LONDON: Agricultural exports originating from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights in Syria are routinely mislabeled as Israeli products when entering European markets, an investigation has found.
A report by legal rights group Global Echo, based on analysis of more than 30,000 export documents covering thousands of shipments to the UK and EU over an eight-year period, alleges that settlement-grown produce has regularly benefited from preferential trade arrangements that are supposed to be reserved for goods produced within Israel’s own internationally recognized borders.
The group said one in six shipments examined contained agricultural products originating from Israeli settlements, but at least 42 percent of those shipments were labeled as “Israeli” in origin.
Under trade rules agreed by Israel with the EU and the UK, Israeli goods are eligible for reduced tariffs. But any products originating from settlements in occupied territories are not eligible for this benefit because the settlements are considered illegal under international law by much of the international community.
“This isn’t an aberration and it’s not accidental,” Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, Global Echo’s executive director, told The Guardian newspaper.
According to the investigation, exporters used several methods to obscure the origin of products from settlements. Some shipments reportedly listed settlement addresses while simultaneously classifying the goods as Israeli. Other cases allegedly involved the use of addresses inside Israel, or the mixing before export of settlement produce with products grown in Israel.
Global Echo said these practices shift responsibility for identifying settlement goods onto customs authorities in Europe and the UK.
The report, published last Wednesday, also raised concerns over certification procedures, alleging that some settlement products entered European markets using Israeli-issued organic and plant-health certificates despite being grown outside of Israel’s internationally recognized territory.
The investigation examined only a small proportion of Israel’s overall agricultural exports but identified approximately €13 million ($15 million) of allegedly mislabeled settlement produce.
Europe is Israel’s largest export market, with the EU accounting for nearly 30 percent of all exports. However, neither Israel nor European governments publish comprehensive data on the value of exports that originate from settlements.
Global Echo said that the mislabeling of settlement products allows exporters to benefit from lower tariffs, which means they are more competitively priced in European markets while reducing tariff revenues collected by importing countries.
The report, which comes as European governments continue to debate measures related to Israeli settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territories, also examined the broader impact of settlement agriculture on Palestinian communities.
Residents of the Jordan Valley interviewed during the investigation said settlement expansion had restricted access to farmland and water resources. Palestinian farmers also cited restrictions on movement and checkpoint closures as obstacles they face when transporting produce to local markets.
One farmer from the northern Jordan Valley said agricultural land owned by his family was incorporated into a nearby settlement decades ago and remains inaccessible.
Global Echo called on British authorities to review import-verification procedures and ensure that settlement goods do not improperly benefit from preferential tariff arrangements.
The group said it was prepared to take legal action if it believed current control measures were insufficient to prevent the mislabeling of settlement products entering the UK market.
