AL-QUDS — French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that while Paris backs EU plans to label products from Israeli settlements, it opposes any boycott of Israel. “The French and European diplomatic position is clear and has not changed and will not change,” he told reporters at the start of a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The labeling plan has been blasted by Israel which says it is the target of an international delegitimisation campaign. In April, France and 15 other European Union countries urged the bloc to clearly label products sold in member counties which originated in Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, all occupied by Israel in 1967. Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Sunday that Israeli diplomats in European capitals were working to halt or at least slow down the labelling plan, which it said was nearing completion. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Florence last month and is to hold talks with Britain's David Cameron later this week. The EU has consistently condemned Israeli settlement building as a threat to the Middle East peace process through eroding the basis for a future Palestinian state. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said the bloc is due to decide on how to mark products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Most countries consider the settlements illegal. The European Union will soon decide on labeling rules to inform consumers if imported Israeli products come from Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Saturday in a press briefing. “The work is close to being finished but it is still ongoing,” Mogherini said, referring to the final discussions on how to formulate the future guidelines. Her comments came following a meeting of foreign ministers from the 28 EU member states in Luxembourg. Some EU countries, such as Britain, already issue guidance to shops so consumers can see if goods are made in the settlements, which most countries consider illegal, as they are not located within Israel's internationally recognized borders. In April, 16 foreign ministers sent a letter to Mogherini, which was published by the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz,” asking her to push forward the labeling initiative. The letter was signed by the foreign ministers of France, Britain, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Malta, Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Slovania, Hungary, Finland, Denmark, Holland and Luxembourg. The ministers wrote that the labeling of settlement products “is an important step in the full implementation of EU longstanding policy in relation to the preservation of the two-state solution.” Moreover, they argued that “the continued expansion of Israeli illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and other territories occupied by Israel in 1967, threatens the prospect of a just and final peace agreement.” The establishment of such guidelines will likely result in a strong reaction from Israel. Israeli analysts claim that Mogherini is worried that the move, although apparently unstoppable, will stand in the way of her fulfilling one of the main targets she has set herself — restarting the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Mogherini herself, however, stressed that the decision had already been made a few years ago, before she took office, and that she was only overseeing its implementation.. “We have to make sure that consumers can distinguish products that come from territories occupied by Israel,” said Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which holds the six-month presidency of the EU. “We are just applying international rules,” he told a news conference, adding that he expected a solution by the end of the year. — Agencies
