European Union defends labeling goods made in Israeli settlements

It also comes at a time of high tension between Israel and Palestinians, with the attacks by Palestinians on Israelis in part fuelled by the occupation and the growth of settlements.

Family members are reported to have said he carried out the attack to avenge the death of a relative, killed by Israeli troops a few months ago.

The Prime Minister’s Office rejected the ambassador’s accusations, adding “the ambassador’s statements, on the day when a mother of six who was murdered is buried, and on a day when a pregnant woman is stabbed – are unacceptable and wrong”.

“We strongly oppose any steps that could accelerate settlement expansion and we believe they’re fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution and call into question frankly the Israeli government’s commitment to a two-state solution”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

Despite the tough language, much of the text was similar to previous European Union resolutions on the subject and was apparently a toned-down version of previous draft resolutions, which had called for a “distinction” to be made between Israel and territory located beyond the 1967 lines.

Israeli media said on Wednesday Tel Aviv was preparing to announce the appropriation of some 370 acres of land north of the West Bank settlement of Almog, near the Palestinian city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley.

We join Peace Now in its criticism of the Israeli government’s reaction to the EU’s statement. “They have no other choice but to work there”, Elayyan said.

The ambassador welcomed the indictment in early January of two Israelis over a firebombing in the occupied West Bank previous year that killed a Palestinian couple and their toddler.

The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said Shapiro’s comments were grounded in data they have been collecting that showed an 85 percent failure rate in investigating ideologically-motivated crimes by Israelis against Palestinians.

Meir’s death brought the toll in the recent violence to 24 Israelis and 155 Palestinians killed since October 1.

He said that the creation of two states would “become more and more hard if Israel plans to continue to expand the footprint of settlements”.

Visiting Meir’s widowed husband and orphaned children, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to destroy the attacker’s home and revoke the working permits of others.

HRW in particular cited Israeli banks funding the construction of settlements and global real estate agencies selling the properties.