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EU foreign ministers will discuss imposing an import ban on products from Israeli settlements, after pressure from a raft of member states for the bloc to take action, diplomats said Friday.
Diplomats said the debate at a meeting in Brussels on Monday was not expected to yield any concrete decisions but would help to sound out if there is enough support to move forward.
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Several EU countries – including Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain – have already imposed their own trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, considered illegal under international law.
Under pressure for the EU as a whole to take measures, the bloc’s executive this week laid out options to curb trade with settlements, including a ban.
There is disagreement in Brussels as to whether that move would need backing from all 27 member states or just a weighted majority.
Diplomats say that key players Germany and Italy are still undecided on the move.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, excluding east Jerusalem, among some three million Palestinians.
The UN chief Antonio Guterres has condemned the “relentless” expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying in a report seen by AFP last month that they are contributing to the territory’s worst displacement crisis since 1967.
The EU has long been hampered by divisions over its approach towards Israel, some members staunchly backing the country and others supporting the Palestinians.
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