Over 160 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions, and civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have called on the European Union to ban trade and business with Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem.
In a letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the groups urged action to comply with international law and to halt Europe’s support for the illegal settlement enterprise and its underlying abuses.
The call comes as international attention shifts to “day after” scenarios amid a fragile Gaza ceasefire and continued suffering of Palestinians there, while in the West Bank Israeli authorities expand their illegal settlements and intensify their repression of Palestinians.
EU member states have repeatedly and unanimously condemned Israel’s settlements in the West Bank as “illegal” and as an “obstacle to peace”. By adopting two rounds of targeted sanctions against Israeli settlers, EU member states have also unanimously acknowledged the seriousness of the abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The illegality of the settlements and the very serious nature of the abuses against Palestinians, including racial segregation and apartheid, have been authoritatively confirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In a July 2024 landmark ruling, the court said that Israel’s occupation is illegal, that settlements should be dismantled, and that states have the obligation not to recognize or assist the unlawful situation arising from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The court explicitly stated that states have an obligation to prevent and abstain from trade or investment relations “that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT”.
In the letter to von der Leyen, NGOs and trade unions highlight how the current EU policies are in breach of those obligations. While settlements’ goods are excluded from the preferential tariffs granted by the EU-Israel Association Agreement, they are not excluded from entering the EU market.
Amid sharp divisions, the EU has been unable to adopt measures that respond to Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide in Gaza. But the bloc should at least be coherent with its own statements, and live up to its obligations under international law, by banning trade and business with settlements, which are inexorably linked to egregious rights abuses.