Europe sustaining illegal IsraHell settlements
EU imports 15 times more from illegal Israeli settlements than from Palestinians, new report revealsBroad coalition calls on Europe to move decisively beyond rhetoric on settlements The European Union imports 15 times more from Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories than from Palestinians themselves, a new report1 from a coalition of 22 non-governmental organizations, including Christian Aid UK and Ireland, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Diakonia revealed on 30 October.The report, entitled Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps sustain illegal Israeli settlements, is the first to compare available export data from Israeli settlements and Palestinians, highlighting the inconsistency at the heart of EU policy.The EU states: “Settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace, and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible”, but continues to provide a primary export market for settlement products. Most EU member states have failed to ensure products are correctly labelled in stores, leaving consumers unaware of the products’ true origin, contrary to the EU’s own directives.The Israeli government estimates the value of EU imports from settlements at around 230 million euros a year, compared to 15m euros a year from Palestinians.“Europe says settlements are illegal under international law and yet continues to trade with them. Consumers are unwittingly contributing to the injustice by buying products that are inaccurately labelled as coming from Israel when in fact they are from settlements in the West Bank,” said William Bell, Policy and Advocacy Officer at Christian Aid UK and Ireland.The report, which has a foreword by the former the EU commissioner for external relations, Hans van den Broek, calls on European governments to adopt a range of concrete measures to stop assisting settlement expansion and close the gap between words and practice. At a minimum, the coalition is calling for clear labelling guidelines to ensure European consumers do not unknowingly buy settlement goods.2 Such guidelines already exist in the UK and Denmark.

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