JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said the European Union's labeling of products manufactured outside the 1948 armistice lines amounts to delegitimizing the State of Israel. Hotovely heads to several European capitals this week to explain why that's so.
During a visit Tuesday to a plastics factory in the Barkan Industrial Park near Ariel in Samaria, Hotovely called the plant a "symbol of coexistence" and recommended those promoting peace visit the facility.
"We do not see any difference between the industrial area of Barkan and the industrial area of Haifa," Hotovely told the Jerusalem Post in a phone interview. "This is a de-legitimization of the State of Israel."
The E.U. has talked about labeling "settlement" products for several years. The guidelines, approved last month by the European Parliament, are scheduled for publication on November 11.
"The E.U. position is that we do not recognize Israeli authority beyond the Green Line. It is not part of Israel. It is not part of what we understand to be Israel's international recognized borders," E.U. Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen told the Post. "For that reason we cannot agree that products that come from settlements beyond the Green line are labeled 'made in Israel.'"
Speaking with the Times of Israel in September, Hotovely said Israel sees the E.U. policy "as a boycott of Israel for all intents and purposes It's simply a sweeping disqualification of Israel."
"Europe is doing this to create diplomatic pressure on Israel regarding a very central issue that Israel and Europe are deeply divided on," she said.
Opposition leader and Labor Party chairman Yitzhak Herzog said the E.U. policy rewards terrorism and will harm tens of thousands of Palestinians working in Israeli factories and businesses.
Many European nations, e.g., Britain, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, France and Spain, are grappling with deep economic distress and the demands of growing Muslim populations.
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