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Bahrain backtracks, won’t recognize Judea and Samaria goods as Israeli

After a conversation with the PA foreign minister, the Gulf kingdom backtracked on its promise.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Despite previously announcing that Bahrain will recognize goods made in the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria as Israeli products, the Gulf kingdom has backtracked on that promise.

Reuters had previously quoted Bahrain’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani as saying that Bahrain “will treat Israeli products as Israeli products … so we have no issue with labelling or origin.”

In a conference in Manama on Friday evening, Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani said he’d spoken with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and explained to him that media reports about Bahrain’s position on the matter of Israeli goods were inaccurate.

“The minister’s statement was misinterpreted. The ministry is committed to the Bahraini government’s unwavering stance regarding adherence to the resolutions of the United Nations,”
read a statement released Friday by the Industry, Trade and Tourism Ministry of Bahrain.

“The alleged comments … totally contradicted his country’s [Bahrain] supportive position of the Palestinian cause,” read a statement from Maliki’s office.

During a visit to Israel last week, Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani told reporters in Jerusalem that Bahrain would be open to importing Israeli goods made in the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria and labeling those products as “made in Israel.”

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“So we will not go into the details [but] we will recognize them as Israeli products. And all Bahraini products, hopefully, will be recognized in Israel as Bahraini products. I don’t see, frankly, a distinction on which part or which city or which region it was manufactured or sourced from,” he told Israeli media.

The announcement appeared to fall in line with a new U.S. policy towards Israeli goods manufactured in the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria that was announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in November.

The minister’s remarks immediately sparked backlash throughout the Arab world.

European Union guidelines require products made in the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria to be clearly labeled as such, rather than using the label “made in Israel.”