French move to label settlement goods leaves Israel livid

Paris has announced new guidelines for labeling goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
France published guidelines on enforcing European Union regulations on labeling goods from the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, which the international community considers occupied Palestinian land, as well as the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.
The French move left Israel fuming. It accused Paris of aiding a boycott of Israel. 
It was believed to be the first time that guidelines were issued by an individual member state since the European Union backed labelling of products from Israeli settlements a year ago, a move which sparked a diplomatic crisis with Israel.
“Under international law the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, are not part of Israel,” said an advisory published on a French government website.
Labelling goods simply as from the West Bank or Golan Heights without more details is “not acceptable,” it said.
Goods must be stipulated as coming from an “Israeli settlement” when that is the case, to avoid “the risk of misleading the consumer,” it added.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it “regrets that France, which actually has a law against boycotts, is advancing measures that can be interpreted as encouraging radical elements and the movement to boycott Israel.”
It accused France of a “double standard” by focusing on Israel and “ignoring the other 200 territorial disputes around the world.”
In November 2015, the European Union’s executive body sparked a major diplomatic row with Israel by adopting a motion that effectively declared that products from settlements would have to be labelled as such across the bloc.
Paris has been seeking to organize an international peace conference before the end of the year in a bid to kickstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stalled since early 2014.
Israel has refused to take part, saying any peace settlement should be negotiated bilaterally between the two sides.
In another development, a security guard shot dead a knife-wielding Palestinian at a Jerusalem crossing.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says during a routine check of bus passengers in the Shuafat neighborhood Friday, one pulled a knife from under his shirt and tried to stab the official.

Source: Arab News