Banning trade with illegal settlements is the bare minimum requirement, and the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement should be the next step.
Oxfam Ireland reacts to meeting of EU foreign ministers in Wicklow on Israeli settlement trade
In recent months, Israel gave final approval for an illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank that would effectively cut the territory in two.
Speaking after the informal meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Co. Wicklow on September 1-2, Oxfam Ireland CEO Jim Clarken said:
"Ireland's Occupied Territories Bill shows that governments can take practical steps to ensure they are not supporting illegal Israeli settlements - but in a single European market, national action alone can never be enough.
"The next step is clear. The EU must introduce an EU-wide ban on trade in both goods and services linked to illegal Israeli settlements. Anything less leaves the door open for settlement products and business activity to continue flowing through Europe."
“The EU has already acknowledged that current measures do not stop goods from illegal settlements from entering the European market. Anything short of a ban allows settlement trade to continue through the back door and onto European shelves."
— Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland CEO
“A settlement trade ban should be brought forward as a trade measure under Article 207, where qualified majority voting is the general rule. Requiring unanimity risks handing every government a veto and producing yet another EU deadlock," Jim Clarken added.
“Action must not be deferred for peace talks or Israel’s election results emerge. Neither change the law, or the violent, oppressive conditions Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory face daily under Israel’s illegal occupation. The EU knows its legal obligations; what is missing is the political will to act on them.
"EU ministers who gathered in Wicklow have an opportunity to turn a national precedent into a European policy. Every day, the EU risks another round of debate while illegal and violent settlement expansion continues. The time for implementing it has arrived.
“Banning trade with illegal settlements is the bare minimum requirement, and the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement should be the next step in halting the continued injustices.”
/ ENDS
Kate Brayden - Media Officer, Oxfam Ireland kate.brayden@oxfam.org (m): +353 (0)877497447
“The EU has already acknowledged that current measures do not stop goods from illegal settlements from entering the European market. Anything short of a ban allows settlement trade to continue through the back door and onto European shelves."
