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Israel PM slams Abbas for urging int'l ban on settlement products

Xinhua, June 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday lashed out at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over his remarks urging the international community to boycott products made in the Israeli settlements.

"Yesterday, Palestinian President (Mahmoud) Abbas called for the marking and banning of Israeli products," Netanyahu said at the beginning of his meeting with visiting Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna in Jerusalem, according to a statement from his office.

"This is not the language of peace in any way. We will continue to object to bans, slander and de-legitimization," Netanyahu said. "While our hand is reached out for peace we would work to stop the slandering of Israel."

Abbas spoke on Sunday at the 25th African Union assembly in Johannesburg, where he called on international leaders to demand the labeling of products produced in the Jewish settlements on lands Israel occupied and annexed amid the 1967 Mideast War.

The international community deems the Jewish settlements Israel established on those territories as illegal, and they are situated on lands set to be part a future Palestinian state.

The European Union earlier announced its decision to mark products originating from the settlements (in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights), with a directive set to come into effect in the upcoming months.

The move would join recent momentum garnered by the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), which has operated since 2005 attempting to create international economic and political leverage on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian lands and withdraw from the West Bank territories.

Stephen Richard, CEO of Orange, an international cellular provider, recently said he would end his business in Israel "tomorrow" if it weren't for the high fines. He has since backtracked from that statement.

Since the last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority broke down in April 2014, the Palestinians have tried to increase their influence on the international arena and raise support for unilateral moves after despairing from the negotiations.

Their efforts have garnered support from European states, with several of them publicly acknowledging their support of a Palestinian state.

In September, the United Nations General Assembly is set to discuss a French proposal calling for ending the occupation within two years and establishing a Palestinian state.

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, attacked recent efforts and statements over boycotting Israel, describing them a new kind of anti-Semitism and accusing the international community of being biased against Israel.

Israeli left-wing politicians, on the other hand, criticized Netanyahu and other officials for slamming the international community without acknowledging the need to end Israel's 48-year occupation of the Palestinian territories. Endit