This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Monday 30 Nov 2015 - 12:45 Makkah mean time-18-2-1437
Reutes photo
Tel Aviv (IINA) – Israel announced on Sunday it was suspending contacts with EU bodies involved in peace efforts with the Palestinians after the bloc started requiring the labeling of exports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Reurters reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the foreign ministry to carry out "a reassessment of the involvement of EU bodies in everything that is connected to the diplomatic process with the Palestinians", a ministry statement said.
"Until completion of the reassessment, the Prime Minister has ordered a suspension of diplomatic contacts with the EU and its representatives in this matter."
The EU published new guidelines on November 11 for labeling products made in Israeli settlements, a move Brussels said was technical but which Israel branded "discriminatory" and damaging to peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Drawn up over three years by the European Commission, the guidelines mean Israeli producers must explicitly label farm goods and other products that come from settlements built on land occupied by Israel if they are to be sold in the European Union.
The EU's position is that the lands Israel has occupied since 1967 Middle East war, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, are not part of the internationally recognized borders of Israel.
As such, goods from there cannot be labeled "Made in Israel" and should be labeled as coming from settlements, which the EU considers illegal under international law.
AB/IINA
|
No comments:
Post a Comment