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Europe
Report: EU to Delay Labeling West Bank Settler Goods
2013-05-20
Smart move, guys.
[Naharnet] The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
 has postponed plans to introduce separate labeling for products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday.

Citing European diplomats and Israeli officials it did not identify, the paper reported that the plan, which had been due to be approved by EU foreign ministers later this week, will now not be put to ministers until the end of June.

Haaretz said that U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
, who is trying to revive Israeli-Paleostinian peace talks, intervened with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton at Israel's request.

"Kerry and other senior U.S. officials asked Ashton and her staff, as well as several major EU states, to put off full enforcement," Haaretz wrote.

"According to two European diplomats, the Americans said enforcing the decision at this time would harm Kerry's efforts to revive negotiations between Israel and the Paleostinians."
More importantly, Europe is desperate for a gas source that isn't Russia, and Israel just starting pumping from what may be the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world. So the wisdom of not openly dissing Israel is becoming apparent to even the stupidheads in Europe.
Kerry is due back in the region on Thursday on his fourth visit since taking office in February.

EU foreign ministers, including Britannia's William Hague and Laurent Fabius of La Belle France, said they would back the labeling initiative, in a letter obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse last month.

Signatories also included the chief diplomats of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.

Britannia and Denmark have been at the forefront of calls for clear and unambiguous labeling of settlement products.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law.
No, they aren't. But y'all keep up the big lie, 'k?
Goods produced in them are not eligible for the same preferential tariffs enjoyed by Israeli exports to the EU.

According to 2012 World Bank figures, the EU imports 230 million euros ($300 million) of goods a year from Israeli settlements -- or 15 times more than from Paleostinians themselves.
Posted by:trailing wife

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