(Bloomberg) -- Human Rights Watch called on Israeli banks to halt the financing of settlement activity in the West Bank, arguing that the legal justification they use for doing business there isn't valid.
Israel's five biggest banks, led by Bank Hapoalim Ltd. and Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd., are contributing “to serious human rights and international humanitarian law abuses” by financing construction in the settlements, the New York-based group said in a report published on Wednesday.
“Israeli banks are making existing settlements more sustainable, enabling the expansion of their built-up area and the take-over of Palestinian land, and furthering the de-facto annexation of the territory,” the report said.
The banks have maintained that ending their services to West Bank clients would violate domestic anti-discrimination laws. While they cannot refuse a customer based on the place of residence, they can avoid financing settlement projects by citing their obligation to human rights and still comply with Israeli law, HRW said.
The Israel Association of Banks, the umbrella group representing the country's lenders, declined to comment.
Israeli banks' role in financing settlement construction has also made them a target of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to end Israel's occupation of territories Palestinians claim for a state through economic pressure and isolation. In the biggest case, the Dutch asset manager PGGM cut its holdings in Israel's five largest banks in 2014, citing “their involvement in financing Israeli settlements.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Yaacov Benmeleh in Tel Aviv at ybenmeleh@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at jferziger@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams
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