Joint letter to the EU to ban trade and business with Israel's illegal settlements
CRIN joins over 160 human rights organisations, trade unions and civil society groups calling on the European Union to ban trade and business with Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem.
To: Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
European Commission
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels, Belgium
Brussels, 4 February 2025
Subject: Ban EU Trade and Business with Israel’s Illegal Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Dear President von der Leyen,
We, the undersigned human rights organizations, trade unions and civil society groups, urge the European Commission to take action to ban all trade and business between the EU and Israel's illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem. Such action is essential for the EU and its member states to comply with their obligations under international law.
On July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion[1] affirming that states must not recognize, aid, or assist the unlawful situation arising from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The Court made clear that all states have “the obligation … to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the [OPT] or parts thereof which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory”, and to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT”.
The EU’s current policy of distinguishing between goods produced in Israel and those produced in settlements falls short of these obligations. While this differentiation denies preferential trade terms for settlement goods, it still allows such goods to enter the EU market. This contravenes the obligations under international humanitarian law and as laid out by the ICJ, which require a complete ban on trade and business with Israel’s illegal settlements.
By trading with Israel’s illegal settlements, the EU, its member states and EU companies are not only breaching their own legal obligations but also contributing to the serious and systemic human rights and other international law abuses underpinning the settlement enterprise. The ICJ ruling laid those out in detail, concluding that Israel’s legislation and policies constitute a breach of article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.
The EU member states have repeatedly issued statements unanimously condemning Israel’s settlements as illegal under international law and as a significant obstacle to achieving a two-state solution[2]. Those statements have often noted that the settlement enterprise drives severe abuses, including forced evictions, demolitions of civilian infrastructures (often targeting EU-funded projects), land confiscations, forced transfers, and widespread violence by state-backed settlers and Israeli forces. These abuses have been deemed so serious by EU member states that they overcame their sharp divisions and imposed targeted sanctions on limited number of settlers and settler-affiliated entities.
Yet, despite EU consensus about the settlements’ illegality and their link to serious abuses, the EU continues to trade and allow business with them, helping to sustain the serious human rights and international law violations inexorably intertwined with settlements’ maintenance and expansion.
In light of the urgent need for compliance with international law and to halt EU, member states’ and businesses’ contribution to Israel’s serious abuses, we call on the Commission to immediately take the following actions:
Introduce Legislation to Ban Trade with and Investments in Settlements: Propose legal acts banning all imports and exports of goods and services from and to Israel’s illegal settlements in the OPT as well as investments therein; we note, in that regard, that the Commission has the authority to propose a ban on trade with settlements under the Common Commercial Policy, as it has acknowledged[3]; and
Issue a Strengthened Business Advisory: Pending the adoption of such legislation, publish a reinforced advisory document discouraging European businesses from activities benefitting the Israeli settlements. This should go significantly further than the existing EU advisory document[4] in order to discourage all trade with settlements (as Norway has done[5]) and engagement with Israeli banks and enterprises operating in illegal settlements due to the significant risk of contributing to serious human rights violations and breaches of international law and ensure that the entire value chain falls under the scope of the legislation.
We look forward to a prompt reply, and hope the European Commission will swiftly take the measures necessary to comply with international law and to end complicity in abuses.
Yours sincerely,
Child Rights International Network.
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