Drive to boycott colony goods gets boost

Occupied Jerusalem: The Palestinian campaign to boycott goods produced in Jewish colonies in the West Bank has received a boost from abroad with an unprecedented South African proposal to have the name of Israel dropped from labels on merchandise made in the colonies.

The South African government issued a notice saying it wants to require merchants "not to incorrectly label products that originate from the Occupied Palestinian Territory as products of Israel."

The notice did not specify what the labels should say and the proposal has not yet taken effect, pending public objections that can be submitted through the end of June.

But Israel claims it is being singled out because special labels are not applied to products made in dozens of other places where territorial conflicts already exist.

"All these things are characteristic of racism," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said yesterday. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Israel would summon the South African ambassador to protest the proposal.

Economic war

Palestinians and their supporters, inspired by the economic boycott of apartheid-era South Africa, have been trying for years to spark a punishing economic war on Israel to force it to end its occupation of lands Palestinians claim for a future state.

Their campaign of divestment and boycott has had negligible economic effect, but the voice of the South African government could be a symbolic boost. South Africa is not a major market for Israeli products.

Gassan Khatib, spokesman for the West Bank-based Palestinian National Authority, praised the South African step, saying it constituted "a genuine challenge to Israel on its continuous violation of international law and the rights of the Palestinian people."

He also voiced hope it would help to shift Israeli public opinion in favour of the Palestinian position.

South Africa would be the first country to require such labelling, Palmor said.

Since 2009, the British government has allowed retailers to distinguish whether West Bank goods are produced by Palestinians or Israeli colonists.

And since 2005, an agreement between Israel and the European Union excludes produce from the West Bank from a preferential tariff rate.

Threat to Tel Aviv

Qatar's emir says Israel is more isolated by the Arab Spring and will face increasing pressures over issues such as its presumed nuclear arsenal.

Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani urged Israel's leaders to view the Middle East uprisings as an opportunity for serious peace talks with Palestinians.

The fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak last year wiped away Israel's main Arab ally, and Qatar's emir predicts the region's new governments will press Israel harder over its policies, including a widely suspected nuclear arms programme.

Israel has never confirmed or denied whether it has atomic weapons.

Qatar's emir spoke yesterday at the opening of the Doha Forum, an international political affairs conference.