Palestine National Council (PNC) said that the issuance by the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the list of business enterprises supporting settlement in the territories of the state of Palestine is a direct international response to the attempts to legitimize the annexation and the Israeli occupation that was adopted by the so-called American "Deal of the Century".

In a statement issued by PNC Speaker, Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoun, on 12-2-2020, PNC considered that this important step comes within the framework of besieging and rejecting Israeli colonial settlement activity in Palestine, in compliance with the rules of international law and international humanitarian law, and in compliance with Human Rights Council resolution 31/36 (September 10, 2019), and in line with the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of 2004 regarding the separation wall and settlement, and in compliance with the European Court of Justice decision regarding settlement products issued in November 2019.

PNC called on the parliaments and governments that have links with the business enterprises included in the Blacklist Record issued by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to assume their legal and moral responsibilities, and work with their governments to close the headquarters of the listed companies and their branches in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which violated relevant international laws and decisions.

PNC also called on relevant international institutions, governments, states and parliaments to take legal action against business enterprises whose names are on the blacklist, in accordance with international laws and agreements, which criminalize human rights violations, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention and the additional Protocol, which condemn the occupation in the Palestinian territories and criminalize colonial settlement and human rights violations.

The publication of the Database of the companies obliges everyone to work to prosecute these companies and boycott them, PNC added, because of these companies cooperation with colonial settlement in the occupied Palestinian and Arab lands.

PNC stressed that the specialized Palestinian institutions of authorized jurisdiction will prosecute these companies through the international courts, to sue them for all crimes and violations resulting from the colonial settlement activity they participated, and obligate them to pay compensation to the Palestinian citizens who were affected as a consequence, and this includes the companies participation in plundering the various resources and wealth of the Palestinian people.

It should be noted that the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has issued on 12th of Feb. 2020, databases of a set of companies and bodies, total of 112, working directly and indirectly in support of Israeli settlement in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, and East Jerusalem. The companies include 94 companies in Israel and 18 companies in six other countries.

For this reason, the number of Blacklisted companies operating in the settlements has been reduced. PNC reduced the number of companies in the list from hundreds to 112 companies/enterprises operating in the settlements, due to companies pledged to the Office of the High Commissioner not to renew their contracts to work inside the settlements.

A business enterprise may provide information indicating that it is no longer involved in the relevant listed activity. Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that, based on the totality of the information available, the business enterprise is ceasing or no longer involved in the relevant activity, the business enterprise would be removed from the database.

 Attachment: The Databases of blacklisted business enterprises

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