was the headline in today's Ha'aretz. What's the deal?
The British government is stepping up measures against settlements in the West Bank in an effort to stop their further expansion.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently instructed the Foreign Office to issue a warning to British citizens against the purchase of houses and real estate in the settlements.
Haaretz
What? Why now? Israel is seeking closer ties with the EU, including trade and economic ties, some think as a track to EU membership.
Just what are these sanctions about?
Brown states his government is examining a number of methods aimed at preventing the further expansion of settlements.
"We have long expressed our opposition to settlement activity," Brown wrote. "But that activity has continued and has accelerated since the Annapolis process was launched. I share your frustration at this. The UK is now looking at what effective action we can take to discourage settlement expansion."
Britain is effectively encouraging divestment from companies based or working in cooperation with business in the Jewish West Bank settlements. In his letter to Fayad, the British premier wrote that companies owned by his government have no financial ties to the settlements.
So Britain considers the continued settlement activity in the West Bank as sufficiently "unhelpful" the UK interests, as to prompt such draconian actions as warning British citizens that purchasing property in WB settlements might be subject to political risk.
I have already asked officials to update our official travel advice to include a specific warning that potential purchasers of property in a settlement should consider that a future peace agreement could have consequences for that property,"
Maybe there's insurance for this,
Additionally:
Jerusalem is said to be furious over Downing Street's decision to label products made in West Bank settlements. Britain has responded by saying that some companies based in the West Bank have been using false addresses within Israel proper in order to avoid its products from being labeled.
Ya see, if a product is made in Israel" it gets reduced tariff when imported in the EU. The EU doesn't consider the West Bank to be part of that agreement, so:
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Boycott of settlements' industries is taking its toll
By Adam Keller
Tags: West Bank
Production lines in industrial zones in the West Bank have begun to deteriorate of late. The Barkan Winery has turned its back on the settlement after which it is named, and has moved to Kibbutz Hulda, within the Green Line, the pre-1967 border. Mul-T-Lock, which commands a near monopoly in the Israeli lock market, announced that it will also be leaving the Barkan industrial zone. In addition, Soda Club has promised its Swedish partner Empire that it will not export products produced in its plant in Mishor Adumim.
These days, factories located in settlements are becoming more risky and less profitable. This wasn't always the case. Four years ago, Eti Alush, the man behind the Barkan industrial center, presented a rather rosy picture: "There is no ideology in economics. Entrepreneurs come here for the money, not for political reasons. Barkan is accessible and relatively cheap, and businesses pay discounted city tax (arnona).
Haaretz
So economic pressure is having some effect. Is that a good thing?
Dutch beer giant Heineken, which was set to buy the Barkan wineries, faced a serious danger of a widespread consumer boycott on the streets of Amsterdam, and scrambled to make sure that its Israeli subsidiary left the area.
Where are we, in the US on this issue? We have long advocated for slowing or reducing the settlement activity, with mixed, well, not so good results. Should we consider economic actions like warning our citizens and charities that funds sent to the WB settlements might not be such a good idea?
From today's AP
West Bank land deal leads to California
By MATTI FRIEDMAN – 3 hours ago
BURQA, West Bank (AP) — The transformation of a piece of West Bank land from a Palestinian field into a Jewish settlement has roots in an unlikely place — Orange County, Calif. — and in a document that a man supposedly signed more than four decades after the date of his death.
It seems that the Israeli government took some land in the West Bank for a cell phone tower. Shortly thereafter a bunch of Israelis set up trailers and moved in. The ISraeli government did not give them official recognition, but they did set up a road, electricity supplies, sewer, and sent the IDF into protect them.
Unfolding from the West Bank's terraced olive groves to a strip mall in a Los Angeles suburb, the story of this posthumous deal offers a rare glimpse into the underworld of straw companies and middlemen through which chunks of land move from Palestinian to Israeli hands. Each transaction further complicates an Israeli withdrawal that would be key to any peace agreement.
The land now houses a thriving Jewish settlement, another of the "facts on the ground" that strengthen Israel's grip on the West Bank and outrage the Palestinians. Such property deals are driven by the settlers' belief the land is their God-given right; the cooperation of Israel's governments, even those that have talked peace; and cash from wealthy donors, many of them American Jews.
The Israeli settlers claim they bought the land, the owners dispute that claim, and the facts seem to support the Palestinian owners. But nothing seems to be happening to evict the settlers.
"If no one cares, you don't get caught," he said.
Dror Etkes, an Israeli peace activist behind the legal action against Migron, said the crude forgery demonstrated the settlers' confidence. "If they were more afraid, they would do it more professionally," he said.
The Israeli government has not recognized the Sumarin sale or any other land purchases at Migron, and is pushing a compromise deal to move Migron elsewhere in the West Bank. But the Migron settlers say they won't move and are fighting to prove their ownership in a Jerusalem court. The process could take years.
Itay Harel, a social worker who lives on the Sumarin plot in Migron, insisted the sale was legitimate, although he refused to discuss it in detail. He also made clear that from the settlers' perspective, the sale was beside the point.
"This land belongs to the people of Israel, who were driven off it by force," Harel said, referring to the defeat and exile of the Jews by Rome in A.D. 70. He said no Palestinian had a rightful claim to any part of the West Bank.
Fraud and Forgery
They won't leave willingly. What should the US do? Follow the lead of the UK and Austria and insist on progress in halting the growth of the settlements before economic benefits are offered?