European legal experts call on EU to stop trading with settlements

Lawyers from Europe issued a letter to policy makers in the European Union and its member states to cease economic trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, citing said trade as an implicit recognition of Israeli occupation on Palestine territory. They urged that the European's non-recognition of the Israeli settlements would strengthen the peace process in the Middle East while adhering respect of international law.

A report by Mondoweiss printed the short but hard-hitting letter in its entirety. It was addressed to the leadership of the European Union and its member countries, defining its mission as "calling for a compliance with international legal obligations" and advocating a withholding of trade to and from the Israeli settlements. It reminded the European policy members that, even if the European Union as an organization continues to trade with the Israeli settlements, the individual nations in that union have the right of dissent if it does not agree with that policy. In fact, the letter adds that said nations have the "legal obligation" to obey previous laws that do not grant recognition to the Israeli settlements by stopping trade with them.

The letter printed by Mondoweiss also said that differentiating products made by the Israeli settlements and those manufactured by Israel per se through the labeling of the country of origin is not an acceptable measure. Only the complete cessation of trade is or a trade embargo is.

The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine said that the letter also criticized the European Union for its double standard. The European Union was quick to implement a trade embargo on Crimea when the Russian Federation annexed it as an occupied territory. The European lawyers are now asking the European Union to apply the same law to the Israeli settlements.

A Newsweek report on the European position on the Israeli settlements cited Article 49 of the Geneva Convention which regarded the Israeli settlements as illegal.

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