We, Israeli human rights organizations documenting Israel’s policies and their impact on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, welcome the British government’s decision to recognize and take action against Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, alongside the statements made by additional states.
This is an important and necessary first step to meet States’ legal obligation in response to the rapid expansion of the settlement enterprise, the systematic dispossession of Palestinians from their land and heritage, and escalating state-backed settler violence that can amount to torture. These developments are not sporadic; rather, they are part of a broader effort to drive Palestinian communities from their homes and lands and fundamentally alter the demographic and geographic reality of the oPt. Palestinian communities are being forcibly displaced through a combination of settler violence, land seizure, restrictions on movement and access to land, demolitions, and state policies that facilitate and entrench settlement expansion.
The International Court of Justice’s July 2024 Advisory Opinion found Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to be unlawful, as the UK adopted yesterday. It further affirmed that all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from Israel’s unlawful presence and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining that situation. Banning trade and economic activity that sustains or benefits the settlement enterprise is therefore one means through which states can ensure that their own conduct does not contribute to maintaining an unlawful situation or to violations of Palestinians’ rights.
We urge the international community to take further concrete measures to ensure that its relations with Israel no longer enable Israel’s settlement enterprise, forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank, or its broader assault on Palestinian human rights across all territories under its control.
Adalah- The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; Bimkom; Breaking the Silence; B’tselem ; Combatants for Peace, Emek Shaveh; Gisha; MachsomWatch; Parents Against Child Detention; Peace Now; PHRI; The Public Committee against Torture in Israel; Yesh Din; Zazim Community Action
