Over 160 NGOs, trade unions urge EU to ban all business with Israeli settlements

More than 160 human rights organizations, trade unions and civil society groups have called on the European Union to ban trade and business with illegal Israeli settlements built in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a letter addressed to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, the groups stated that it is “essential” for the EU and its member states to comply with their obligations under international law, and halt Europe’s support for the illegal colonial settlements and their underlying abuses.

Among the NGOs, trade unions and civil society organizations are ActionAid, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, al-Haq, Caritas Europa, Child Rights International Network (CRIN), Defense for Children International, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Olof Palmes Internationella Center, Oxfam and Pax Christi.

They pointed to last year's International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, stressing that all states have “the obligation ... to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the [OPT] or parts thereof which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory.”

“The EU’s current policy of distinguishing between goods produced in Israel and those produced in settlements falls short of these obligations. While this differentiation denies preferential trade terms for settlement goods, it still allows such goods to enter the EU market,” the letter read.

UN: ‘Alarming’ Israeli settlement expansion flies in face of international law

The UN Human Rights Office says it is alarmed by Israel’s recent and ongoing settlement expansion and legal changes in the occupied West Bank.

The signatories also emphasized that by trading with illegal Israeli settlements, the EU as well as its member states and companies are not only breaching their own legal obligations but also contributing to the serious and systemic human rights and other international law abuses.

“Despite EU consensus about the settlements’ illegality and their link to serious abuses, the EU continues to trade and allow business with them, helping to sustain the serious human rights and international law violations inexorably intertwined with settlements’ maintenance and expansion.”

Highlighting the “urgent need for compliance with international law,” the letter called on the European Commission to immediately introduce legislation to ban trade with and investments in settlements and to issue a reinforced advisory document discouraging European businesses from activities benefiting the Israeli settlements.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The international community views the settlements as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on occupied territories.

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