U.N. releases list of firms working in settlements
JERUSALEM — The U.N. human rights office on Wednesday released a list of more than 100 companies it said are complicit in violating Palestinian human rights by operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank — a first international attempt to name and shame businesses that has drawn fierce Israeli condemnation.
The list’s publication after repeated delays escalated a looming showdown between Israel and the international community over its more than halfcentury policy of building settlements in the West Bank. Emboldened by a new U.S. Mideast initiative, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex Israel’s more than 100 settlements, while the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has indicated she will soon launch a warcrimes investigation into settlement policies.
The list included well known global companies, among them Airbnb, Motorola and General Mills. Although the vast majority of the world considers settlements illegal, Wednesday’s report did not accuse the companies of violating international law. Instead, it appeared to be aimed at pressuring them by drawing negative attention to their ties to a muchmaligned Israeli policy.
“I am conscious this issue has been, and will continue to be, highly contentious,” said Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. “However, after an extensive and meticulous review process, we are satisfied this factbased report reflects the serious consideration that has been given to this unprecedented and highly complex mandate.”
The Human Rights Council in 2016 instructed the U.N.’s human rights office to create a “database” of companies deemed to be linked to or supportive of the settlements. Beginning with a potential list of over 300 companies, it narrowed it down to 112 firms involved in practices that raised human rights concerns, such as settlement construction, security services, banking and equipment that was used to demolish Palestinian property.
The report does not call for sanctions or have any concrete impact on the companies. But Israeli officials accused the report of caving in to pressure from the grassroots Palestinianled boycott movement against Israel and raised concerns the list could be used as the basis for boycotts and other economic pressure against the companies.
Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in addition to more than 200,000 in East Jerusalem.