Gaza, Alray - 13 EU foreign ministers said they will back EU efforts to label Israeli produce of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, AFP reported on Friday.

Settlement-manufactured goods will no longer carry "Made in Israel" labels, but be specific about their exact origin.

"This is an important step to ensure correct and coherent application of EU consumer protection and labelling legislation, which is in fulfillment of our previous commitments and is fully consistent with long-standing EU policy in relation to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories," the EU foreign ministers addressed foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on April 12th in a letter.

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

In February, the EU recommended that its 27 member states “prevent” Israeli activity in the West Bank through an economic boycott of Jewish communities there.

The EU's boycott recommendation came to light in the publication of the EU’s Jerusalem Report 2012, in which the European body recommends its members avoid financial transactions with Israeli settlements.

A week after the recommendation, the Dutch government issued a first of its kind directive to retail chains in the country, telling them to mark Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

South Africa last week imposed new rules requiring that goods imported from the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem display special labels.