Israel to review EU-Palestinian projects over settlement label issue

Israel has threatened to review its cooperation with the EU regarding European projects that benefit the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Reuters reported on Monday. The Zionist state is angry at the EU decision to label more accurately products from Israel’s illegal settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Israeli prime minister also announced on Sunday the suspension of Israeli contacts with the EU bodies involved in the peace process as part of Israel’s truculent countermeasures against the European guidelines on settlement products. Benjamin Netanyahu has been expressing his anger over the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign effect on international bodies which, he claims, is trying to isolate Israel. He believes that the accurate labelling of settlement products, which was announced on 11 November is a result of BDS lobbying.

Read: Israel suspends EU role in peace process over labelling

The review of Israel-EU cooperation, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon, could see Europe frozen out of some initiatives aimed at bettering Palestinian lives. “It is true that there is no peace process… but the European Union wants to be involved in a variety of projects, some of them… regarding Palestinian welfare,” he explained. “With all those projects, we will need to re-examine whether it is feasible to consider the European Union as a partner while it is using measures of discrimination and boycott against the State of Israel.”

According to Reuters, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki described the Israeli move as a “stupid threat” which, he said, exposed arrogance and enmity towards the EU.

Palestinian QudsNet website, however, claimed that Israel appears to be backing down after a meeting between Netanyahu and the EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini on the fringe of the Climate Change Conference.

Israeli manufacturers remove factories from settlements to avoid EU labelling