Israel’s fight against the global boycott, divestments and sanctions campaign (BDS) has taken another turn with its attempt to prevent the publication of a database of companies operating in its illegal West Bank settlements.
Israel normally responds to United Nations resolutions and publications by studiously ignoring them. However, the database, or “blacklist” as it has been referred to, has struck a different chord.
Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon has foreshadowed unprecedented efforts to kill the blacklist – though he has not specified what form these efforts might take.
Thanks to pressure from Israel and the United States, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) faces a real battle to get the database released, after promising it would be made public in December.
The database could become one more tool with which to monitor human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The database could allow international bodies to work out what the impact of businesses operating in the illegal settlements has been on Palestinians.
Read the article by Lisa Gleeson in Green Left Weekly.