More than 500 European former ministers and senior officials on Monday asked the EU to take action against Israel's settlement expansion, including by sanctioning financial institutions that support it.
Signatories to the call for action urged the European Commission to “show leadership” by putting forward proposals to “sanction all financial institutions and other providers of services to the implementation of E1 and other illegal settlements”.
“While, commendably, some EU member states have implemented national measures against illegal settlements, others – including Germany and Italy – continue to systematically block the adoption of any EU measures, thus becoming de facto complicit in undermining both EU values and the two-state solution,” the signatories wrote in a statement.
They include former French prime ministers Dominique de Villepin and Alain Juppe, former Italian prime minister Massimo D'Alema, and former Swedish prime minister Stefan Lofven. Former EU foreign affairs chief and ex Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell was also among the signatories.
Divisions among EU member states on the Israel-Palestine conflict, coupled with inertia within the European Commission, have hampered the bloc's ability to exert diplomatic influence in the region.
But pressure is mounting as the deadline approaches for Israel to award the first tranche of contracts for the E1 settlement project, which would cut the occupied West Bank in two and bury the possibility of a Palestinian state. In May, a dozen countries, including the UK, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, warned businesses of “legal and reputational consequences” if they took part in the E1 bid.
'Show leadership'
More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in the past three years by the Israeli army or settlers. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
“Now is surely the time for the EU and member states to act,” the signatories wrote. The European Commission has resisted calls this year to submit a proposal to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements.
The EU's 27 foreign ministers will be meeting next week in Luxembourg as the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank remains “deeply disturbing”, signatories said. They highlighted that more than 200 Gazan children have been killed since a US-brokered ceasefire last year. Israel and Hamas continue to trade fire regularly.
“There has been no disarmament, no IDF withdrawal, reconstruction is blocked, while the ‘Board of Peace’ plans to revive Gaza remain passive and stillborn,” they said.
A handful of EU states have moved forward alone due to inertia in Brussels. Last month, France joined a UK-led group of European states to stop the trade of goods with Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law.
However each country has said they would implement slightly different measures, with some – such as Spain and the Netherlands – including some services and others restricting the ban to goods. The UK is the only country that has said it would work on establishing a sanctions regime.
Such moves have triggered anger from the Israeli government, which recently expelled Dutch diplomats serving in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The number of companies doing business with settlements in the West Bank grew by one-third this year, according to a UN list updated last month, with travel firms and materials suppliers prominent in the group. A total of 214 companies from 11 countries are listed, including well-known travel brands such as Airbnb and Expedia.
