Fri 13-September-2024

Israel US try to head off UN blacklist over settlements

Monday 27-November-2017

Israel and the US administration are working feverishly to prevent the upcoming publication of a UN database of companies that operate in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories fearing such blacklist could have devastating consequences.

In March 2016 the UN Human Rights Council ordered the compilation of this database delegating its high commissioner Zeid al-Hussein to “investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on Palestinians.”

Israeli officials say that about 100 local companies that operate in the West Bank and east Jerusalem have received warning letters that they will be on the list.

Some 50 international companies mostly American and European have also been warned.

The companies have not yet been publicly identified but an Israeli official revealed on condition of anonymity that the blacklist would include Israeli banks restaurant chains bus lines security firms supermarkets as well as overseas companies that work in settlements or provide equipment or services to build them.

“We will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day” Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon told the Associated Press.

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