[Peace-discuss] LTE: Illinois bill backs illegal settlements

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/2015-05-31/illinois-bill-backs-illegal-settlements.html

Illinois bill backs illegal settlements
Sun, 05/31/2015 - 7:00am | The News-Gazette
<http://www.news-gazette.com/users/digitalmedia>

The News-Gazette is delighted that the Illinois Legislature has voted to
require state pension funds to divest from (foreign) companies that
"boycott Israel" ("Boycott issue cuts both ways," May 22).

But you missed a crucial detail. The Illinois legislation defines
"boycotting Israel" to include boycotting any enterprise in
"Israeli-controlled territory," i.e. any enterprise in an Israeli
settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The West Bank is not
recognized as "Israel" by the international community, including the United
States.

European countries in particular regard Israeli settlements in the West
Bank as illegal under international law. Human Rights Watch has the same
view.

Thus, the real import of the legislation is to try to legitimize Israeli
settlements in the West Bank as equal to "Israel." The goal of the bill's
proponents, and supporters of the settlements more generally, is to prevent
diplomatic resolution of the conflict according to the international
consensus: creation of a Palestinian state.

If no Palestinian state is created, and if the Palestinian residents of the
West Bank are not granted Israeli citizenship, what remains is for the
Palestinian residents of the West Bank to remain stateless — to live under
a system of apartheid, subject to rule by a government for which they are
not allowed to vote.

Ironically, while critics of "the global BDS movement" resent the
comparison of Israel to apartheid South Africa, the goal of the Illinois
legislation and the pro-settlement movement is to make reality conform to
the analogy more explicitly.

ROBERT NAIMAN

Urbana

===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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