One of Switzerland's biggest supermarket chains says it plans to tell its customers if products have come from Jewish settlement areas in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Migros says it wants to offer customers greater transparency because the Swiss government and the United Nations consider the settlements to be illegal under international law. Spokeswoman Monika Weibel said Tuesday that Migros doesn't support boycott calls by pro-Palestinian groups but does want to let customers decide which products they want to buy. She says the chain previously identified the products only as coming from Israel. The move comes after the South African government recently announced that it wants merchants "not to incorrectly label products that originate from the Occupied Palestinian Territory as products of Israel." On May 19, South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said that he intended to instruct local food importers not to use the label "Product of Israel" for products manufactured in Judea and Samaria. Davies said such products are imported from "occupied Palestinian territories." Explaining his decision, Davies said it was not fair to "fool consumers" about the true origin of products. "The government of South Africa recognizes the State of Israel only within its 1948 borders, which were delineated by the U.N.," Davies said. "That area does not include territories captured by Israel in 1967." In a similar move, Danish Foreign Minister Willy Sondal said the same day that importers of food products in his country would also be instructed to use a label denoting the origin of products manufactured in the West Bank, which he said should be labeled products produced in "Palestinian territories." In response to the announcements, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "This is essentially a racist measure. It is shocking to know that of all the countries, South Africa is acting so callously."
