The chief legal officer of the European Union’s foreign service advised the department’s top official that a new opinion by judges in The Hague does not require EU states to ban goods imported from Israeli settlements, according to a leaked analysis.
Legal experts said that the analysis contradicts the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, ruling that states should end all support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In a seven-page memo, Frank Hoffmeister, the director of the EU foreign service’s legal department, argued that while European law required the labeling of settlement products, a ban on their import and sale was still up for debate.
“EU law requires labelling indicating that foodstuffs originate in the West Bank and settlements,” Hoffmeister’s analysis says. “It is a matter of further political appreciation whether to revisit the EU’s policy vis-à-vis the import of goods from the settlements.” …..more
