The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has added 61 companies to its database of businesses involved in activities linked to illegal Israeli settlements, expanding the list from 158 to 214. Five companies previously listed were removed after the office determined that their involvement in the relevant activities had ended.
Palestinian and international human rights organizations welcomed the update. They said such lists are not enough unless governments take direct action and the scrutiny is extended to other parts of the Israeli military and economy.
On Sept. 8, 12 countries — Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom — announced that they intend either to introduce national restrictions or to support European restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. Britain went further, banning settlement goods and moving against companies involved in settlement construction.
In a column carried by Consortium News, Ramzy Baroud wrote that France, Britain and Canada were beginning to attach economic consequences to settlement expansion. He argued that sanctions must be enforced, that boycotts must impose an economic cost, and that international law must have consequences. He also called for an independent monitoring group, supported by civil society figures, to track what promised governments implement, which loopholes remain, and whether the measures produce tangible results.
Baroud wrote that Israel continues what he described as a genocidal assault on Gaza while accelerating settlement expansion and annexation measures in the West Bank, and that lists and announcements matter only if they impose a political and economic price. The article, from Z Network, presents his views, which Consortium News said may not reflect its own.