Belgian parties call to isolate companies that support Israeli settlements

A number of political parties in Belgium yesterday recommended the government officially isolate and boycott companies that support Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The parties in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean municipality in Brussels also commended a resolution to officially recognise the State of Palestine, made on 26 November 2014.

The Belgian Socialist Party (PS) and the Belgian Labour Party (PTB Molenbeek) said in a press statement yesterday that the settlements form an obstacle to peace, and that it is necessary to ban companies who support the occupation from trading in local markets.

Municipal councillor Dirk De Block will introduce a motion “to ask for exclusion from tendering any enterprise engaged in illegal activities of occupation of the Palestinian territories,” adding that it was an “ethical” and “moral issue” which Molenbeek should not contribute to in a negative manner.

All parties concerned denounced a contract previously made by the municipality with G4S, the global prisons and security company, because of the company’s cooperation with and support for the Israeli occupation in the suppression of Palestinians at checkpoints and in Israeli prisons.