Why does Israel think a substantial portion of the British public will both care enough to look and actively avoid products from the West Bank? In America, at least, anti-Israel sentiment is held by a few very loud people on extreme ends of the political map, with the majority of people just not caring. Avoiding products from the West Bank (or anywhere else in the region) would be the act of a priggish minority.
(Yes, I read the comments on the article. The anti-Israel bigots are loud but that does not make them numerous or economically powerful.)
I’ve never understood the resistance to labeling in general. Are companies ashamed of where their products come from or what they’re made of? It only reinforces the notion that they’ve got something to hide and are trying to put one over on the consumer.
The EU has a free trade agreement with Israel that doesn’t include the West Bank and Gaza. Trade originated on the West Bank isn’t allowed to enter the EU on the same terms.
It appears that the proposed “West Bank” mark would be applied to any produce from outside the pre-1967 boundaries of Israel, meaning that manufactured goods or produce from the occupied territories would not be covered by the EU agreements with Israel, subjecting them to higher tariffs or exclusion.