RAMALLAH, September 26, 2025 (WAFA) - The State of Palestine welcomed the publication of the annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 31/36, concerning the database of business enterprises involved, directly or indirectly, in Israel’s illegal settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The most recent report listed 158 companies engaged in unlawful actions.
The State of Palestine affirmed that this report constitutes a fundamental tool for exposing corporate complicity in grave violations of international law, as well as of the political, economic, and social rights of the Palestinian people.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned the companies listed in this database and demanded their immediate withdrawal from any direct or indirect contracts with the occupation and its settler-colonial enterprise. “The continuation of such contracts with the occupation constitutes actual participation in sustaining Israel’s settler-colonial, genocidal, and apartheid regime and its prolonged illegal occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem.”
“It further contributes to its policies and crimes, which encompass forcible displacement and transfer, land annexation, colonization of occupied land, pillage and exploitation of natural resources, demolition of homes, collective punishment, and the systematic denial of fundamental rights and freedoms, including the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. These acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law.”
The Ministry further emphasized that in 2024, the International Court of Justice conclusively affirmed that Israel’s continued occupation is unlawful and required its termination as rapidly as possible. The Court also placed legal obligations upon all States not to recognize the unlawful situation, nor to render aid or assist in its maintenance, and to act to bring it to an immediate end, including through the dismantling of the occupation.
Accordingly, the State of Palestine called upon the Office of the High Commissioner to update and expand the database on a regular basis to include all companies operating in settlements, to take concrete measures and demand that companies immediately withdraw from all settlement-related activities, and to refer the report’s findings to the competent judicial and regulatory bodies.
The State of Palestine also called upon all States to fulfill their legal obligations by prohibiting the involvement of their business enterprises in settlement activities, adopting sanctions and trade restrictions, and ensuring full accountability for corporate complicity in these crimes.
The statement concluded that, “Ending the support of States and corporations for the illegal settlement enterprise and the settler-colonial project constitutes both a legal and moral obligation, and represents an essential step toward dismantling the prolonged Israeli illegal occupation, and achieving justice and freedom for the Palestinian people.”
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