Netherlands agrees to ban trade in goods from illegal Israeli settlements
On Friday, the Council of Ministers agreed to ban the trade in goods from illegal Israeli settlements, Prime Minister Rob Jetten announced after the weekly government meeting. The Cabinet is investigating whether a ban on services and investments is also possible, he said, NU.nl reports.
“The Netherlands continues to speak out against violations of international law and in favor of more humanitarian aid,” Jetten said. “To increase pressure on the government of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, the Council of Ministers has agreed to the sanctions.”
The ban applies to goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories and on the Syrian Golan Heights. The government wants to prevent the Netherlands from contributing financially to the “unlawful occupation and the maintenance of illegal settlements,” he said. “In addition, we continue to work on additional sanctions against violent settlers on the one hand and the terrorist organization Hamas on the other.”
The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, already asked the government to ban imports from Israeli settlements last year. A European ban proved impossible because not all 27 EU member states could agree on it. An EU-wide boycott is much more effective and easier to enforce in the free European market.
In a letter to parliament, Ministers Tom Berendsen of Foreign Affairs and Sjoerd Sjoerdsma of Foreign Trade acknowledge that enforcement will be difficult and that they “carefully” weighed the effectiveness and feasibility of the ban.
They expect that the enforcement of these measures will “run into limits,” but decided that doing anything was better than doing nothing. The Netherlands is seeking cooperation with other member states that have taken similar measures to ensure that the measures are as effective as possible.
The Cabinet asked the Council of State for urgent advice on the measure so that it can be implemented as soon as possible.
