The European Union is pressuring Israel to label its exports to show whether goods are made in the West Bank and Gaza. At issue is an export tax that would have to be paid on goods from the disputed territories. Israel enjoys favored-tax status as an E.U. associate member, but the European Union does not recognize the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza in the agreement. According to the German trade newspaper Handelsblatt, E.U. commissioners Pascal Lamy, Chris Patten and Frits Bolkestein have written to Israel’s trade minister, Ehud Olmert, urging that products be labeled more specifically.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
