Western Support for Israeli Settlements Is a Shameful Act

Rasa - Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has just approved the construction of another 400 settlement homes on occupied Palestinian lands.

News ID: 438875

Date: 30 July 2018 - 20:10

RNA - The illegal settler units are reportedly to be built in the Adam settlement, southeast of the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Anti-settlement NGO Peace Now says in the first year and a half of President Donald Trump’s time in office, Israel has approved 14,454 settlement homes in the West Bank. This is more than three times as many as were approved in the previous 18 month period.

Needless to say, these illegal settlements are being built in close cooperation with Western governments and companies. To substantiate, the United Nations human rights office says it has identified 206 companies doing business linked to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where violations against Palestinians are pervasive and devastating.

"Businesses play a central role in furthering the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report says, adding that "in doing so, they are contributing to Israel's confiscation of land, facilitate the transfer of its population into the occupied Palestinian territory, and are involved in the exploitation of Palestine's natural resources.

The majority of these companies are domiciled in Israel or the settlements, with the second largest group located in the United States. The remainder are domiciled in 19 other countries, mostly in Europe.

This is a shameful act, which will serve as a stain on the West forever. Western businesses operating in the occupied Palestinian territories have a corporate responsibility to carry out due diligence and consider the fact that it is not possible to engage in such an environment that violates human rights.

Further still, the position of International Law on Israeli settlements is that they are illegal because they violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, specifically Paragraph 6 which states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The time has come for the Western governments and companies to change their position to align with basic values and, equally important, with International Law.

According to Fars News Agancy, some rules of customary International Law are so fundamental they can never be overridden, not by states, nor by courts, nor by institutions. These rules include prohibitions against genocide, racial discrimination and aggression. These fundamental elements of International Law do not permit any country or institution (not even the UN Security Council) to support construction of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands.

While expanding settlements Israel simultaneously contains Palestinian development as well. It unlawfully confiscates property, denies Palestinians the right to register their land and restricts Palestinian growth to limited areas, thereby reserving available land for settlement expansion. In order to ensure Israelis have access to their settlements, Palestinians face restrictions on movement, including 600 physical barriers on West Bank roads, and endure long waits at checkpoints.

It is neither surprising nor new that some settlers resort to violence as well. They are the product of their carefully constructed environment. Their presence in occupied territory is founded on illegality, maintained through the unlawful use of force, and sustained by subjugating the rights of Palestinians. Western policies, rather than ensuring respect for International Law, have only reinforced the belief among settlers that they rightfully possess the West Bank and Gaza.

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