20 feb 2020
by Jonathan Cook
After lengthy delays, the United Nations finally published a database last week of businesses that have been profiting from Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the West Bank.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, announced that 112 major companies had been identified as operating in Israeli settlements in ways that violate human rights.
Aside from major Israeli banks, transport services, cafes, supermarkets, and energy, building and telecoms firms, prominent international businesses include Airbnb, booking.com, Motorola, Trip Advisor, JCB, Expedia and General Mills.
Human Rights Watch, a global watchdog, noted in response to the list’s publication that the settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention. It argued that the firms’ activities mean they have aided “in the commission of war crimes”.
The companies’ presence in the settlements has helped to blur the distinction between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. That in turn has normalized the erosion of international law and subverted a long-held international consensus on establishing a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Work on compiling the database began four years ago. But both Israel and the United States put strong pressure on the UN in the hope of preventing the list from ever seeing the light of day.
The UN body’s belated assertiveness looks suspiciously like a rebuke to the Trump administration for releasing this month its Middle East “peace” plan. It green-lights Israel’s annexation of the settlements and the most fertile and water-rich areas of the West Bank.
In response to the database, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to intensify his country’s interference in US politics. He noted that his officials had already “promoted laws in most US states, which determine that strong action is to be taken against whoever tries to boycott Israel.”
He was backed by all Israel’s main Jewish parties. Amir Peretz, leader of the center-left Labor party, vowed to “work in every forum to repeal this decision”.
And Yair Lapid, a leader of Blue and White, the main rival to Netanyahu, called Bachelet the “commissioner for terrorists’ rights”.
Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, accused the UN of “unrelenting anti-Israel bias” and of aiding the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
In fact, the UN is not taking any meaningful action against the 112 companies, nor is it encouraging others to do so. The list is intended as a shaming tool – highlighting that these firms have condoned, through their commercial activities, Israel’s land and resource theft from Palestinians.
The UN has even taken an extremely narrow view of what constitutes involvement with the settlements. For example, it excluded organizations like FIFA, the international football association, whose Israeli subsidiary includes six settlement teams.
This week it also emerged that Amazon was aiding the settlements, though it is not named on the list. The online retail giant delivers for free to addresses in West Bank settlements, while imposing large shipping charges on Palestinians living nearby.
One of the identified companies, Airbnb, announced in late 2018 that it would remove from its accommodation bookings website all settlement properties – presumably to avoid being publicly embarrassed.
But a short time later Airbnb backed down. It is hard to imagine the decision was taken on strictly commercial grounds: the firm has only 200 settlement properties on its site.
A more realistic conclusion is that Airbnb feared the backlash from Washington and was intimated by a barrage of accusations from pro-Israel groups that its new policy was anti-Semitic.
In fact, the UN’s timing could not be more tragic. The list looks more like the last gasp of those who – through their negligence over nearly three decades – have enabled the two-state solution to wither to nothing.
Trump’s so-called peace plan could afford to be so one-sided only because western powers had already allowed Israel to void any hope of Palestinian statehood through decades of unremitting settlement expansion. Today, nearly 700,000 Israeli Jews are housed on occupied Palestinian territory.
On Monday European Union foreign ministers met to respond to the plan, but predictably they agreed to postpone a decision until after Israel’s election on March 2. Tepid opposition is probably the best that can ultimately be expected.
The actions of several European states continue to speak much louder than any words.
Last Friday, Germany followed the Czech Republic in filing a petition to the International Criminal Court at The Hague siding with Israel as the court deliberates whether to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes, including over the establishment of settlements.
Germany does not appear to deny that the settlements are war crimes. Instead, it hopes to block the case on dubious technical grounds: that despite Palestine signing up to the Rome Statute, which established the Hague court, it is not yet a fully fledged state.
So far Austria, Hungary, Australia and Brazil appear to be following suit.
