Policy - Beyond occupied Palestine

Given the failure of international efforts to curtail Israel’s policy of settlement and annexation of occupied territory, a fuller and more diligent implementation of legally required differentiation measures remains one of the few effective means of countering Israel’s annexation and settlement of occupied territory – which contravenes international law. [...] The UN Security Council enshrined this ‘differentiation’ policy in Resolution 2334 in December 2016, which calls on all states to distinguish between the territory of the state of Israel and the territories it has occupied since 1967. [...] In the last 100 years, this duty of non-recognition has become deeply embedded in the international legal order – with the aim of disincentivising wars and the forcible acquisition of foreign territory. [...] Beyond occupied Palestine Defenders of Israel’s settlement enterprise regularly criticise the EU, and international law advocates more broadly, of a disproportionate focus on the Israeli occupation, at the expense of other conflict areas. [...] 1 Nevertheless, it is true that governments often underappreciate the importance of third states’ responsibilities, and business and human rights practices, in situations of occupation and annexation.