The purpose of the 1995 US product labeling regulation was for Arab goods, not Jewish goods

YNet, among others, reports:

US Customs passed recently issued a reminder notice to importers in the US to not label products that come from the West Bank as "Made in Israel" and made it clear that those who do not comply would be sanctioned, according to a Channel 1 News report.

This is not a new guideline, but rather a reissuing of one from 1995 - which is a byproduct of the Paris Agreement and the Oslo Accords - that set different customs regulations for Israel and the West Bank. Human rights groups complained to US Customs that it was not enforcing its own guidelines, so that products from the settlements are sold in the United States under label "Made in Israel".

US Customs issued a message last week to all US importers under the title "West Bank Country of Origin Marking Requirements. The message reads: "The purpose of this message is to provide guidance to the trade community regarding the country of origin marking requirements for goods that are manufactured in the West Bank.

Per Treasury Decisions goods produced in the West Bank or Gaza Strip shall be marked as originating from ‘‘West Bank,’’ ‘‘Gaza,’’ ‘‘Gaza Strip,’’ ‘‘West Bank/Gaza,’’ ‘‘West Bank/Gaza Strip,’’ ‘‘West Bank and Gaza,’’ or ‘‘West Bank and Gaza Strip.’’ It is not acceptable to mark the aforementioned goods with the words ‘‘Israel,’’ ‘‘Made in Israel,’’ ‘‘Occupied Territories-Israel,’’ or any variation thereof. Goods that are erroneously marked as products of Israel will be subject to an enforcement action carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Goods entering the United States must conform to the U.S. marking statute and regulations promulgated thereunder.

But if you look at the actual 1995 regulation, it is clear that the intent was to only label goods that were produced under the Palestinian Authority after Oslo, because they had a new and different tariff system and it no longer made sense to label Palestinian Arab products as "made in Israel" as had been done before 1995.

It is obvious that anything produced outside of areas that were under Palestinian Authority control were not meant to be included in this regulation. Unfortunately, that exception was not explicitly stated, because in 1995 it was assumed that a peace agreement was coming soon where Israeli-controlled areas would no longer be referred to as "West Bank."

This regulation was not ignored up until now - it was enforced in the way it was meant to be, to give recognition to the PA as the effective governing body in Areas A and B.

This re-issuance of the guideline is therefore not simply a repeat of a forgotten policy. It is a deliberate re-interpretation of a guideline meant separate the PA-ruled areas from Israeli-ruled areas into a new anti-Israel

To claim that this is simply a restatement of existing policy is deceptive. It is a new policy by the Obama administration dressed up as a legacy regulation that was meant to encourage Palestinian autonomy, not to penalize Jewish settlements.

This is pure politics.

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