Walking along the river yesterday, I was offered a piece of soap by a lady outside the Jericho cosmetics store. I hadn't paid attention to the brand, got suckered into the shop and all of a sudden was having my nails polished and half my face and hands scrubbed and moisturised with Dead Sea products. I felt all clean and soft.

And then I started looking at the labelling on the products: some of them said "made in Israel" and it occurred to me that the Dead Sea isn't actually in Israel, it's where the river Jordan finishes with the West Bank (Palestine) on the one side and Jordan on the other. So I was curious whether it's really legit to label something as "made in Israel" when I guess it must be from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

When I asked the lady, who was very persuasive in trying to sell me the products, she said I didn't have to buy the stuff labelled "made in Israel" as she had other products that didn't mention the origin at all...

Dead Sea salt does have all sorts of remedial properties, but I'd kind of prefer to buy it without somehow feeling complicit in the Occupation.

Does anyone know what the rules are on labelling in Switzerland? I found her answer a bit dubious.