A coalition of non-governmental organisations will today launch a new report accusing European governments and businesses of ignoring international law regarding trade with occupied Palestinian territories.
The organisations, including Oxfam and Christian Aid, are calling for trade boycotts of goods and services from firms operating in the occupied lands.
The report, backed by 75 NGOs, comes ahead of the Dáil’s return on Wednesday, when the Government is certain to face calls to quickly pass the Occupied Territories Bill.
Government sources say they are awaiting updated legal advice from Attorney General Rossa Fanning about the possibility of including services, as well as goods, under the remit of the Bill.
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Some Government sources believe it is unlikely the scope of the Bill will be extended to include services. but Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has said he favours doing so if a legally robust method of implementation can be found.
Mr Fanning’s advice is expected in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Mr Harris is pushing to gain clarity from the European Commission on when it will move to sanction Israel over its actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
It follows Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s confirmation last week that she will introduce a package of measures responding to Israel’s actions.
The Tánaiste has asked EU counterparts who are considering moves on trade to co-sign a letter to the EU High Representative/Vice President Kaja Kallas urging swift consideration of a package of measures at the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
In the letter, initiated by the Tánaiste in recent days, Ms Kallas is told Ms von der Leyen’s announcement “presents a clear opportunity for the EU to take meaningful action”.
In the NGO-launched report it is claimed the International Court of Justice opinion of last year imposes on states “an obligation not to recognise as legal the situation arising from Israel’s illegal presence in the [occupied territories]”.
It also says the states have an obligation “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” and to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT”.
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However, it says that, “despite these clear obligations, third states continue to engage in as well as to permit trade, services and investments that sustain Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise and broader unlawful occupation”.
The report says Israel’s largest trade partner is the European Union, accounting for roughly 32 per cent of its overall trade in goods. The total trade volume (import and export) of goods between Israel and the EU amounted to €42.6 billion in 2024. The UK is one of Israel’s largest European trade partners, worth just under ST£6 billion (€6.9 billion) a year in 2024, it says.
While the EU has implemented a series of measures to restrict trade with the occupied territories, the report says these have been undermined by “inconsistent enforcement”, “evasion by Israeli exporters” and by “differentiation and labelling being insufficient to address the issue”.
To comply with “international legal obligations and prevent further complicity in Israel’s illegal settlement project and its unlawful occupation, foreign states must implement prohibitions on trade with settlement-based corporations and revise current policy”, it says. “States must go further than mere territorial differentiation and labelling, and instead adopt and implement legislation that explicitly bans trade, including the provision of services and investments, with settlements,” it adds.
The report also identifies a number of major international companies that it says do business in the occupied territories.
