European Union (EU) countries’ are taking steps towards boycotting the Israeli apartheid system, using its legal, legislative and parliamentary institutions to oppose the occupation, Palestine News Network reported.
The EU condemned the Trump administration’s positions and policies carried out in the Palestinian Territories, occupied by Israel since 1967, especially in Jerusalem regarding the Israeli settlements, and the two-state solution.
Within this context, the EU’s Supreme Court has approved labeling Israeli goods produced in settlements built in the Palestinian territories, and exported to the EU. It should also be noted that the EU always asserts that settlements are “illegal, and are an obstacle for achieving peace.”
At the international level, events and activities highlighted the growing international determination to end the Israeli occupation, condemning its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people, as well as its denial of their legitimate rights recognized by many UN resolutions.
Within the framework, Harvard Law School students left a conference hall in New York soon after the Israeli Consul, Danny Dayan, started his speech about the legality of the Israeli settlements.
A video was aired showing the students leaving the hall, but the students went on their stand of solidarity outside the hall, holding up banners that read “Israeli settlements are illegal”, and “settlements are war crimes.”
In Canada, scores of students and demonstrators, in solidarity with Palestinian, protested at the York University Campus in Toronto, as it hosted Israeli Occupation Army’s reservist soldiers, who came to talk about their experiences while serving in the Army. They also organized campaign anti-hosting such soldiers, and chanted slogans such as “no for hosting killers,” and “Free Palestine.”
In Switzerland, the Algerian National Deaf Team withdrew from the International Futsal Championship, held in Switzerland vis-a-vis the Israeli Occupation National Team, stressing that Algerians reject normalization of relations with Israel.
In Turkey, former UN rapporteur in Palestine, Richard Falk announced the formation of an international coalition to encounter and dismantle the Israeli apartheid system in the Palestinian Territories, using all possible legal means, including boycott activities.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch government announced in Parliament that it would continue to carry out the European policy of labeling the Israeli settlements’ goods, in line with the Luxemburg Court of Justice’s resolution.
In Sweden, the new Foreign Minister, Anne Linda, said that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a legitimate movement, and that her country’s government “doesn’t see a similarity between its activities and any other activities of anti-Semitism.” Stating that BDS is a non-violent movement concerned with human rights, democracy, freedom of expression, and ending occupation.
In the US, 107 lawmakers of the democratic members at the US House of Representatives signed a petition calling on Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo to reverse the decision to legalize Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The petition came days after Pompeo’s announcement that his country no longer considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to violate the International Law.
Lawmakers expressed their strong rejection of the State Department’s decision.
Within the same context, 5 EU countries rejected the new American position on Israeli settlements; France, Germany, Britain, Belgium and Poland in a joint statement, made it clear that “every settlement activity is illegal under international law, undermining the possibility of a two-state solution, and the prospect of lasting peace. Thus, we call on Israel to ban all settlement activities.”
Moreover, a recent poll on the BDS movement showed that, most democrats view it as a legitimate movement, with aims to pressure Israel to comply with international resolutions and laws, to stop settlements and end the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Israeli Authorities deported director of Human Rights Watch, Omar Shaker from Israel and the Palestinian territories, claiming that he is pro-BDS and participates in its anti-Israel activities.
In Palestine, the Luxembourg Court of Justice’s resolution to label Israeli settlements’ goods, was considered to be a victory to be added to a series of moral attitudes that support the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, and dismiss the Israeli claims.
In its weekly report, the National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements welcomed the Luxembourg Court of Justice’s resolution on the legality of the labeling Israeli settlements’ goods, which were established in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
The Bureau described the resolutions as a long-awaited moral victory, as a result of hard-work and formidable efforts, led by BDS in the EU countries to isolate the Israeli apartheid system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Likewise, the Palestinian National Boycott Committee and BDS’ leadership worldwide welcomed the decision approved by the newly elected Oslo City’s Council led by the Socialist Left Party -SV- and the Labor and Green parties, to ban Israeli settlement goods and services.
Author: Mahmoud Zaben
Photo: Days of Palestine
Edited for IMEMC: Ali Salam
