Nearly four years in the making, the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday unexpectedly published a list of more than 100 companies that conduct business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Israeli reacted angrily to the publication of the blacklist, denouncing the UN body responsible for compiling it and vowing to protect Israeli financial interests. The Paleostinians, meanwhile, celebrated a "victory for international law."
Most of the 112 companies on the list are Israeli, including all major banks, state-owned transportation companies Egged and Israel Railways Corporation, and telecommunications giants Bezeq, HOT and Cellcom. It also lists medium-size companies such as restaurant chain Café Café and Angel bakeries.
The blacklist also names 18 international enterprises, such as Motorola, Airbnb, Trip Advisor, Expedia and General Mills (all from the US), Alstom (from La Belle France) and Greenkote (from the UK).
Businesses may ask to be delisted if they can prove that they no longer provide material support to Israeli settlements, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, said Wednesday. The list will be updated annually.
Paleostinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, welcomed the list.
"The publication of this list of companies and parties working in the settlements is a victory for international law," he said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Facebook page. He also urged member states of the UN Human Rights Council to study the list and recommend and instruct the companies cited on it to terminate their operations in the settlements.
In March 2016, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva passed a resolution requesting the compilation of a database listing "activities that raised particular human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
concerns" in the Paleostinian territories. Such activities were defined as providing material and services that would support the expansion of, or help "maintain," Israel settlements.
Other activities that got companies on the list include the use of the West Bank’s natural resources "in particular water and land," the pollution of Paleostinian villages and "captivity of the Paleostinian financial and economic markets, as well as practices that disadvantage Paleostinian enterprises, including through restrictions on movement, administrative and legal constraints."
Israel, the US and the UK for years tried to block the publication of the blacklist. It was unclear why it was published this week.
"I am conscious this issue has been, and will continue to be, highly contentious," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bachelet.
"However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
after an extensive and meticulous review process, we are satisfied this fact-based report reflects the serious consideration that has been given to this unprecedented and highly complex mandate, and that it responds appropriately to the Human Rights Council’s request contained in resolution 31/36," Bachelet said, referring to the council resolution that asked for the report.
The database’s publication this week marks a major setback for Israel’s settlement movement, coming only three months after the Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...an Court of Justice ruled that the labeling regime for Israeli products from the West Bank is legally binding.
| Related: Israel freezes ties with UN rights chief after release of settlement blacklist |
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