OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES – 2011: The Israeli separation wall surrounding a Jewish settlement. Via Shutterstock

Ban EU Trade and Business with Israel’s Illegal Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

In International Advocacy Program, Parliament & the European Union by CIHRS

To: Ursula Von Der Leyen

President of the European Commission

Subject: Ban EU Trade and Business with Israel’s Illegal Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Dear President von der Leyen,

We, the undersigned human rights organizations, trade unions and civil society groups, urge the European Commission to take action to ban all trade and business between the EU and Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem. Such action is essential for the EU and its member states to comply with their obligations under international law.

On July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion[1] affirming that states must not recognize, aid, or assist the unlawful situation arising from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The Court made clear 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”, and to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT”.

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. This contravenes the obligations under international humanitarian law and as laid out by the ICJ, which require a complete ban on trade and business with Israel’s illegal settlements.

By trading with Israel’s illegal settlements, the EU, its member states and EU companies are not only breaching their own legal obligations but also contributing to the serious and systemic human rights and other international law abuses underpinning the settlement enterprise. The ICJ ruling laid those out in detail, concluding that Israel’s legislation and policies constitute a breach of article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.

The EU member states have repeatedly issued statements unanimously condemning Israel’s settlements as illegal under international law and as a significant obstacle to achieving a two-state solution.[2] Those statements have often noted that the settlement enterprise drives severe abuses, including forced evictions, demolitions of civilian infrastructures (often targeting EU-funded projects), land confiscations, forced transfers, and widespread violence by state-backed settlers and Israeli forces. These abuses have been deemed so serious by EU member states that they overcame their sharp divisions and imposed targeted sanctions on limited number of settlers and settler-affiliated entities.

Yet, 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.

In light of the urgent need for compliance with international law and to halt EU, member states’ and businesses’ contribution to Israel’s serious abuses, we call on the Commission to immediately take the following actions:

  1. Introduce Legislation to Ban Trade with and Investments in Settlements: Propose legal acts banning all imports and exports of goods and services from and to Israel’s illegal settlements in the OPT as well as investments therein; we note, in that regard, that the Commission has the authority to propose a ban on trade with settlements under the Common Commercial Policy, as it has acknowledged[3]; and
  2. Issue a Strengthened Business Advisory: Pending the adoption of such legislation, publish a reinforced advisory document discouraging European businesses from activities benefitting the Israeli settlements. This should go significantly further than the existing EU advisory document[4] in order to discourage all trade with settlements (as Norway has done[5]) and engagement with Israeli banks and enterprises operating in illegal settlements due to the significant risk of contributing to serious human rights violations and breaches of international law and ensure that the entire value chain falls under the scope of the legislation.

We look forward to a prompt reply, and hope the European Commission will swiftly take the measures necessary to comply with international law and to end complicity in abuses.

Yours sincerely,

Signatories:

