Days of Palestine – Oslo

Norway’s social democrat government announced Friday its new policy, saying it was not enough to label products coming from the occupied territories as Israeli.

The measure mainly concerns imports of wine, olive oil, fruits, and vegetables, and will apply to products from the occupied West Bank “including East Jerusalem” and occupied areas of the Golan Heights, Oslo said.

Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed in an interview with Norwegian news agency NTB that this in no way constituted a boycott of Israel.

“Norway has good relations with Israel,” she added. “That must continue.”

The European Commission recommended its member states follow this practice in 2015, a decision confirmed by the European Court of Justice in 2019.

Norway said that the principle behind its decision, as set out in the 2019 ruling, is that consumers should not be deceived by misleading labeling on the origin or products.

During the Trump administration, the United States announced that goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories could be labeled Israeli.

The settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law but have continued under Israeli occupation governments since 1967.