Twenty two religious groups and charities have called on the European Union to ban products made by Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, saying a boycott would undercut their economic reason for staying there.
The 22 NGOs included Christian Aid, Ireland's Trocaire, the Methodist Church in Britain, the Church of Sweden, France's Terre Solidaire and Germany's medico international. Other religious NGOs in Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland also took part.
The EU is Israel's biggest trading partner but imports 15 times more from West Bank-based Israeli settlers than from Palestinians, a group of 22 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said on Tuesday.
"European consumers are unwittingly supporting the settlements and the attendant violations of human rights," the groups said in a report that called for a ban or, at the very least, strict labeling rules.
The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem and say settlements deny them a joined-up viable territory. About 311,000 Israeli settlers and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank.
The EU says settlements Israel has built on land it captured in the 1967 Middle East war are illegal under international law.
Read more: Twenty two groups call for EU ban on Israeli settler products - World Updates | The Star Online
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