Garment factories in illegal Israeli settlements have been re-labeling their products with international brand names for marketing them in Palestinian stores, said the Ministry of National Economy.According to WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency, Israeli garment businesses operating in illegal West Bank settlements are palming off their products in the attempt to circumvent the boycott campaign and construct inroads into the Palestinian market.
The Consumer Protection Directorate crews are said to have closely monitored a vehicle loaded with Israeli garments while exiting the illegal settlement of Burkan, and heading to Salfit market.
After the driver was caught red-handed, her was brought before a competent court.
The director of Consumer Protection in Salfit, Raed Naser, stated that his directorate crews have noted dealings between Burkan garment factories and some Palestinian tailoring workshops:
1) raw or processed fabrics to be supplied by Burkan garment factories to the tailoring workshops in order to weave clothes.
2) this clothing to be moved back to the factories, where international clothing brand labels are attached to them, in an attempt to promote them as non-settlement products in Palestinian markets.
WAFA reports that, in April of 2010, President Mahmoud Abbas signed a law banning trade and promotion of settlement products in Palestinian markets.
The law specifically stipulates that “any trading, promoting, marketing, storing, transporting or packaging of settlement products into the Palestinian market, providing any service or offering any benefit for settlements along with their products is prohibited.”
