Israel, U.S. Working to Block UN Resolution on 'Black List' of Settlement-linked Firms [View all]
Source: Haaretz
UN Human Rights Council to vote on Palestinian initiative calling on international companies to avoid direct or indirect transactions with businesses linked to the West Bank.
Israel and the United States are making intense diplomatic efforts to block a resolution slated to be voted on Thursday by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that would obligate the organization to draw up a list of all Israeli and international firms operating directly or indirectly in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
The resolution was a Palestinian initiative being advanced with the help of Egypt, Pakistan and other Arab and Muslim countries. The resolution includes a condemnation of the settlements, stating that they are illegal under international law, and calls on the world’s countries to refrain from providing any assistance of any kind to the settlements and to warn companies and businesses against entering into business transactions in the settlements so as not to risk being involved in human rights violations. The resolution also calls on international companies to avoid direct or indirect transactions with the settlements.
But what’s even more worrisome to Jerusalem is Article 17 of the resolution, in which the UNHRC asks the UN high commissioner for human rights “to produce a database of all business enterprises [both Israeli and international – B.R.] involved in the activities in the settlements,” that would be updated once a year.
The activities detailed in the resolution are not just settlement construction but even the supply of construction materials or equipment, the supply of monitoring equipment for the separation barrier, the supply of equipment used in home demolitions, supplying security services or equipment to the settlements or supplying financial or banking services that aid the settlements, including loans and home mortgages
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