EU issues guidelines to label Israeli settlement goods

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission has issued new guidelines for the labelling of some products made in Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian and Syrian land, BBC News reports.

Agricultural produce and cosmetics sold in EU member states must now have clear labels showing their place of origin.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the EU "should be ashamed of itself".

The EU considers settlements built on territories occupied by Israel in 1967 to be illegal under international law, but Israel disputes this position. The EU says settlements constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible.

Netanyahu, who was in Washington on an official visit, called the decision "hypocritical and a double standard".

The Israeli foreign ministry has summoned the EU ambassador to Israel and said it would suspend diplomatic dialogue in the coming weeks.