Foreign Affairs
Buying Dates from Illegal West Bank Settlements Now Carries Prison Risk
Starting Tuesday, selling goods from illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory is prohibited in the Netherlands, with potential prison sentences for violations. Major supermarkets like Jumbo and Albert Heijn state they verify product origins to ensure compliance, claiming dates and other items come from internationally recognized Israeli territory. However, human rights organization Global Echo found that over 17 percent of shipments to the EU between 2017 and 2026 contained products from illegal settlements. Exporters often use loopholes by listing only Israel as the origin or mixing products to obscure their source. This practice reduces land and water access for Palestinians, according to Global Echo.
Ozetta summarises; the reporting is the newsroom's