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EU decision on labels met with scorn from Israel

Brussels - Agricultural products and cosmetics produced in Israeli settlements must be labelled as such rather than just as coming from Israel, the European Commission decided on Wednesday.

The move was slammed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry as "exceptional and discriminatory".

Labelling for other products from the settlements will be voluntary.

The European Union has long criticised Israel's policy in the occupied Palestinian Territories, saying that settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem violates international law.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded with a statement saying, "We regret that the EU has chosen, for political reasons, to take such an exceptional and discriminatory step, inspired by the boycott movement, particularly at this time, when Israel is confronting a wave of terrorism targeting any and all of its citizens."

Israel has seen a renewed wave of violence in recent months sparked by perceived changes of the status quo at a holy site in Jerusalem, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

The ministry added that the decision was "puzzling and even irritating," arguing that the EU chose to ignore other territorial disputes.

"There is certainly a very strong element of double standards applied to the Jewish State," Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said.

He pointed to Morocco's occupation of the Western Sahara and Turkey's occupation of northern Cyprus as examples of other territorial disputes.

The commission, the EU's executive, insisted that the guidelines issued on Wednesday are not political, but clarify existing consumer-protection rules to ensure they are interpreted and implemented uniformly.

The EU "does not support in any form a boycott or sanctions against Israel," European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told journalists in Brussels.

"Indication of origin of goods ... is an essential part of the EU's consumer policy," he said. "This is a technical issue, not a political stance."

Dombrovskis also stressed that the labelling regulation was "not a new legislation or new policy."

Products produced within the internationally recognised borders of Israel will continue to enjoy preferential EU tariffs, as had been the case before, Dombrovskis said.

An EU statement issued later on Wednesday defended the timing of the move, noting that member states had been calling for a distinction between Israel and its settlements since 2012.

It added that Britain, Denmark and Belgium already have similar regulations regarding food products from the West Bank.

Sarah Saadoun of Human Rights Watch praised the new rules in a statement that noted the illegality of settlements under international law.

"Labelling products produced in Israeli settlements gives businesses and consumers the information they need to avoid supporting industries that contribute to violations of human rights," she said.

Mahmoud Nawajaa, general director of the Palestinian boycott movement BDS, also welcomed the decision, while adding that "a small number of Israeli products is hardly a proportionate response."

In a fact sheet released by the EU, the commission clarified the wording of the labels, which must include the phrase "Israeli settlement," or words to that effect. Labels such as "product from West Bank" or "product from Golan Heights" would not suffice, it said.

The document also explained that the member states' own authorities will be responsible for ensuring that the rules are adhered to.

Israel lobbied fiercely against any labelling of settlement products, with Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz saying on Tuesday that it smacks of discrimination and anti-Semitism.

Trade between the EU and the occupied territories reached around €154m last year, according to commission figures.

There are 125 officially recognised settlements and another 100 non-government-approved outposts in the West Bank, according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

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