According to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday, the ministers would discuss boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against products linked to illegal settlements, AFP reported.

The decision came as a group of top Israeli businesspeople reacted to the growing international boycott movement by launching a publicity campaign. They want Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make peace with the Palestinians for the sake of economy.

In the latest development, on Thursday, Norway's sovereign wealth fund blacklisted two Israeli firms involved in the construction of illegal settlements in East al-Quds.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied lands of Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.

Israel, however, defies the international demand to stop the illegal construction of new settlements in West Bank and East al-Quds.

Over a dozen former high-ranking EU officials and politicians, including former EU foreign relations chief Javier Solana, urged the Union not to give in to Israeli and US requests to modify the new bans on funding projects in settlements built on Palestinian territories.

NTJ/MB