Irish senate passes sanctions on Israeli settlements

Jewish settlers clean the newly harvested grapes at a winery in the Jewish settlement of Gush Etzion.

Edo Konrad writes in +972 “The Irish Senate passed a bill on Wednesday to prohibit trade with illegal settlements in occupied territories, including those in the West Bank. In contrast to policies and legislation that differentiate Israeli settlements and excludes them from trade agreements, the Irish bill could be construed as actual sanctions targeting settlement products.”

“Those trading with Israeli settlements are complicit in the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination,” PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said in response to the vote on Wednesday. “If some countries within the EU are willing to continue encouraging Israel’s culture of impunity, it is time for individual member-states to take legitimate actions like the one approved by the Seanad.” (more . . .)