The European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Rama.

JNS.org – The new European Union (EU) directive which bars the bloc’s member nations from developing future financial cooperation with Israeli communities beyond the 1967 lines can be reviewed and revised, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is currently visiting Israel, said during a press conference held Sunday at the French Embassy in Tel Aviv.

The EU directive, passed in mid-July, calls on its principal institutions and 28-member nations to limit or suspend their economic, social and academic cooperation with Israeli institutions that operate beyond the pre-1967 lines, which include Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The new funding guidelines, which could cost Israel billions of dollars, go into effect in 2014.

According to Army Radio, while Fabius stressed that France and the EU’s position on the matter has not changed, he said that Brussels “can consider revising the boycott on settlements… and we must see whether [the decision] had any unpredictable implications.”

Earlier in August, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel will not sign any new agreements with the EU while the directive regarding the 1967 borders remains in effect.”