On Sunday, Israel announced that it would suspend contact with EU diplomats working on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. It threatened to go further on Monday morning: Israeli officials warned that Jerusalem might stop helping the EU's economic projects in the West Bank, making it hard for the EU to serve its Palestinian beneficiaries.
This is retaliation, pure and simple. On November 11, the EU set up guidelines requiring all Israeli products produced in West Bank settlements to be labeled as coming from a settlement rather than from Israel proper. Israel believes this rule will further enable boycotts of Israeli products, which it sees as a threat to both its economic livelihood and — even more important — its legitimacy in the eyes of the international community.
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