AN AGENCY of the Catholic Church in Scotland has joined an international campaign calling on governments to boycott trade with illegal Israeli settlements.
Justice & Peace Scotland (JPS) has joined more than 80 civil society organisations worldwide as part of the campaign.
Israel’s settlements in Palestine are seen as illegal under international law, but Israeli ministers dispute this.
Earlier this year, 22 new settlements were approved in the occupied West Bank, the biggest expansion in decades. Around 160 settlements, housing 700,000 Israelis, have been built since 1967.
The new campaign comes off the back of a report, titled “Trading with Illegal Settlements”, which sets out how foreign states and corporations sustain the occupation of Palestinian land by trading with the settlements.
Trade continues despite the settlements being seen as a grave violation of international law.
Under international law, no occupying power can transfer members of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, as enshrined in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Settlement towns are built on confiscated Palestinian land and are maintained through a system of checkpoints, walls, and military control. They not only displace Palestinian families and restrict their freedom of movement but also seize vital resources such as water and farmland.
Their growth is fragmenting the West Bank, undermining the possibility of a viable and independent Palestinian state.
It comes as the UK Government is set to recognise a Palestinian state, if Israel does not comply with a series of demands in relation to its war on Gaza. The Stop Trade With Settlements campaign and report call on governments in the UK, EU and beyond to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements.
It also demands that international corporations and financial institutions end all services, trade and investment ties with the settlement economy.
In 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled governments allowing trade with Israeli settlements are breaching their obligations under international law, and that by trading with settlements they are complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation and the dispossession of Palestinians.
JPS, which campaigns for international peace, human rights and social justice, have endorsed the campaign after witnessing the impact of settlement expansion on Palestinian lives. Anne-Marie Clements, JSP Scotland Engagement Officer, visited the region earlier this year.
She said: “What about the West Bank? That was the question put to me again and again during my visit. In Bethlehem, Aboud, Taybeh, and Ramallah, Palestinians told me of land confiscation, settler violence, home demolitions, military checkpoints, and the denial of water: all daily realities of the occupation that make life unbearable.
“The Stop Trade With Settlements campaign shines a light on how the illegal settlements, an integral part of the occupation, are sustained through trade.
“Ending this trade is not just a political necessity but a moral imperative. We cannot allow international companies and governments to profit from occupation, dispossession and human suffering."
Clements told of her firsthand experience of meeting with Daoud Nassar and his family at the Tent of Nations farm near Bethlehem.
“Their land, owned by the family for over a century, is now surrounded on all sides by expanding Israeli settlements," she said.
“The Nassars have endured repeated settler violence, including direct attacks on family members, the burning and uprooting of crops, and ongoing intimidation.
“Yet despite these assaults, they continue to replant, farm, and harvest their land.
“Their perseverance embodies the resilience of Palestinians determined to remain in their land and underscores why international complicity in sustaining the settlement economy must end.”
The report states that ending trade with settlements should be seen as a “legal and moral necessity”, as well as a “critical step towards addressing broader structural violations”.
It adds: “As humanitarian, development, human rights and faith-based organisations, we see first-hand the devastating consequences of foreign states’ continued complicity in Israel’s settlement project and other violations stemming from Israel’s illegal occupation.
"The communities we serve face routine human rights abuses, forcible transfer, dispossession, and economic subjugation at the hands of the Israeli government and extremist settlers—with the assistance of foreign states and corporations.”
It calls for a ban on all trade, as well as identifying any other financial support which may benefit illegal settlements, as well as customs agencies being held responsible for determining the origins of Israeli goods.
The campaign urges the European Union to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, and revise it to prohibit goods being imported from settlements.
Agreements agreed between Israel and governments should be “revisited and redrafted” to ban trade with settlements, and financial institutions should be stopped from investing in companies that entrench the occupation, the report adds.
