As US Secretary of State returns to Israel Wednesday at the height of diplomatic tensions between Washington and Jerusalem over Iran, the European Union expresses dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and wants to put pressure on both sides.
EU officials reportedly told Kerry, who made a stop in Brussels on his way to the Middle East,that the EU is considering measures against both sides: labeling the West Bank settlement products and cutting the EU annual 300 million euros aid to the Palestinian Authority if the talks fail to reach an agreement.
Andreas Reinicke, a German diplomat who is the EU special representative for the Middle East peace process, told journalists in Brussels that 14 or 15 of the 28 member states, including France and Britain, today support labeling the Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank. ‘’The trend is clear,” he said, adding that the European stance represents growing discomfort in with Israeli construction beyond the Green Line even as negotiations are underway with the Palestinians.
The countries that are supporting the idea of labeling include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the UK. Supporters of the move said "the correct labeling of products is necessary to ensure our consumers are not being misled by false information."
But the demand to clearly mark products manufactured in the settlements was originally initiated by the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, which advocates a boycott of Israel. Their initiative has rapidly gaining traction in mainstream political discourse, a trend Israeli diplomats serving in Europe are attempting to curb.
Last month, BDS activists in Ireland placed stickers reading ''For justice in Palestine boycott Israel.'' on Israeli products sold at the Tesco supermarket chain.
Earlier this year, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and the European Commission were said to be preparing a non-binding EU code of conduct on how to apply the labeling rules.
An eventual EU bocyott of “settlement products” would affect tens of thousands of Palestinians who are employed in Israeli-owned industry in the West Bank.
Last week, Israel reached a compromise agreement with the European Union that allows it to join the EU’s ’Horizon 2020 ‘flagship research and innovation programme.
Israel’s participation in the 70 billion euro programme, which is part of the drive to create new growth and jobs in Europe, had been jeopardized by new EU guidelines unveiled in July by the European Commission and which barred EU funding to Israeli research institutes and other entities in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
The EU guidelines also required that every new Israeli agreement with the EU must include a clause saying that it is not applicable beyond the Green Line, a territorial clause which was inacceptable for Israel.