The city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank is a frequent flash-point for violence between hard-line Jewish settlers and the Palestinian majority. Now the Israeli military has established a new authority to provide water and other municipal services – but only for the settlers.
A report by human rights watch criticizes israeli banks saying they’re complicit in expanding illegal jewish settlements in the occupied west bank by providing loans and mortgages for construction well crystal is the director for of the council for the advance of arab british understanding joins me in the studio now chris good to have you with us so this idea
That banks in israeli banks are ignoring their human rights obligations by providing the financing for illegal settlement construction what do you make of that well it’s absolutely true now what we have seen by way of background is expansion of settlements in the west bank all illegal under international law to the extent that are now over six hundred thousand
Israeli civilians settlers in the west bank in the area that the international community now for decades expects one day to become a palestinian state now those settlements of course have been aided and abetted by the israeli government in a variety of way but also banks and other financial institutions insurance companies for example so they get the loans and the
Mortgages this allows them to expand even because they are national priority areas under israeli planning they get even softer loans and actually if you are an israeli citizen it’s very attractive to go and live in these settlements because you get better infrastructure but it roads better water than you would in many israeli cities which are more crowded and the
Infrastructure isn’t as well up-to-date but is it right to blame israeli banks when actually they’re just arguably following the policy that’s been set down by the israeli government well obviously the israeli government is the primary party responsible and the fact is that the international community has repeatedly failed to ensure that his own laws including a
Security council resolution that was passed just last december are actually implemented and respected but there is an obligation on banks and not just israeli ones not to actually aid and abet this process these are violations of the fourth geneva convention very serious body of international law and they should not be participant to what is going on so the banks
Are odd or taking the decision volunteer to ignore their obligations so what can be done about this because as we’ve seen even though these settlements are against international law no one’s really forced the israeli government to back out of this so what can we do against the banks what human rights watch are calling for and indeed many other organizations it
Is actually that other banks international banks do not do business with israeli banks until they meet these human rights obligations and there is a very strong belief amongst those who have been calling for a recognition of palestinian rights and for israel to uphold its obligations that the only way this is going to happen is through some form of pressure now
There are many governments particularly in europe in the united states of course who object to any form of sanctions against the state of israel but i think it’s very important to remind people that these aren’t these settlements aren’t in the sovereign state of israel these are in occupied territory so they fall out of its domain it’s not about sanctions it’s
About bringing israel into line with international law and without that it would be very difficult to actually get the two-state solution that all these countries are so keen on bringing about chris interesting stuff thank you very much indeed for speaking with us let’s duel there
Transcribed from video
Israel-Palestine Tensions: Chris Doyle discusses the financing behind the illegal settlements By TRT World
