The European Union is intensifying its efforts toward labeling Israeli goods produced beyond the pre-1967 lines - in the Golan Heights, and across the so-called Green Line in East Jerusalem and the West Bank - as not having originated in Israel.
The move could be a precursor to a ban on such products, though insiders do not consider this likely in the foreseeable future, The Times of Israel reported Friday.
In a new letter to the foreign ministries of the 27 member states, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called for the full implementation of existing EU legislation according to which products from West Bank settlements and the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem do not receive the same treatment as products from areas the EU recognizes as Israeli territory.
To date, the existing EU legislation - designed to express the union's frustration over Israel's settlement policies and the stalemate in the peace process - has not been implemented. Ashton's letter marks a significant push within the EU to label settlement products as such.
"The EU and its member states have a clear position on settlement activities in the occupied territories. Closely linked to this is the question of products imported into the EU originating beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders and their correct labeling on the EU market," Ashton wrote in text of the letter quoted by Maariv on Friday.
Some EU member states have already introduced voluntary national guidelines on the labeling of such products and others are currently planning to do so, Ashton wrote. "An increasing number of member states" have been calling to formulate and implement EU guidelines "in a coherent manner," she added.
In recent months and weeks, several reports suggested the EU was planning to label and perhaps ban Israeli products that originate beyond the Green Line. This week, consuls general representing the EU in the Palestinian territories recommended that the union curb trade with Israelis located beyond the Green Line and cease financial support for them.
In a new report sent to Brussels and foreign ministries in the 27 member states, the consuls general, who are stationed in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, called on the EU to "prevent, discourage and raise awareness about problematic implications of financial transactions including foreign direct investments, from within the EU in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services," Haaretz reported Wednesday.
The Israeli government's decision to build new settlements came a day after the Palestinians upgraded their UN status to a non-member state.
Israeli media reported that some of the new construction would be in E-1, a highly contentious area of the West Bank that runs between the Easternmost edge of illegally annexed East Jerusalem and the Maaleh Adumim settlement.
The UN vote on the Palestinian bid for "Non-Member Observer State" status passed in December as 138 voted in favor, nine countries against it and 41 countries abstained.
The success of the Palestinian Authority, contrarily, is a diplomatic failure for Israel which has been under severe criticism from the international community over its construction plans in the West Bank settlements.
