Remember "Proportionate Response"?

Remember that phrase, from the Second Lebanese War and also Gaza: "disproportionate response"?

That Israel was hitting back too hard against terrorists trying to kill and maim?

I found it again, in another setting:

Britain's envoy to the Middle East on Monday said the United Kingdom would continue its fight against West Bank settlements, but would not mount a broader divestment campaign. "This isn't about boycotting Israel...

...Under a 2005 agreement, products from Israel enter EU states like Britain duty-free. But Palestinians complain that many of those goods, labeled as made in Israel, actually come from West Bank settlements.

Rammell said the inspections were helping British authorities identify producers from the settlements, who are then denied the benefits. "One, you would make sure that it wasn't given a tax-exemption. Two, you would tell that to the producer. And three, you would be alerted to that source for the future," he said.

But Rammell made clear Britain has no plans to join a campaign in some European countries to pressure companies to divest from the settlements. "I'm not sure it's effective. It would be extremely complicated. And I think it's about a proportionate response," he said.

Thank God for proportionality.

Maybe we should start referring to Arab communities in Israel as "settlements"? Would that set the cat among the pigeons?

Are "settlements" only Jewish? Is that racial profiling?

Or would that be too disproportionate?

The Matter of Labelling and That Boycott of Yesha Products

An EU-Israel trade agreement allows goods made in Israel to be imported into the 27-nation EU at reduced or nil rates of customs duty. However, products of Jewish communities in the areas of Judea and Samaria are excluded from the benefits and must pay the full rate of duty.

The UK Foreign Office claims there had been reports that the agreement was being circumvented and that some goods produced at these Jewish communities may have been wrongly labelled as made in Israel.

The Foreign Minister, David Miliband, called recently for

"the fair and proper implementation of the agreements on produce from this region...That means preferential trade for Israeli products, preferential trade for Palestinian products, but not preferential trade from the settlements," he said. The Foreign Office spokesman said Britain wanted the trade agreement implemented and products of Jewish settlements labelled as such. "Neither the UK nor the EU should do anything that inadvertently supports or encourages illegal settlement activity," he said.

[Israel President Shimon] Peres said there was an EU agreement. "I think it would be strange to have 27 agreements on every issue, with all due respect. We negotiated very hard to find a compromise," he said. Most workers in the settlements were Palestinians and if they were fired due to a crackdown on exports it would increase unemployment, said Peres, who is on a five-day visit to Britain.

Asked how he justified the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Peres said: "Why should they suffer? Let them stop shooting and they won't suffer."

First of all, kudos to Peres for finally being rational and pithy.

Second of all, do we now have to label exactly who made these products? After all, if Arabs are employed, does it not make the products, partially at least, non-Jewish?

Third, if Israeli Arabs who consider themselves "Palestinian Arabs with Israeli citizenship", as is the latest subversive nationalist fashion among them, would Mr. Miliband & Co. require any products and produce they make to be labelled as, what?

And fourth, if Israel decided that the UK was doing something "illegal", I don't know, like Ireland, the Falkland Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Indian Ocean Territory or such matters as the operations of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, could we retaliate economically - with full justification?

L'Chayim!

The Gush Etzion Winery owned by Shraga and Tamar Rosenberg, residents of Gush Etzion has received the "Golden Medallion" in the Teravino contest that took place in Eilat. Participating in the contest were 520 wines from around the world and Israel.

The Cabernet Franc Wine 2005, is made from 100% Cabernet Franc grapes, grown at the height of 900 meters in the vineyards of Gush Etzion and have been aging in new French oak barrels for 14 months.