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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://imemc.org/article/release-of-long-delayed-un-settlement-database-significant-step-towards-holding-israel-accountable/">https://imemc.org/article/release-of-long-delayed-un-settlement-database-significant-step-towards-holding-israel-accountable/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Release of Long-Delayed UN Settlement
Database Significant Step Towards Holding Israel Accountable</h1>
February 13, 2020</div>
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<p dir="ltr"><a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/release-long-delayed-un-settlement-database-significant-step-towards-holding-israel-accountable"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BDS
Movement Press Release</a>: We welcome this
long-delayed UN list of complicit companies. Some
major firms involved with illegal settlements are
not in the database and must be added. All these
companies must be held to account.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Palestinian civil society welcomes this
long-awaited <a
href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session43/Documents/A_HRC_43_71.docx"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UN list
of companies that are complicit in Israel’s
illegal settlement enterprise</a>, which
constitutes a war crime under international law. We
thank all human rights organizations that worked
tirelessly for the release of such an important
instrument of transparency and accountability.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Upholding international law is the one
appropriate response to attempts by authoritarian
and far-right regimes, led by the Trump White House
and Israel’s extremist government, to undermine
human rights and the rule of law and enforce
domination by the most powerful instead.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Recognizing the important role that the
UN played in ending apartheid in South Africa, we
view the release of this database as a first
significant <a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/un-takes-first-concrete-step-hold-israel-accountable-violating-palestinian-human-rights">and
concrete step</a> by any UN entity towards holding
to account Israeli and international corporations
that enable and profit from Israel’s grave
violations of Palestinian rights.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Some notable mentions amongst the 112
complicit companies on the UN list of shame are the
top five Israeli banks in which <a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/axa-divest"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AXA
invests</a> (<strong>Bank Hapoalim</strong>, <strong>Bank
Leumi</strong>, <strong>First International Bank
of Israel</strong>, <strong>Mizrahi Tefahot Bank</strong>
and <strong>Israel Discount Bank</strong>), <strong>Delta
Israel</strong>, <a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/boycott-puma">Puma</a>’s
exclusive licensee in Israel, and <strong>Shapir</strong>,
CAF’s partner for the development of the Jerusalem
Light Rail. Also included are <strong>Delek Group</strong>,
<strong>Egged</strong>, <strong>General Mills</strong>,
<strong>Motorola Solutions</strong>, <strong>JCB,
Alstom</strong>, Israeli national water company <strong>Mekorot</strong>,
and travel companies <strong>TripAdvisor</strong>,
<strong>Airbnb</strong>, <strong>Booking.com</strong>,
<strong>Edreams</strong> and <strong>Expedia</strong>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Nonetheless, numerous companies and banks
involved in direct or indirect business activities
in or with settlements are not yet included in the
database. <strong>G4S</strong>, <strong>Hewlett
Packard</strong> companies, <strong>Elbit Systems</strong>,
<strong>Caterpillar</strong>, <strong>Hyundai Heavy
Industries</strong>, <strong>Volvo</strong>, <strong>Heidelberg
Cement</strong>, and <strong>Cemex</strong> are
among many other high-profile companies that are
irrefutably implicated in Israel’s illegal
settlement enterprise, as meticulously documented by
human rights groups, the independent Israeli
research group <a href="http://www.whoprofits.org/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WhoProfits</a>
and the US project of the American Friends Service
Committee <a href="https://investigate.afsc.org/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Investigate</a>.
Yet they are missing from the UN list.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We call on continued grassroots and civil
society pressure on OHCHR to comply with the Human
Rights Council Resolution 31/36 by resisting
political pressure, whether from the US, European
states or Israel, and committing to constantly
updating the public list.</p>
<p dir="ltr">No international or Israeli company that
is complicit in <em>enabling</em>, <em>facilitating</em>
and <em>profiting</em> from Israel’s regime of
oppression should enjoy impunity.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>It is high time for all public
institutions, city councils, churches, trade
unions, cultural organizations, universities,
investment funds, and others to stop contracting,
procuring from or investing in any of the
companies on the UN list of shame, to avoid
complicity in Israel’s settlement enterprise.</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">The BDS movement for Palestinian rights
will continue our peaceful struggle, supported by
people of conscience worldwide, for freedom,
justice, equality and for ending all complicity in
Israel’s decades-old regime of military occupation,
settler-colonialism, and apartheid.</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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415 863.9977
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