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Thomas:
“We are right to expect countries like that with significant
resources to act in line with international standards.”
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LONDON,
September 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The Plaid Cymru party
in Wales, Britain, is carrying out a wide ranged campaign among the
British population to boycott Israeli products and to raise awareness
regarding the plight of the Palestinian people.
Israeli
newspaper Ha’aretz said Sunday, September 22, that the party which has
four chairs in the British parliament, is campaigning among parliament
members during the annual convention which took place on Saturday,
September 21.
They
asked the British public to stop condemning Palestinian operations and
to understand the motivations which forces Palestinian youth to carry
them out. They also asked for the boycotting of Israeli products as a
form of economic sanction against Israel for its killing of Palestinian
children.
The
paper reported that the party, which is also carrying out another
campaign to get more independence for Wales, and is the second largest
party in it, said the bombings do not justify the Israeli army’s
response by “heavily armed terrorism and slaughtering of common
people.”
“The
motion, passed overwhelmingly by the conference, criticized the British
and American administrations for supporting Israel through financial
assistance and weapons sales,” said the paper.
Simon
Thomas, the Plaid Cymru MP, asked the international community to put
more pressure on Israel in the peace process than on the Palestinians
because the Israelis had the political institutions and infrastructure
to act.
Speaking
after the annual convention, Thomas said that the position of the party
does not mean that it is anti-Israeli. “We are right to expect
countries like that with significant resources to act in line with
international standards, but that should not be seen as anti-Israeli,”
Thomas added.
Nick
Bourne, the leader of the Conservative Party in Wales, criticized the
campaign saying that turning a blind eye towards any form of terrorism
is not responsible.
“In
an amendment drawn up by the party’s national executive, the motion
called for full recognition of the Israeli people’s right to their own
independent state and their right to be free from any threat to its
security and future,” the paper said.
Earlier,
on July 6, the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (DEFRA) ordered an end to Israeli goods produced in the West
Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights being labeled “Produce of
Israel”, clearly differentiating, for the first time, between Israel
and the occupied territories.
Ha’aretz
had reported that a letter sent out last week by David Holliday, chief
horticultural marketing inspector to “all interested parties,"
said “advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department
of Trade and Industry is that produce from these occupied territories
ought not be labeled as ‘Produce of Israel,’ because these
territories are not recognized as part of Israel.”
As
a solution, Holliday’s letter said that “it was agreed that in this
particular case, and to give as much information as possible, these
products should be labeled with their region of production, rather than
a country of origin that may be misleading.”
The
DEFRA said Friday, July 5, that it told importers last week that cherry
tomatoes, baby potatoes, avocados, fruit juice and flowers grown in the
illegal outposts could no longer be sold under the “Produce of
Israel” label, according to British daily newspaper the Guardian.
“Produce
from these occupied territories ought not to be labeled ‘Produce of
Israel’, because the territories are not recognized as part of
Israel,” the letter said.
The
British move was largely symbolic, as the value of exports from the
settlements to the whole of the E.U. amounts to £13 millions.
The
European Union (E.U.) stiffened its rules of origin, which means goods
from the settlements will be subject to customs duty, unlike exports
from Israel.
