A potential trade ban on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is shaping up as the next test of EU unity on Israel.
On Wednesday, the European Commission circulated an options paper setting out a full or partial trade ban on Israeli settlements, to be discussed at Monday's meeting of foreign affairs ministers.
The ban is only one of the options on the table, alongside requiring an export licence for goods from the settlements and imposing higher tariffs to make them prohibitively expensive.
Twenty member states urged the Commission to spell out the available options for trade restrictions on the settlements — illegal under international law — at a ministerial meeting last month, a request reinforced in the conclusions of the last European Council summit.
While EU capitals are still analysing the options now formally on the table, several member states have welcomed the fact that the file is finally moving, even as they expect divisions to surface in the coming discussions.
