Dutch Minister sets tone

international | consumer issues | news report Friday November 09, 2007 12:53 by Adri Nieuwhof and Mieke Zagt

Udea will not sell organic settlement products

Early 2007 a group of Dutch consumers asked Udea, the importer for the organic supermarket chain Natuurwinkel and other organic shops in the Netherlands, if their Israeli organic products were grown in Jewish settlements.

Udea did not give clear answers organizations were asked for support. Palestinian and Israeli organizations sent letters to Udea calling for a boycott of settlement products, including the Ambassador of the PLO Mission to the Netherlands. The chair of A Different Jewish Voice, together with the initiator of the action, explained their concerns in a meeting with the director of Udea in May. The director promised to clarify his position on the sale of organic settlement in a few weeks.

In a telephone conversation Udea director Erik-Jan van den Brink confirmed that Udea will not sell organic products from the Jewish settlements. Van den Brink indicated that the decisive factor to ban settlements products has been the policy of the Dutch Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

Dutch Government policy

The International Court of Justice confirmed the illegality of the settlements and the wall in its advisory opinion of 2004. Moreover, the Court urged the international community neither to support settlements nor the building of the wall. In 2006 War on Want calculates that Agrexco is responsible for the export of 60-70 percent of all settlement produce. Agrexco, which is fifty percent owned by the Israeli state, is one of the companies that exports organic fruit and vegetables to Udea. According to the director of Udea, Agrexco mixes settlement products with Israeli products, just like other Israeli exporters

In February 2007 the Dutch ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs, Finance and Agriculture made it clear to the Dutch parliament that products from settlements in the Golan Heights, The West Bank and Gaza should not be labelled as “Made in Israel”. Exporting a mix of settlement and Israeli products to the Netherlands with the label “Made in Israel” can be considered as unlawful.

To protect consumers against improper use of the hallmark 'organic', the producer needs to be mentioned on the import certificate, which is an official EU requirement. This information makes it possible to trace settlement products. In the case of “regular” fruit and vegetables this verification is also required for imports in the European Union, but is more difficult to control for customers. The right of customers to know the origin of products is less protected for “regular” fruit and vegetables. As a consequence regular fruits and vegetables in our supermarkets are sold as “Made in Israel” can contain settlement products As long as Israeli export companies and Dutch importers are not clear about the origin of their produce, and they continue to mix settlement and Israeli products, consumers should not buy “Made in Israel” products.

World Council of Churches

In June 2007 the World Council of Churches decided to intensify its activities for peace in Palestine and Israel. In February 2005, the Central Committee of the WCC encouraged its member churches to give serious consideration to economic measures as a new way to work for peace, and to explore ways not to participate economically in the Israeli occupation. Churches in several countries responded to the call and developed divestment policies from companies which are profiting from the occupation. The Dutch Christian development organization ICCO works along the same line, and contributed to the efforts that led to ASN Bank's withdrawal from Veolia Environnement. Veolia is involved in the construction of a tramway that illegally runs through East Jerusalem. Together with the World Council of Churches ICCO will intensify its efforts to convince Dutch companies to end their involvement in activities linked to the occupation, and contributed to the conviction of Udea to stop selling settlement products

Barkan sells settlement grapes

In 1967 Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. Today Israel still occupies the Golan Heights and developed 33 Jewish settlement housing over 20.000 settlers. According to research, executed by War on Want, the sale of Golan wine accounts for over a third of all Israel's wine export. The Israeli companies Barkan Wine Cellars, as well as Carmel, proudly mention on their websites that their grapes are grown on the Golan Heights and in Judea on the West Bank.

Barkan exports wine to the popular Dutch Department Store Hema. When we asked Hema about the origin of the Premier wine, they replied that Barkan does not produce its wine in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories, but in the Kibutz Hulda. According to an Israeli source Barkan is using Kibbutz Hulda as a cover to evade European regulations to profit from tax redemption for exports to the European Union.

Hema should, just like Udea, follow Dutch Government policies and stop selling wine from the dim Barkan Wine cellars.