But if Palestine lacks the proper attributes of statehood, it is because the US and Europe, including Germany, have consistently broken promises to the Palestinians.
They not only refused to intervene to save the two-state solution, but rewarded Israel with trade deals and diplomatic and financial incentives, even as Israel eroded the institutional and territorial integrity necessary for Palestinian self-rule.
Germany’s stance, like that of the rest of Europe, is hypocritical. They have claimed opposition to Israel’s endless settlement expansion, and now to Trump’s plan, but their actions have paved the way to the annexation of the West Bank the plan condones.
Back in November the European Court of Justice finally ruled that products made in West Bank settlements – using illegally seized Palestinian resources on illegally seized Palestinian land – should not be labeled deceptively as “Made in Israel”.
And yet European countries are still postponing implementation of the decision. Instead, some of them are legislating against their citizens’ right to express support for a settlement boycott.
Similarly, Europe and North America continue to afford the Jewish National Fund, an entity that finances settlement-building, “charitable status”, giving it tax breaks as it raises funds inside their jurisdictions.
The Israeli media is full of stories of how the JNF actively assists extremist settler groups in evicting Palestinians from homes in East Jerusalem. But Britain and other states are blocking legal efforts to challenge the JNF’s special status.
Soon, it seems, Europe will no longer have to worry about its hypocrisy being so visible. Once the settlements have been annexed, as the Trump administration intends, the EU can set aside its ineffectual agonizing and treat the settlements as irrevocably Israeli – just as it has done in practice with the Israeli “neighborhoods” of occupied East Jerusalem.
Then, the UN’s list of shame can join decades’ worth of condemnatory resolutions that have been quietly gathering dust.
A version of this article first appeared in The National, Abu Dhabi.
Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilizations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jonathan-cook.net.
After lengthy delays, the United Nations finally published a database last week of businesses that have been profiting from Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the West Bank.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, announced that 112 major companies had been identified as operating in Israeli settlements in ways that violate human rights.
Aside from major Israeli banks, transport services, cafes, supermarkets, and energy, building and telecoms firms, prominent international businesses include Airbnb, booking.com, Motorola, Trip Advisor, JCB, Expedia and General Mills.
Human Rights Watch, a global watchdog, noted in response to the list’s publication that the settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention. It argued that the firms’ activities mean they have aided “in the commission of war crimes”.
The companies’ presence in the settlements has helped to blur the distinction between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. That in turn has normalized the erosion of international law and subverted a long-held international consensus on establishing a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Work on compiling the database began four years ago. But both Israel and the United States put strong pressure on the UN in the hope of preventing the list from ever seeing the light of day.
The UN body’s belated assertiveness looks suspiciously like a rebuke to the Trump administration for releasing this month its Middle East “peace” plan. It green-lights Israel’s annexation of the settlements and the most fertile and water-rich areas of the West Bank.
In response to the database, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to intensify his country’s interference in US politics. He noted that his officials had already “promoted laws in most US states, which determine that strong action is to be taken against whoever tries to boycott Israel.”
He was backed by all Israel’s main Jewish parties. Amir Peretz, leader of the center-left Labor party, vowed to “work in every forum to repeal this decision”.
And Yair Lapid, a leader of Blue and White, the main rival to Netanyahu, called Bachelet the “commissioner for terrorists’ rights”.
Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, accused the UN of “unrelenting anti-Israel bias” and of aiding the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
In fact, the UN is not taking any meaningful action against the 112 companies, nor is it encouraging others to do so. The list is intended as a shaming tool – highlighting that these firms have condoned, through their commercial activities, Israel’s land and resource theft from Palestinians.
The UN has even taken an extremely narrow view of what constitutes involvement with the settlements. For example, it excluded organizations like FIFA, the international football association, whose Israeli subsidiary includes six settlement teams.
This week it also emerged that Amazon was aiding the settlements, though it is not named on the list. The online retail giant delivers for free to addresses in West Bank settlements, while imposing large shipping charges on Palestinians living nearby.
