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.