Malta is one of 16 EU member states supporting the labelling of products produced in disputed Israeli settlements, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) said in a statement yesterday, welcoming the move.

On 13 April, foreign ministers representing 16 of the 28 European Union member states sent a letter to High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini, requesting that she take "the lead" and complete the "important work on labelling of settlement produce/products".

The letter was signed by foreign ministers from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The PLO Executive Committee said it welcomed the letter and called on the European Commission to move forward with adopting binding policy decisions and concrete measures concerning illegal Israeli settlements and the correct and proper labelling of their goods and products.

"It is irrefutable that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have been established in flagrant breach of international law," the PLO said. "Israeli settlement activity violates article 49, paragraph 6, of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bans an occupying power from transferring its population into the occupied territory.

"The EU has repeatedly articulated that all settlements are illegal under international law. More recently, in a statement published on 5 November 2014 in response to the approval of the construction of 500 new units in the illegal settlement of Ramat Shlomo, High Representative Mogherini called on Israel to "put an end to its settlement policy in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank."

The labelling plans, however, have been sharply criticised by Israel. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed the EU ministers' letter, sarcastically saying in a radio interview that products out of the settlements might just as well be marked with "a yellow star".

Jews in Hitler's German Reich and its occupied areas were forced to wear a yellow star with the German word for 'Jew' written on it. Lieberman, a member of the ultra-nationalist Israel Beiteinu party, also described labelling plans as "hypocritical" and "cynical."