One of the identified companies, Airbnb, announced in late 2018 that it would remove from its accommodation bookings website all settlement properties – presumably to avoid being publicly embarrassed.
But a short time later Airbnb backed down. It is hard to imagine the decision was taken on strictly commercial grounds: the firm has only 200 settlement properties on its site.
A more realistic conclusion is that Airbnb feared the backlash from Washington and was intimated by a barrage of accusations from pro-Israel groups that its new policy was anti-Semitic.
In fact, the UN’s timing could not be more tragic. The list looks more like the last gasp of those who – through their negligence over nearly three decades – have enabled the two-state solution to wither to nothing.
Trump’s so-called peace plan could afford to be so one-sided only because western powers had already allowed Israel to void any hope of Palestinian statehood through decades of unremitting settlement expansion. Today, nearly 700,000 Israeli Jews are housed on occupied Palestinian territory.
On Monday European Union foreign ministers met to respond to the plan, but predictably they agreed to postpone a decision until after Israel’s election on March 2. Tepid opposition is probably the best that can ultimately be expected.
The actions of several European states continue to speak much louder than any words.
Last Friday, Germany followed the Czech Republic in filing a petition to the International Criminal Court at The Hague siding with Israel as the court deliberates whether to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes, including over the establishment of settlements.
Germany does not appear to deny that the settlements are war crimes. Instead, it hopes to block the case on dubious technical grounds: that despite Palestine signing up to the Rome Statute, which established the Hague court, it is not yet a fully fledged state.
So far Austria, Hungary, Australia and Brazil appear to be following suit.
But if Palestine lacks the proper attributes of statehood, it is because the US and Europe, including Germany, have consistently broken promises to the Palestinians.
They not only refused to intervene to save the two-state solution, but rewarded Israel with trade deals and diplomatic and financial incentives, even as Israel eroded the institutional and territorial integrity necessary for Palestinian self-rule.
Germany’s stance, like that of the rest of Europe, is hypocritical. They have claimed opposition to Israel’s endless settlement expansion, and now to Trump’s plan, but their actions have paved the way to the annexation of the West Bank the plan condones.
Back in November the European Court of Justice finally ruled that products made in West Bank settlements – using illegally seized Palestinian resources on illegally seized Palestinian land – should not be labeled deceptively as “Made in Israel”.
And yet European countries are still postponing implementation of the decision. Instead, some of them are legislating against their citizens’ right to express support for a settlement boycott.
Similarly, Europe and North America continue to afford the Jewish National Fund, an entity that finances settlement-building, “charitable status”, giving it tax breaks as it raises funds inside their jurisdictions.
The Israeli media is full of stories of how the JNF actively assists extremist settler groups in evicting Palestinians from homes in East Jerusalem. But Britain and other states are blocking legal efforts to challenge the JNF’s special status.
Soon, it seems, Europe will no longer have to worry about its hypocrisy being so visible. Once the settlements have been annexed, as the Trump administration intends, the EU can set aside its ineffectual agonizing and treat the settlements as irrevocably Israeli – just as it has done in practice with the Israeli “neighborhoods” of occupied East Jerusalem.
Then, the UN’s list of shame can join decades’ worth of condemnatory resolutions that have been quietly gathering dust.
A version of this article first appeared in The National, Abu Dhabi.
Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilizations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jonathan-cook.net.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Wednesday tried to prevent a Palestinian patrol crew working for the agricultural authority in Qalqilya from searching and confiscating a truck carrying Israeli products on its way to Palestinian markets.
Spokesman for the Qalqilya agricultural authority Osamah Abu Hamdah told WAFA news agency that one of its inspection patrols chased the cargo truck and intercepted it near the junction of Kifl Haris town in northern Salfit.
