Man waves pro-boycott sign in Ramallah
Man waves pro-boycott sign in RamallahFlash 90

Amnesty International on Tuesday launched a new campaign calling on world countries to ban the import of all goods produced in Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

The campaign marks the 50th anniversary of what Amnesty calls “Israel's occupation of the West Bank”, the Independent reported.

The organization said Israeli and international businesses had enabled and facilitated “settlement construction and expansion.”

The campaign specifically urges Britain to ban “settlement products” and accuses the country of “shamefully” standing by as Israel has destroyed Palestinian homes and profited form their land and natural resources.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said, according to the Independent, “The UK should do the legally and morally right thing and introduce a ban on the import and sale of all goods produced in the Israeli settlements.”

“For decades, Britain and the rest of the world has shamefully stood by as Israel has destroyed Palestinians’ homes and plundered their land and natural resources for profit,” she charged.

“The Israeli settlements are illegal – by extension, all settlement goods are tainted by illegality. The UK should no longer be party to this.”

Amnesty also alleges that Israel has unlawfully seized control of Palestinian Arab natural resources such as water, fertile land, stone quarries and minerals, and diverted these to benefit settlement industries to produce products, materials and goods that are often exported abroad.

Campaigns against products from Judea and Samaria are nothing new. The European Commission in 2015 issued guidelines for labeling products from Israeli communities in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and neighborhoods of Jerusalem liberated during the 1967 Six Day War.

Several months ago, France ordered importers and retail chains in the country to label such products, in an application of the Commission guidelines.

More recently, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Saeb Erekat called on the European Union (EU) to impose a total ban on products form Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, claiming that doing so would “save the prospects for justice and peace.”