UN experts welcome recent measures by 12 countries against Israeli occupation and settlements

Geneva, September 17 (KUNA) -- UN experts welcomed on Thursday the measures and positions adopted recently by 12 countries, led by the United Kingdom, against the Israeli occupation and its settlements, particularly the British government’s acknowledgment that Palestinians in the West Bank are facing “ethnic cleansing.” In a joint statement, the experts, led by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, described these actions as a “seismic shift” in the international stance. The joint statement also characterized the ban on Israeli settlement products as “an important step and an acknowledgment that settlements lie at the heart of the illegal Israeli occupation and the ongoing project of annexation of land and the dispossession of Palestinians.” It clarified that expanding these measures to include financial activities and services that facilitate settlement expansion is “significant,” emphasizing that their comprehensive implementation could contribute to addressing the structures of “economic complicity” that have long sustained the illegal Israeli occupation. The experts called on all states to make further efforts to address the economic, financial, military, and institutional relationships that support the illegal Israeli occupation and enable ongoing genocide. Earlier, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced, in coordination with other countries including Canada, Norway, and Spain, the imposition of a new set of trade restrictions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, following an escalation in violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers and plans to build more illegal settlements. (End) A.M.K. / S.A.M.