There is a map that does not appear in the official atlases. It is made of interrupted roads, boundaries that have no enclosures but concrete barriers, infinite expectations in front of a checkpoint. It is the map of occupied West Bank, where every day the life of the Palestinians is consumed between demolitions, evictions, denied work and subtracted lands. It is from here that the Oxfam alarm starts, who together with dozens of Italian and international organizations has decided to launch a campaign to ask the European Union, Italy and the United Kingdom to ban trade with Israeli illegal settlements.
The numbers are impressive: in just two years poverty has risen from 12 to 28%, while unemployment reached 35%. Over 42% of the West Bank are now occupied by the settlements of the settlers. Over the past five years, the expansion has grown by 180%with an acceleration that does not mention to stop. «In recent years the oppression of Israel on the Palestinian communities has become increasingly suffocating – he explains Paolo Pezzati, spokesperson for the humanitarian crises of Oxfam Italia -. It is a strategy that aims to fragment the economy of the West Bank and undermine the construction of a future Palestinian state ».
A year ago the General Assembly of the United Nations had asked Israel to retire from the Palestinian occupied territories by September 2025. The answer was opposite: new housing units, new colonies, new expropriated lands. The relationship spread today by Oxfam recalls that Israel, from 1967 to today, has appropriated about 2,000 square kilometers for the construction of the settlements. Only in 2023 did the government authorized over 30,000 homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem Est. In May 2025, 22 other new colonies. It is a record expansion, which risks breaking definitively the Palestinian territorial continuity.
But it’s not just a matter of geography. Every day the Palestinians have to deal with about 900 checkpoints scattered around the West Bank. 30% of the territory is now inaccessibleand the economic cost of lost working hours is estimated at 764,600 dollars per day: 16.8 million per month. With a third of the population without employment, it is above all women who pay the highest price: about 6,500 work in illegal settlements, often without contract, without insurance, without protections. The majority earns less than $ 20 a daywell below the Israeli average.
“To put an end to trade with the settlements – Pizzati still underlines – is a necessary step to support human rights and protect the means of subsistence of the Palestinian population. Only in this way can it really be contributed to stopping the expansion of settlements and putting an end to illegal employment ».
The Consultative opinion of the International Court of Justice of July 2024 has clarified that the governments that allow commercial exchanges with the settlements become complicit in a violation of international law. Yet Israeli tax incentives continue to attract foreign investments. Oxfam’s report cites some examples: the Multinational JCB provides used machinery to demolish houses and build settlements; Siemens is involved in the development of the railway network that connects the colonies; Carrefour has opened stores in the occupied territories; Barclays has guaranteed over $ 18 billion in loans to companies related to settlements.
Tourism also plays a role: tour operators such as TUI or platforms such as Edreams and Opodo offer stays in the settlements, presented as normal holiday destinations. And so, while the international community continues to ask Israel for respect for international law, a part of the global market contributes to strengthening and making the status quo profitable.
Europe, in particular, has direct responsibility. The EU is the main commercial partner of Israel: in 2024 the total volume of exchanges reached 42.6 billion euros. Italy alone has imported goods and services for over one billion, with a total of exchanges of 4 billion. In the United Kingdom, the figure touches 6 billion pounds. Numbers that tell an economic dependence and a commercial flow that, if not regulated, risks making any diplomatic pressure vain.
“To date – Preci denounces – European and national policies that should make the products of the settlements recognizable are implemented inconsistently and often circumvented. The result is that on the shelves of European supermarkets we find products labeled such as ‘made in Israel’ even if they come from illegal colonies. It is essential to ban this trade to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and respect for international law».
Hence the joint appeal of Oxfam and other civil society organizations: prohibit entry into the European market of goods without certified origin, preventing banks and financial institutions from granting loans to companies based in settlements, suspend the EU-Israel Association agreement until full compliance with human rights clauses. A political and symbolic step, but above all concrete. Because, as Pezzati concludes, “continuing to do business with those who violate international legality every day means becoming accomplices”.
For this Oxfam and Italian partners – from Amnesty International to Acli, from Arci to Libera, from Pax Christi to a bridge for – invite citizens and institutions to sign the campaign “Stop trade with illegal settlements”. The appeal can be subscribed here: www.stop-alli.it
To support Oxfam
You can offer your contribution to support the response to the emergency in Gaza through the following channels: post, with postal bulletin on the postal current account n. 14301527 in the name of Oxfam Italia Onlus, causal “Famiglia Cristiana Gaza September”; Bank, with bank transfer to current account IT78C0501802800000011020005 in the name of Oxfam Italia Onlus, causal “Famiglia Cristiana Settembre”; Online, by credit card or PayPal on the site www.oxfam.it/donazione/gaza-euti.
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