The Netherlands is the top destination for agricultural products from illegal Israeli settlements. It shows from the research published this Wednesday Importing Occupation (‘Import Occupancy’) – accessed by NRC – from Global Echo, an organization that initiates legal proceedings against the violation of the human rights of Palestinians.
Global Echo analyzed thousands of shipments of citrus fruits, dates, tahini and other fresh products shipped from Israel to the EU over the past eight years. Officially, all these foods come from Israel itself, but in reality at least 19 percent appear to have been grown in settlements in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territory. The organization estimates that in reality it is more: the concealment of the origin of these products is “widespread”. This is contrary to EU law.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, including East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Syrian Golan Heights. The EU considers these areas occupied, and therefore products from them cannot be labeled as having been grown in Israel. It is advantageous for producers to pretend that their goods do come from Israel, because they then qualify for tax benefits under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Largest transit port
The research shows that the Netherlands was the destination or port of entry for 38 percent of all shipments to the EU containing products from illegal settlements. The total value of products from settlements destined for the Netherlands was more than 14.8 million euros. Rotterdam is the largest transit port in Europe.
In the majority of cases, the dates are from the occupied West Bank. To circumvent the rules, producers pretend their plantation is in Israel, or illegal dates are mixed with regular ones and presented as a product from Israel.
The report speaks of “numerous shortcomings” in the EU differentiation policy, which distinguishes between Israel and the occupied territories. Both Israel and the EU shape this policy in the agricultural sector in a way that makes “systematic evasion” possible.
Medjool Plus
The study mentions NaturesMarkt as the largest Dutch importer of dates from occupied territory. This is a subsidiary of Medjool Plus, which emerged in the study as the largest Israeli exporter of dates from illegal settlements. In response to Global Echo, Medjool Plus denied that it violates European or Dutch rules.
A Palestinian man clears the fruit and vegetable shelves of his store in al-Eizariya in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near East Jerusalem, on May 11 before the arrival of an Israeli demolition team.
Photo JOHN WESSELS / AFP
The revelation about the Netherlands as a top destination is extra spicy because the Jetten government announced a trade ban on products from illegal settlements last month. This research shows that such a ban is not easy to enforce due to the systematic practice of deception.
“The Netherlands is an extremely important gateway for goods from illegal settlements entering the EU. This means that the trade ban could have major consequences for the entire EU,” said Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, international human rights lawyer and director of Global Echo, by telephone from Southampton. At the same time, she emphasizes that the EU as a whole must follow international law.
Trade benefits
Discussions have been going on in the EU for some time about measures against Israel in connection with the crimes it commits in Gaza. For example, there are calls to cancel the Association Treaty, which offers Israel trade benefits.
Food producers from illegal settlements sometimes miss out on these trade benefits because the EU realizes that they are not located in Israel itself. The Israeli government has found a solution: the missed benefits are being compensated. Over the past twenty years, Israel has spent at least 63 million euros on this. This way, producers in occupied territory do not experience any disadvantages due to their location.
Goods from settlements enter the European market illegally on a large scale
The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner: approximately 28 percent of Israel’s annual exports are destined for the EU. According to Global Echo’s research, a fifth of the 5,187 shipments destined for the EU contained products from illegal Israeli settlements.
Palestinians pay the price
“We have now confirmed the suspicions that Palestinian and international groups have been expressing for decades: goods from settlements are illegally entering the European market on a large scale,” said Schaeffer Omer-Man. “These practices violate the rights of European consumers and producers, and the Palestinians are paying the highest price.”
Violence by settlers against Palestinians is commonplace in the occupied West Bank. There are now approximately 700,000 settlers living in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem speaks of this “state violence”because colonization has been state policy for decades and the state actively participates in the violence. Agriculture is an important means by which Palestinians are driven from their land and de facto Israeli annexation takes place.
Palestinian workers take a break while destroying shops in the Palestinian town of al-Eizariya on May 10 before the arrival of an Israeli army demolition team.
Photo Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP
By importing products from settlements, “Europe is economically supporting what is happening in the West Bank: from settler violence to expulsion, expropriation and creeping annexation,” says Schaeffer Omer-Man.
Trade maintains the occupation
The International Court of Justice concluded in an advisory opinion in July 2024 that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and must end as soon as possible. The court obliges UN member states, including the Netherlands, to refrain from economic or trade relations that maintain the occupation.
It had previously emerged that fraud was taking place with the labels of products from Israeli settlements. For example, the Israel Products Center, in Nijkerk, sells incorrectly labeled wine from settlements. And research by knowledge center SOMO showed that Dutch supermarkets fruits and vegetables from settlements have on the shelves.
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