Bethlehem/PNN /

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates praised today the Norwegian government’s decision to label products manufactured in the illegal Israeli settlements built on land occupied by Israel post 4 June 1967, including the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The Ministry said in a statement that Norway’s decision comes in line with the European Commission’s 2015 decision and in line with the EU and Norwegian commitment to international law and the resolutions of the international legitimacy, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334.

“Norway’s decision is an important legal and moral step in the right direction, leading to a boycott of the products of the Israeli settlements, banning their entry and the entry of settlers to European countries and the world,” said the Ministry. “This is a right step in the way to impose sanctions on the occupying power, because settlement construction constitutes a grave violation of international law and signed agreements, and amounts a war crime and a crime against humanity.”

The statement added, “As usual, the occupying power [Israel] was quick to condemn and defame the Norwegian decision in a reprehensible blackmail, which once again confirms that the occupying power adheres to the crime of settlement. [Israel] appears deal with the settlements as part of Israel, in an explicit and clear declaration of a systematic policy aimed at imposing the widest possible annexation of the land of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

The Ministry urged all countries to label and boycott products made in the Israeli settlements “in order to uphold an international system based on international law and enhance the human rights situation in occupied Palestine.”