JERUSALEM, September 13, 2017 (WAFA) – The activities of Israeli banks in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories contribute to serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Tuesday.

By providing services to and in settlements, which are illegal under international humanitarian law, and partnering with developers in new construction projects, Israeli banks are making existing settlements more sustainable, enabling the expansion of their built-up area and the take-over of Palestinian land, and furthering the de facto annexation of the territory, it said.

In doing so, said HRW, these banks violate their international law responsibilities to avoid contributing to human rights and other abuses, including unlawful land seizures, discrimination against Palestinians, and de facto annexation of the West Bank by Israel. Without these banking activities, settlement maintenance and expansion would be more difficult.

Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said, “Israeli banks are making business decisions that contribute to serious human rights abuses. Their investors should insist on getting answers about the activities their money is funding.”

According to the report, some foreign investors have for years raised concerns about the involvement of Israeli banks in furthering settlement maintenance and expansion, including by financing construction projects, providing loans to settlement councils, which are similar to municipalities, and mortgage loans to home-buyers in settlements, and operating bank branches there.

“Investors such as the United Methodist Church pension fund and the Dutch pension fund PGGM have divested from Israel’s five largest banks, citing their involvement in settlements as being inconsistent with those funds’ human rights policies,” the report said.

Settlements are unlawful under international humanitarian law. They contribute to the Israeli authorities’ discriminatory regime in the occupied West Bank, restricting and stunting Palestinian development while subsidizing and supporting Israeli settlements built on land unlawfully seized from Palestinians.

International humanitarian law forbids an occupying power from using land except for military purposes or for the benefit of the local population living under occupation.

HRW called on Israeli banks to cease their settlement-related activities.

M.N./M.K.