CIDSE joins 163 human rights organisations, trade unions, and civil society groups urging the European Commission to ban all trade and business between the EU and Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
This call follows the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) July 2024 advisory opinion, which reaffirmed states’ obligations to refrain from economic or trade dealings that support Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT.
The EU’s current policy, which differentiates between Israeli and settlement-produced goods, falls short of these obligations, as it still allows settlement goods to enter the EU market. By continuing trade, the EU and its member states contribute to severe human rights violations and breaches of international law, as recognised by the ICJ.
Despite the EU’s repeated condemnation of settlements, business with settlements persists, thus enabling the maintenance of an illegal occupation that translates on the ground into forced evictions, demolitions, land confiscations, and settler violence.
The letter calls on the Commission to:
- Introduce legislation to ban all trade, services, and investments related to illegal Israeli settlements in the OPT.
- Issue a stronger business advisory discouraging European businesses from engaging with settlements, extending to Israeli banks and enterprises operating there.
The signatories urge the Commission to act swiftly to uphold international law and end the EU’s complicity in violations of IHL.
CIDSE Contact: Dorien Vanden Boer, Israel & occupied Palestinian Territory Policy Officer, vandenboer(at)cidse.org
Cover photo: Maale Adumim illegal settlement, West Bank Jerusalem, Palestine. Credit: Michael Dehaspe