Trócaire has launched a campaign urging a ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements across the European Union.
Trócaire executive director Justin Kilcullen said the goods, which “are produced on the back of house demolitions, land confiscation, racial segregation and military occupation”, must be banned so as not to provide economic support to the illegal settlements.
Current labelling of products, such as dates, grapes, avocados, potatoes and other fresh produce imported from Israel, does not distinguish between those produced in the settlements and those produced elsewhere, leaving consumers in the dark.
Although they believe it needs to be strengthened, a spokesman for Trócaire said the EU does have customs mechanisms in place, allowing the exact origin of the goods to be known.
Along with a ban within Ireland, Trócaire is asking for a push towards an EU-wide ban at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on October 15th.
More than 200 of the settlements, which are civilian communities on occupied land following the 1967 war, make up over 42 per cent of land in the West Bank. Some 500,000 Israelis call these settlements and those in Palestinian East Jerusalem home.