HRW asks firms to end ties with Israeli settlements

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about reports of the Israeli Government authorizing the declaration of 370 acres in the West Bank, south of Jericho, as so-called “state land”, said a statement on Ban’s website.

The extent of the area to be expropriated is second only to the 939 acres of lands west of Bethlehem that were announced by the government as “state land” in August 2014.

The report stressed that such businesses play a critical role in establishing and expanding settlements and encourage the Israeli authorities’ unlawful confiscation of Palestinian land and other resources.

“Security measures alone can not stop the cycle of violence”, ministers said, calling for “a fundamental change of policy by Israel with regard to the occupied Palestinian territory”.

The ambassador added the U.S. administration remains “perplexed” due to the current administration’s “settlement policy” and warned there must be an implementation of the “two-state solution” to prevent a binational state.

He estimated that the move would bring humiliation for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which has been dealing with a “mini-intifada” since October 2015 that has resulted in the murders of 25 Israelis and an American in stabbings, car-ramming attacks and shootings.

Israel has constructed over 230 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since its war with Palestinians in 1967.

Approximately 20,000 Palestinians are employed inside settlements, according to The Times of Israel. The criticism heaped on Shapiro was not dissimilar to that aimed at Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, who last week called for an independent investigation into Israel’s efforts to quell a surge in violence, saying that in some cases Palestinian assailants were being killed “extrajudicially”. Israel has said 101 of them were attackers while the rest were killed in clashes with Israeli troops. Accused lawbreakers are tried in Israeli military tribunals and can be held years without charges, while Israeli settlers in the West Bank are tried in Israeli civil courts.

According to data published by HRW, over half a million Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Relations have been strained between Israel and the European Union after Netanyahu declared previous year, during the Israeli national elections campaign, that the Oslo agreements are finished.

He said that U.S.-Israel security cooperation has never been closer, citing Iron Dome and Israel’s other U.S.-sponsored missile defense systems.

“Israel is stealing land specially in the Jordan Valley under the pretext it wants to annex it”, she told Reuters.