Reports emerged this week that the Trump administration was working with the Israeli government to obstruct the publication of a United Nations “blacklist” of companies working in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In response, PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi released a statement on Wednesday, calling US and Israeli efforts at the UN “morally repugnant.”
The attempt “exposes the complicity of Israeli and international businesses in Israel’s military occupation and the colonization of Palestinian land,” Ashrawi said. “This is a clear indication of Israel’s persistent impunity and sense of entitlement and privilege.”
PLO official says efforts to obstruct UN publication on settlements ‘morally repugnant’ – #Palestine #USAhttps://t.co/F3Y8QNnY5V
— Marsad – Palestine (@MarsadPalestine) August 23, 2017
According to The Washington Post, some of the American companies included on the list are Caterpillar, TripAdvisor, Priceline.com, Airbnb, among others.
The Washington Post also reported that Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, had said that the UN planned to publish the list by the end of this year.
Ashrawi highlighted in her statement that Israel’s settlement activities constituted a war crime and were in direct violation of international law and several UN resolutions.
“Any company that chooses to do business in the illegal settlements becomes complicit in the crime and therefore liable to judicial accountability,” she said, adding that it was the right of individuals, companies, and firms to be “informed and ethical consumers or investors – especially when a grave injustice of this proportion is at stake.”
“Suppressing the truth perpetuates Israeli impunity and gives Israel clear license to pursue its persistent policies of land theft and creeping annexation of Palestine,” Ashrawi added.
The Washington Post reported that both Israel and the United States had unsuccessfully attempted to block funding for the database, while Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon called the UN’s publication of the list “an expression of modern antisemitism.”
(Maan, PC, Social Media)
