UN sends warning letters to firms that trade in occupied Palestinian territories

Human rights chief tells 150 companies they may be added to database of firms linked to illegal Jewish settlements

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
Thursday 28 September 2017 10.12 BST

The UN human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, has sent letters to an estimated 150 international and Israeli businesses warning them that they may be included in a UN database of companies involved with illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The letters have been sent as part of the legal verification and clarification process to give businesses identified as working in settlements the right of reply before the database is published in December.

Reports that the high commissioner’s office was pushing ahead with its work to publish the database by the end of this year, despite the strong opposition of the Trump administration and Israel, emerged in August.

It gained new impetus with a claim in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that about 150 letters had been sent in the past fortnight, including a number that had been passed on to Israeli officials.

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UN Sent Warning Letter to 150 Companies for Doing Business in Israeli Settlements

Israeli officials say some of the companies responded to the UN human rights commissioner by saying they won't renew their contracts in Israel

Barak Ravid Sep 28, 2017 10:44 PM

The UN's Human Rights Commissioner began sending letters two weeks ago to 150 companies in Israel and around the world, warning them that they are about to be added to a database of companies doing business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, senior Israeli officials and Western diplomats involved in the matter told Haaretz.

The Israeli official, who requested to stay anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, noted that the letters, sent by Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said these firms were doing business in the "occupied Palestinian territories" and could thus find themselves on the UN blacklist for companies acting in violation of "internal law and UN decisions." The letters, copies of which also reached the Israeli government, request that these firms send the commission clarifications about their business activities in settlements.

A Western diplomat, who also requested to remain anonymous, noted that of the 150 companies, some 30 were American, and a number are from countries including Germany, South Korea and Norway. The remaining half are Israeli companies.

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