Caabu Press Release: Condemning Israeli settlement expansion is simply no longer enough

Caabu Press Release: Condemning Israeli settlement expansion is simply no longer enough

Thursday 17 April 2014

Whilst Caabu welcomes today’s condemnation of further Israeli settlement moves by the British Foreign Secretary, it raises serious questions about the British approach.  Israeli settlement expansion has been routinely and repeatedly condemned at all levels including by the British Prime Minister and his predecessors, and routinely and repeatedly ignored by Israel. Despite being clearly illegal in international law, a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute, Israel has only accelerated its illegal settlement expansion, stealing Palestinian land and resources and making the prospect of a viable, sovereign, independent Palestinian state almost impossible.

Commenting on this, Caabu Director, Chris Doyle stated: “When states continually violate international law, they cannot expect to be treated as normal members of the international community. Israeli ministers shrug off the expected criticism from EU states. It is now time for Britain to lead the way in showing that there are tangible, tough consequences for Israel’s settlement expansion.”

There are numerous options that the UK together with EU partners could take against settlement building. Many of these were outlined in a ground breaking report authored by a coalition of 22 European NGOs including Caabu entitled “Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps sustain illegal Israeli settlements.” These options range from correct consumer labelling of all settlement goods entering the EU to a complete ban on all settlement imports.

Ends…

Notes to editors:

1)    For more information or interviews contact Chris Doyle, on + 44207 832 1321 or +447968 040281.

2)    Trading Away Peace can be read here: http://www.caabu.org/news/news/new-report-eu-imports-15-times-more-illegal-israeli-settlements-palestinians