{"id":105888,"date":"2018-02-05T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=105888"},"modified":"2018-02-05T12:15:25","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T12:15:25","slug":"un-reviews-206-firms-over-their-links-to-israeli-settlements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/02\/un-reviews-206-firms-over-their-links-to-israeli-settlements\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Reviews 206 Firms over Their Links to Israeli Settlements"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Feb 2018<\/em> \u2014 The U.N. human rights office said Wednesday [31 Jan] that 206 companies \u2014 mostly Israeli and American \u2014 are facing a review of their business practices involving Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.<\/p>\n

In a long-awaited report, the office said more resources were needed to handle the complex and unprecedented task of compiling what some critics call an unfair \u201cblacklist\u201d and a sign of anti-Israel bias at the U.N.<\/p>\n

Proponents insist that companies must be held accountable for their activities in the settlements, arguing that those actions can contribute to injustices against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

The governments of both Israel and the United States criticized the U.N. effort.<\/p>\n

The 16-page report, which does not cite companies by name, said the rights office still has work to do.<\/p>\n

The office said it had contacted 64 companies, but it would not identify any until all 206 companies had been contacted \u2014 and possibly not at all. Of those companies, 143 are based in Israel or the settlements and 22 in the United States. Of the 19 other countries linked to such companies, Germany is home to seven and the Netherlands to five.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the rights office\u2019s review could lead to a public naming and shaming of companies for their activities linked to the settlements and give an U.N. imprimatur to efforts championed by the \u201cBDS\u201d movement (boycott, divest and sanction), which has been primarily a grassroots campaign to pressure Israel through action against companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe violations of human rights associated with the settlements are pervasive and devastating, reaching every facet of Palestinian life,\u201d the report said, citing restrictions on movement, freedom of religion, education and land ownership faced by Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. \u201cBusinesses play a central role in furthering the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBusiness enterprises may need to consider whether it is possible to engage in such an environment in a manner that respects human rights,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Some 115 other companies were eliminated after an initial review.<\/p>\n

Israel and the United States have been sharply critical of a resolution passed by the 47-member Human Rights Council in March 2016 that paved the way for the review \u2014 the first of its kind. The resolution called on the rights office to create \u201cdatabase\u201d of companies found to engage in any of 10 activities, either explicitly linked to the settlements or supportive of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge all sides to avoid misrepresenting the contents of this report, which has been produced in good faith on the basis of the mandate laid down by the Human Rights Council,\u201d said Zeid Ra\u2019ad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. He said he hopes the database \u201cwill assist states and businesses in complying with their obligations and responsibilities under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israeli officials vowed to fight what they called a \u201cblacklist,\u201d with Israel\u2019s ambassador saying the whole review process pointed to the council\u2019s \u201cmoral bankruptcy\u201d and alleged slant against the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe view the report, and the initiative as a whole, as fundamentally illegitimate,\u201d said Aviva Raz Shechter, the Israeli ambassador in Geneva. \u201cIt is, in our view, outside the competence and the authority of the Human Rights Council … This is kind of another instrument to pursue a discriminatory and politically motivated agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Washington, the State Department lashed out at \u201csuch biased and politicized actions taken against Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not provided, and will not provide, any information or support to the Office of the High Commissioner in this process,\u201d the U.S. statement said. \u201cWe strongly urge other countries to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said an Israeli and U.S. pressure campaign to block publication of the company names violates international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call upon the secretary-general of the U.N. to publish the names of the companies that are doing business with the settlements,\u201d he said. \u201cSettlements are illegal according to international law and thus companies doing business with it should be known because what they are doing is illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocacy group Human Rights Watch urged more resources for the rights office to continue its work.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s report shows progress in identifying and communicating with companies that contribute to serious abuses in Israeli settlements in the West Bank,\u201d said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n

Eugene Kontorovich, head of International Law at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative think-tank in Jerusalem, said no international law was being violated by countries who do business in occupied lands, including in the settlements, and said Israel was being singled out unfairly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.N. Human Rights Council is supposed to be about human rights, not Israeli wrongs, so to create a report just about Israel seems to go against its own mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 apnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the<\/em><\/strong> BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em><\/strong>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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