UN identifies firms doing business with companies linked to Israeli settlements
Geneva — The UN’s human rights office said on Wednesday that it had identified 206 companies so far doing business linked to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where it said violations against Palestinians were "pervasive and devastating". The report is politically sensitive because companies in the UN database could be targeted for boycotts or divestment aimed at stepping up pressure on Israel over its settlements, which the world body views as illegal. "The majority of these companies are domiciled in Israel or the settlements (143), with the second-largest group located in the US (22). The remainder are domiciled in 19 other countries," the UN human rights office said in a statement. The report, which did not name the companies but said that 64 of them had been contacted to date, said that the work in producing the database "does not purport to constitute a judicial process of any kind". Its mandate was to identify businesses involved in the construction of settlements, survei...
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