  1. 11.11.11
  2. A Plataforma Unitária de Solidariedade com a Palestina (PUSP)
  3. Academics for Palestine – Ireland
  4. ACT Alliance EU
  5. Act Church of Sweden
  6. ActionAid Denmark
  7. ActionAid France
  8. ActionAid International
  9. ActionAid Italy
  10. ACV-CSC Belgium
  11. Anti-Zionist Jewish Alliance in Belgium (AJAB)
  12. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
  13. Al-Haq
  14. Al-Haq Europe
  15. Amis de Sabeel France
  16. Amnesty International
  17. Anti-Racist Forum ry
  18. AOI ETS
  19. ARCI
  20. Association Belgo-Palestinienne WB
  21. Association Culture et Paix (ACP)
  22. Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (AURDIP)
  23. Association France Palestine Solidarité
  24. Assopace Palestina
  25. Belgian Academics and Artists for Palestine/Belgian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BA4P/BACBI)
  26. BePax
  27. Broederlijk Delen
  28. Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
  29. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
  30. Campagna Ponti e Non Muri – Pax Christi Italia
  31. Caritas Europa
  32. CCFD-Terre Solidaire
  33. CEDETIM
  34. Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
  35. Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses – Intersindical Nacional (CGTP-IN)
  36. Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
  37. Chrétiens de la Méditerranée
  38. Christian Aid Ireland
  39. CIDSE
  40. CNCD-11.11.11
  41. CNE CSC Belgium
  42. Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe
  43. Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO)
  44. Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT)
  45. Confédération générale du travail (CGT)
  46. Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL)
  47. Conselho Português para a Paz e Cooperação
  48. COSTRUTTORI DI PACE
  49. CRID
  50. CULTURE DE PALESTINE
  51. Danish Muslim Aid
  52. De-Colonizer
  53. Defence for Children International
  54. DIAKONIA (Sweden)
  55. Društvo OV-CA
  56. Dutch Scholars for Palestine
  57. Een Andere Joodse Stem (Another Jewish Voice, Belgium)
  58. EinStaat – Konfliktzonen Kunst & Denkkollektive – OneState Embassy Art collective
  59. Ekō
  60. Entraide et Fraternité
  61. Eurocadres
  62. EuroMed Rights
  63. European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine – ECCP
  64. European Legal Support Center
  65. European Middle East Project (EuMEP)
  66. European Trade Union Network for Justice in Palestine
  67. Fackförbundet ST
  68. Fédération Artisans du Monde
  69. Fem-R ry
  70. FGTB-ABVV
  71. Finnish Development NGOs – Fingo
  72. Finnish Refugee Advice Centre
  73. Finnish Women´s Association Unioni (Naisasialiitto Unioni ry)
  74. Finnwatch ry
  75. FLC CGIL
  76. Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.
  77. France Amérique latine FAL
  78. GLAN | Global Legal Action Network
  79. GREI 250
  80. Helsinki Pride Community
  81. Human Rights Watch
  82. Humanitas – Centre for Global Learning and Cooperation
  83. HuSoMe
  84. INTAL
  85. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
  86. International Media Support
  87. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)
  88. Intersindical Valenciana
  89. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
  90. ISCOD SINDICALISTAS SIN FRONTERAS
  91. Istituto Italiano di Ricerca per la Pace – Corpi Civili di Pace
  92. Jeunes FGTB
  93. Judeus pela Paz e Justiça
  94. Kommunal, Swedish Municipal Worker’s Union
  95. La Cimade
  96. medico international
  97. Mladí zelení, z.s.
  98. Mondiaal FNV
  99. Movimento pelos Direitos do Povo Palestino e pela Paz no Médio Oriente – MPPM
  100. MUNDUBAT
  101. Ne naším jménem! – Za spravedlivý mír na Blízkém východě
  102. Netzwerk Ökumenisches Begleitprogramm in Palästina und Israel in Deutschland e.V
  103. No Name Kitchen
  104. Nuorten mielenterveysseura – Yeesi ry
  105. Olof Palmes Internationella Center
  106. Organizacija za participatorno družbo
  107. Oxfam
  108. OZ Prirodzene
  109. Palestina Solidariteit vzw
  110. Palestina.lt
  111. PAX
  112. Pax Christi Diözesanverband München und Freising
  113. Pax Christi Dt. Sektion e.V.
  114. Pax Christi Flanders
  115. Pax Christi International
  116. Pax Christi Italia
  117. Paz con Dignidad
  118. Peace Institute, Ljubljana
  119. PIC – Legal Center for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment
  120. Plan International
  121. Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine
  122. PROJA Institut
  123. Proti dehumanizaci
  124. Red Universitaria por Palestina (RUxP), ES.
  125. REF- Réseau Euromed France
  126. Réseau Euromed France
  127. RESEAU FEMINISTE “RUPTURES” FRANCE
  128. ResQ – People Saving People
  129. Rete Italiana Pace e Disarmo
  130. Rete Ricerca e Universita’ per la Palestina, Italy
  131. Sadaka-the Ireland Palestine Alliance
  132. Saplinq, o.z.
  133. Seta LGBTQI+ Rights Finland
  134. Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores (SAT)
  135. Sindikat Mladi plus (Trade Union Youth Plus)
  136. Slovene Philanthropy
  137. SOLIDAR
  138. SOUTIEN BELGE OUTRE-FRONTIERES – SB OVERSEAS
  139. Stichting Kifaia
  140. Sumud – the Finnish Palestine Network
  141. Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
  142. The Finnish League for Human Rights
  143. The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
  144. The National Council of Women of Finland
  145. The Rights Forum
  146. Trans ry / Trans Association
  147. UGT
  148. Umanotera
  149. Un Ponte Per (NGO)
  150. Union des Progressistes Juifs de Belgique (UPJB)
  151. Union syndicale Solidaires (France)
  152. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
  153. UnPontePer
  154. Vida Justa
  155. Viva Salud
  156. Vrede vzw (Belgium)
  157. Vredesactie
  158. VSS FF UL (Visokošolski sindikat Slovenije) – sindikalna celica Filozofske fakultete v Ljubljani
  159. Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
  160. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
  161. ZASUK – sindikat za ustvarjalnost in kulturo
  162. Zavod Tri / Three Institute
  163. Zavod za podporo civilnodružbenih iniciativ in multikulturno sodelovanje Pekarna Magdalenske mreže Maribor

[1] ICJ Advisory Opinion, Legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, 19 July 2024, https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf.

[2] Latest, among many: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-geneva/hrc57-item-4-general-debate-human-rights-situations-require-council%E2%80%99s-attention_en?s=62.

[3] Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1484, 8 September 2021, recital 11), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32021D1484&from=EN.

[4] Common messages aimed at raising awareness among EU citizens and businesses regarding involvement in financial and economic activities in the settlements, 30 June 2013, https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/common-messages-aimed-raising-awareness-among-eu-citizens-and-businesses-regarding-involvement_en.

[5] Press release, Do not engage in trade and business cooperation that serves to perpetuate Israel’s occupation of Palestine, 22 October 2024, https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/do-not-engage-in-trade-and-business-cooperation-that-serves-to-perpetuate-israels-occupation-of-palestine/id3061358/.

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