PNC calls on (IPU) to take same positions of European Parliament members to ban trade and support to settlements

Palestine National Council (PNC) calls on the Inter-Parliamentary Union 
(IPU), regional and international associations, parliaments and the 
world’s parliaments to take same positions of members of the European 
Parliament to ban trade and stop support for illegal Israeli settlements 
in lands considered occupied under international law.

In a statement today, Thursday, PNC welcomed what was stated in a letter 
signed by 46 members of the European Parliament (Renew Europe group), 
addressed to the Executive Vice President and Commissioner of the 
European Union for Trade Valdes Dombrovskis regarding the necessity of 
prohibiting trade and economic support for illegal Israeli settlements 
in the occupied territories, and applying the European law and the World 
Trade Organization (WTO) law to prevent settlements products from 
entering the markets of the Union, to act unified, and to benefit from 
the influence of the European Union as a global trading bloc.

The positions of the European parliamentarians are a strong message to 
everyone who violates international law and legalizes Israeli 
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and deals with their 
products, PNC stressed, denouncing -same time- the Israeli occupation 
authorities approval of a plan to establish 8,300 new settlement units 
aimed at bringing about a total change in the borders and demographic 
composition of occupied Jerusalem
.
PNC commended what was stated in the message of these members who 
indicated that if the European Union wants to uphold its values of 
respect for human rights, and above all, respect for international law, 
it must prohibit economic support for illegal Israeli settlements and, 
as a global trade bloc, use the soft power to establish economic 
influence and pressure for everyone who flouts and does not abide by 
international law.

The importance of the message of the members of the European Parliament 
that it is consistent with international law, resolutions of 
international legitimacy and decisions of human rights councils 
regarding entities that deal with Israeli settlements in the occupied 
Palestinian territories, PNC confirmed, considering the settlements are 
illegal and must be removed, as they constitute a continuous war crime. 
It is necessity to take all required measures to end the Israeli 
occupation in all its manifestations and images, and the ugliest crime 
of settlement.