In the occupied West Bank and Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, some 600,000 Israeli settlers live among about three million Palestinians.

UAE supports Israeli settlements as it starts normalizing relations with Israel. In a flagrantly flouting for longstanding Arab consensus, the United Arab Emirate insists in normalization with Israel, breaking not only the Arab unity but also the international laws and customs by consuming in the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied West bank. 

This week a delegation led by Yossi Dagan, the heads of Council for illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank, arrived in the Emirates and met with some businessmen. He announced later on a Facebook post that direct trade between Israeli settlements and the UAE will commence soon.

The delegation held “a marathon of business meetings” with around 20 businessmen from companies working in agriculture, pest control and plastics.

Palestinians,  on a formal and informal level, considered this move from the Emirates, as recognition from them to these settlements on the Palestinian land and as approval of the “Normalization between UAE and Israeli occupation has nothing to do with peace.  Rather it is creating more war against the people of Palestine.” Nehal Ju’aidy, a Palestinian researcher and analyst, said “aiding the illegal Israeli settlement according to the international laws on stolen Palestinian land, is a piece of obvious evidence against this shameful deal.”  

She explained settler violence toward Palestinians has long since become part of daily life under occupation in the West Bank. It results in Palestinians casualties – injuries and fatalities – as well as damage to land and property. They are all armed and their actions protected by the Israeli occupation soldiers.

What are illegal Israeli Settlements?

What are the illegal Israeli settlements; the Israeli settlements in the occupied west bank are the Palestinian lands that were seized illegally from their owners; Palestinians and which their natural resources were exploited by “Israel”.

These are residential communities that were established by the “Zionists” decades before Palestinian Nakba in 1948, and, then the Israeli occupation completed its construction on the lands of historic Palestine after occupying them.

The settlements were witness to major expansion between 1948 and 1950. the  Israeli occupation established many Jewish settlements on the ruins of Palestinian towns and villages that constitute 78% of the land of historical Palestine after expelling and massacring its indigenous people.

After the 1967 war, the occupation seized the remaining of the lands of Palestine – the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, which constituted  22%. Then they began building colonies for the Jews on these lands.

Then the number of settlers increased in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, so that the occupation continued to build and expand settlements and confiscate more Palestinian lands daily to build new settlements.

“Israel” intends to build these settlements, on fertile Palestinian land; to rob the Palestinians of their right from the goods of their country, to promote them today to the Gulf states as “Israeli products”, and to be received by the typos of the Gulf and increase the income of the filthy settlers to build more settlements on occupied Palestinian lands.

In the occupied West Bank and Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, Some 600,000 Israeli settlers live among about three million Palestinians.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) keep calling for a boycott of Israeli and international companies that are complicit in violations of Palestinian rights. 

The European Unions top court has ruled a year ago that EU countries must identify products made in illegal Israeli settlements on their labels, a move that sparked anger in Israel. The EU wants any product manufactures in these settlements to be easily identifiable to customers and listed that they should not carry the generic “Made in Israel” tag.

The ECJ underlined that settlements “give concrete expression to a policy of population transfer conducted by that state outside its territory, in violation of the rules of general international humanitarian law” as they consider them as undermining to the hopes for a two-state solution.

Its worth mentioning that 3  months ago, the UAE agreed to normalize ties with Israel under a U.S.-brokered deal. Thus, UAE supports Israeli settlements as it starts normalizing relations with Israel.