Responding to the announcement by Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK that they plan to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and are considering further measures, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas said:
“The announcement that 12 states plan to introduce restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international humanitarian law, is a welcome, if long overdue, development that must pave the way for the adoption of further measures to bring an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation and institutionalized system of apartheid imposed against Palestinians.
“The measures announced so far, while important, fall far short of meeting the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 instructions to states ‘not to render aid or assistance’ in maintaining Israel’s unlawful occupation of the Palestinian Territory.
“Settlement creation and expansion – with state-backed settler violence now a central tool driving displacement and dispossession at unprecedented levels under the current Israeli government – are a core component of Israel’s policy and cannot be separated from its overarching system of apartheid.