But when the driver suddenly escaped and the patrol crew embarked on duly taking the legal measures, a number of Israeli soldiers and settlers showed up and prevented them from finishing their work and detained them for about six hours, claiming that the goods were "Israeli" and “no measure should be taken against them.” video
Later, the inspection patrol was able to impound the truck with its shipment and take it to Salfit city to take further measures according to the Palestinian law.
The Palestinian government decided in early February to stop the flow of Israeli agricultural products and beverages into Palestinian markets in response to Israeli war minister Naftali Bennett’s decision to ban Palestinian agricultural products from entering Israeli markets.
Spokesman for the Qalqilya agricultural authority Osamah Abu Hamdah told WAFA news agency that one of its inspection patrols chased the cargo truck and intercepted it near the junction of Kifl Haris town in northern Salfit.
But when the driver suddenly escaped and the patrol crew embarked on duly taking the legal measures, a number of Israeli soldiers and settlers showed up and prevented them from finishing their work and detained them for about six hours, claiming that the goods were "Israeli" and “no measure should be taken against them.” video
Later, the inspection patrol was able to impound the truck with its shipment and take it to Salfit city to take further measures according to the Palestinian law.
The Palestinian government decided in early February to stop the flow of Israeli agricultural products and beverages into Palestinian markets in response to Israeli war minister Naftali Bennett’s decision to ban Palestinian agricultural products from entering Israeli markets.
18 feb 2020
On 12 February 2020, after three years of delay and consistent pressure by Palestinian, regional and international organizations, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report on business enterprises involved in certain activities related to unlawful Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
This came in response to a specific request by the United Nations Human Rights Council, contained in resolution 36/13, which mandated OHCHR to produce a database of business enterprises involved in such activities.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) commends OHCHR’s efforts in producing this report and for its independence and impartiality in fulfilling its mandate.
The report listed 112 companies, the majority (94) of whom are domiciled in Israel while the rest (18) are headquartered in six other countries. These companies are specialized in wide range of sectors including, security, construction, food, banks, retail, and transport.
All companies in included in the list have been identified as engaging in a listed activity, as a parent company owning a majority share of a subsidiary engaged in a listed activity, or as a company that has granted a relevant franchise or license to a company engaged in a listed activity in the OPT.
This report marks a significant step towards holding settlement businesses accountable for their role in violating Palestinians’ rights. For a long time, these businesses have facilitated the growth and operations of settlements, and benefited from Israeli authorities’ unlawful confiscation of Palestinian land and other resources.
They also benefited from Israel’s discriminatory policies that provides privileges to settlers at the expense of Palestinians such as access to land and water as well as permits to build and develop land.
The release of the database also comes at an important period as the current United States administration led by President Donald Trump has released its Middle East peace plan which would allow Israel to annex vast parts of the occupied West Bank, including the strategic Jordan Valley, thus legitimizing the settlement enterprise.
This report, however, re-affirms the international community’s rejection of Israeli and US efforts to legitimize Israel’s unlawful settlement enterprise and whitewash violations of Palestinians rights caused by it. It also constitutes an important precedent in the global efforts to ensure that businesses respect international law and standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
In light of the above, PCHR stresses the importance of releasing the database annually, pursuant to resolution 36/16, to exert pressure on companies to cease their activities in Israeli settlements.
PCHR also calls upon the Palestinian Authority, Arab states and the international community, including Human Rights Council Member States to take measures to sanction and boycott the companies contained in the UN database until their business activities in the settlements are ceased.
This came in response to a specific request by the United Nations Human Rights Council, contained in resolution 36/13, which mandated OHCHR to produce a database of business enterprises involved in such activities.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) commends OHCHR’s efforts in producing this report and for its independence and impartiality in fulfilling its mandate.
The report listed 112 companies, the majority (94) of whom are domiciled in Israel while the rest (18) are headquartered in six other countries. These companies are specialized in wide range of sectors including, security, construction, food, banks, retail, and transport.
