israel is overestimating the "minor" BDS movement, which currently " hardly affects" Israel.

Israel has been attempting to subdue BDS initiatives, mainly in Europe and the United States, calling the initiatives "a new type of antisemitism."

The ambassador reiterated the EU's official policy to label products from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"Under international law the settlements are illegal and hinder the peace process as they aren't part of Israel. Our agreement concerns products made in Israel's internationally recognized borders, excluding the settlements," he said.

However, he pointed out that the labeling guidelines, approved in November, are not a boycott measure.

"We sold settlement products in Europe, but they must be labeled correctly," he said.

"Our policy is to cooperate with Israel. We are Israel's largest trade partner, and its most significant international scientific, technological partner, and more."

Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 Mideast War and has controlled it ever since, a move condemned by the international community.

The West Bank Jewish settlements are illegal according to international law.

Following a phonecall by a Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGO) in 2005, the BDS movement was launched with the aim of ending Israeli control over the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the previously Syrian Golan Heights.

Furthermore, BDS demands the recognition of Palestinians' right to return to their original land, and bestowing equal rights to Palestinian citizens of Israel. Endit