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Israeli president slams EU initiative to label products from Jewish settlements

Xinhua, September 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The EU's deliberation on labeling products made in the West Bank settlements will only push the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks away, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Tuesday.

Rivlin, who met with visiting President of the European Council Donald Tusk, discussed the EU deliberations of whether to mark products manufactured in Jewish settlements.

"Peace cannot be imposed," Rivlin said in a statement issued by his office.

"The labeling of Israeli products will only be a further obstacle to peace," the president said, adding that "barriers to trade and cooperation" will not contribute to achieving the desired results of bringing both sides back to the negotiations table.

The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians took place between July 2013 and April 2014, with the mediation of the United States, but ended abruptly without results.

The EU have deliberated for several years on whether to mark products originating from the settlements on lands that Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War. These lands were slated to be part of a future Palestinian state amid the two-state solution.

While proponents say the move would increase pressure on Israel to resume negotiations amid the economic sanction, opponents of the move, including Israeli officials, say it is part of a delegitimization campaign against Israel, which would push peace talks further away.

In April, 16 European countries urged EU officials to advance the labeling of the products in member countries originating from the settlements. The EU's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said on Sunday that the union will finalize its decision on the matter in the near future.

Israel's status deteriorated on the international front in recent years amid the halt of negotiations, the ongoing construction in the settlements orchestrated by nationalist right-wing governments, as well as nationalist legislation moves by the Israeli parliament.

Several countries have already announced their recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that Israel said would motivate Palestinians to make gains outside of the negotiations table.

The international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), calling to boycott Israel, had made significant gains worldwide in recent months. Enditem