All companies in included in the list have been identified as engaging in a listed activity, as a parent company owning a majority share of a subsidiary engaged in a listed activity, or as a company that has granted a relevant franchise or license to a company engaged in a listed activity in the OPT.
This report marks a significant step towards holding settlement businesses accountable for their role in violating Palestinians’ rights. For a long time, these businesses have facilitated the growth and operations of settlements, and benefited from Israeli authorities’ unlawful confiscation of Palestinian land and other resources.
They also benefited from Israel’s discriminatory policies that provides privileges to settlers at the expense of Palestinians such as access to land and water as well as permits to build and develop land.
The release of the database also comes at an important period as the current United States administration led by President Donald Trump has released its Middle East peace plan which would allow Israel to annex vast parts of the occupied West Bank, including the strategic Jordan Valley, thus legitimizing the settlement enterprise.
This report, however, re-affirms the international community’s rejection of Israeli and US efforts to legitimize Israel’s unlawful settlement enterprise and whitewash violations of Palestinians rights caused by it. It also constitutes an important precedent in the global efforts to ensure that businesses respect international law and standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
In light of the above, PCHR stresses the importance of releasing the database annually, pursuant to resolution 36/16, to exert pressure on companies to cease their activities in Israeli settlements.
PCHR also calls upon the Palestinian Authority, Arab states and the international community, including Human Rights Council Member States to take measures to sanction and boycott the companies contained in the UN database until their business activities in the settlements are ceased.
16 feb 2020
Global ecommerce web giant Amazon has been accused of discriminating against Palestinians by offering free shipping to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, but not to Palestinians living in the same area.
In findings released in an investigation by the Financial Times, the newspaper discovered that by taking all of the illegal settlement addresses and entering them into Amazon’s delivery portal, the company extends its website’s offer of free shipping “if your shipping address is in Israel, your items are eligible, and your total order meets the minimum free shipping threshold of $49.”
However, customers who list their address as “the Palestinian Territories” are forced to pay shipping and handling fees starting from $24.
Amazon spokesman Nick Caplin told the paper that Palestinians can only circumvent the issue “if a customer within the Palestinian Territories enters their address and selects Israel as the country, they can receive free shipping through the same promotion.”
All the company’s deliveries have to pass through Israel in order to reach the occupied West Bank, causing long delays, Days of Palestine reports.
International human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, however, cited such a reason as insufficient and called Amazon’s policy “blatant discrimination between potential customers on the basis of their nationality” within the same area of operation.
The activist organisation Peace Now also commented on the situation, saying that Amazon’s discriminatory policy “adds to the overall picture of one group of people enjoying the privileges of citizenship while another people living in the same territory do not.”
Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem have increased significantly, throughout recent years, with settlers in the West Bank numbering over 463,000, at the end of 2019, with another 300,000 in occupied Jerusalem.
Despite the fact that the settlements are illegal under international law, a number of large and prosperous companies have continued to deal with them and operate on the land which they have illegally occupied.
This week, the UN issued a blacklist of 112 companies which continue to operate in the occupied territories, they include global giants Airbnb, Expedia, Opodo and Motorola.
The US has rejected the move while Israel suspending ties with the UN Human Rights Commissioner after the document was published.
In findings released in an investigation by the Financial Times, the newspaper discovered that by taking all of the illegal settlement addresses and entering them into Amazon’s delivery portal, the company extends its website’s offer of free shipping “if your shipping address is in Israel, your items are eligible, and your total order meets the minimum free shipping threshold of $49.”
However, customers who list their address as “the Palestinian Territories” are forced to pay shipping and handling fees starting from $24.
Amazon spokesman Nick Caplin told the paper that Palestinians can only circumvent the issue “if a customer within the Palestinian Territories enters their address and selects Israel as the country, they can receive free shipping through the same promotion.”
All the company’s deliveries have to pass through Israel in order to reach the occupied West Bank, causing long delays, Days of Palestine reports.
