800 European financial groups deal with firms linked to illegal Israeli settlements
A growing number of European financial institutions have a business relationship with companies with ties to illegal Israeli settlements, according to a study by civil society groups.
In total, 822 financial institutions this year have relationships with 58 firms “actively involved” in illegal Israeli settlements versus 776 in 2023, The Don’t Buy into Occupation coalition report said. They called for heightened scrutiny and, if necessary, divestment.
“The indication is that things are going the wrong way,” said Andrew Preston, with Norwegian People’s Aid, which is one of the 25 European and Palestinian civil society groups that conducted the research.
“In our view, European financial institutions should be urgently reassessing their approach to companies involved in the illegal occupation,” he told the Geneva Press Club where the report was presented.
Among the European firms listed were top banks including BNP Paribas and HSBC, the report said. The 58 partner firms include heavy machinery maker Caterpillar and travel sites Booking.com and Expedia, according to the report.
Clashes as Israeli forces raid West Bank cities, towns
The Israeli military has carried out raids in several locations across the occupied West Bank in recent hours, according to local media reports, including:
- The city of Qalqilya, where Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians
- The city of Jenin, where Palestinian fighters fired on Israeli troops
- The Balata refugee camp, east of the city of Nablus, where confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians broke out
- The town of Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit
- The town of Yabad, south of Jenin
Israeli soldiers raid university in the occupied West Bank, arrest students
Israeli forces have arrested students participating in a protest at Birzeit University in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting.
At least 141 Palestinian university students were arrested in the occupied West Bank between October 2023 and May 2024, often without clear charges, according to a Birzeit University staff member who monitors the arrests.
Israeli forces arrest three Palestinians in Bethlehem
Israeli soldiers have arrested at least three people after raiding homes in several locations across the Bethlehem governorate of the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports. Two of the Palestinians were arrested in the Dheisheh refugee camp while a 50-year-old man was arrested in the town of Zaatara, the news agency said.
More than 11,800 people have been arrested in the West Bank since October 2023, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
Artwork on Israel’s illegal separation wall, dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem, shows Israeli soldiers arresting a man wearing a blindfold, in Bethlehem, West Bank
Israeli forces arrest 16 in round of violent West Bank raids
Israeli forces have rounded up 16 Palestinians, including two minors, in raids across the occupied West Bank since last night, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
During the arrests, which occurred in the governorates of Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Israeli forces damaged the detainees’ homes and threatened them and their families, according to the group.
Since October 7, Israeli forces have carried out near-daily raids in the West Bank, making at least 11,800 arrests, it added.