International human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, however, cited such a reason as insufficient and called Amazon’s policy “blatant discrimination between potential customers on the basis of their nationality” within the same area of operation.
The activist organisation Peace Now also commented on the situation, saying that Amazon’s discriminatory policy “adds to the overall picture of one group of people enjoying the privileges of citizenship while another people living in the same territory do not.”
Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem have increased significantly, throughout recent years, with settlers in the West Bank numbering over 463,000, at the end of 2019, with another 300,000 in occupied Jerusalem.
Despite the fact that the settlements are illegal under international law, a number of large and prosperous companies have continued to deal with them and operate on the land which they have illegally occupied.
This week, the UN issued a blacklist of 112 companies which continue to operate in the occupied territories, they include global giants Airbnb, Expedia, Opodo and Motorola.
The US has rejected the move while Israel suspending ties with the UN Human Rights Commissioner after the document was published.
13 feb 2020
Israel has suspended its ties with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Israeli Foreign Ministry (FM) announced on Wednesday, several hours after the UN body published a list of 112 companies that do business in West Bank settlements.
FM Israel Katz’s office said he ordered the “exceptional and harsh measure” in retaliation for Michelle Bachelet’s office “serving the BDS campaign,” referring to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement.
Katz intends to protect the companies operating in Israel, his office stated.
He claimed that by publishing the list, the Human Rights Council joined the anti-Israel boycott movement, but stressed that the database is not legally binding.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also slammed the council and similarly vowed to fight the database, Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency reports.
“Not for nothing have I already ordered the severing of ties with it. It was also not for nothing that the American administration has taken this step together with us,” he added, referring to the Trump administration’s June 2018 decision to leave the council, citing its “chronic bias against Israel.”
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday slammed a report by a United Nations human rights body for blacklisting U.S. companies that operate in the Israeli-controlled parts of the West Bank.
In separate statements, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the panel’s chairman, and Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), the committee’s top Democrat, criticized the report as politically motivated and encouraging the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday identified at least six American companies, including Airbnb, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Booking Holdings Inc., General Mills and Motorola, as operating in “illegal” Israeli settlements
The United Nations views Israeli settlements as illegal under international law.
“I am conscious this issue has been, and will continue to be, highly contentious,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bachelet.
“However, after an extensive and meticulous review process, we are satisfied this fact-based report reflects the serious consideration that has been given to this unprecedented and highly complex mandate, and that it responds appropriately to the Human Rights Council’s request contained in resolution 31/36,” she said, referring to the council resolution that asked for the report.
FM Israel Katz’s office said he ordered the “exceptional and harsh measure” in retaliation for Michelle Bachelet’s office “serving the BDS campaign,” referring to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement.
Katz intends to protect the companies operating in Israel, his office stated.
He claimed that by publishing the list, the Human Rights Council joined the anti-Israel boycott movement, but stressed that the database is not legally binding.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also slammed the council and similarly vowed to fight the database, Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency reports.
“Not for nothing have I already ordered the severing of ties with it. It was also not for nothing that the American administration has taken this step together with us,” he added, referring to the Trump administration’s June 2018 decision to leave the council, citing its “chronic bias against Israel.”
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday slammed a report by a United Nations human rights body for blacklisting U.S. companies that operate in the Israeli-controlled parts of the West Bank.
In separate statements, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the panel’s chairman, and Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), the committee’s top Democrat, criticized the report as politically motivated and encouraging the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday identified at least six American companies, including Airbnb, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Booking Holdings Inc., General Mills and Motorola, as operating in “illegal” Israeli settlements
The United Nations views Israeli settlements as illegal under international law.
“I am conscious this issue has been, and will continue to be, highly contentious,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bachelet.
“However, after an extensive and meticulous review process, we are satisfied this fact-based report reflects the serious consideration that has been given to this unprecedented and highly complex mandate, and that it responds appropriately to the Human Rights Council’s request contained in resolution 31/36,” she said, referring to the council resolution that asked for the report.
