In this policy brief, IPS Senior Fellow Leila Farsakh and Al-Shabaka Policy Fellow Nur Arafeh and Policy Advisor Samia al-Botmeh debunk Israel’s arguments by demonstrating the devastating impact Israel’s settlement enterprise has had on the Palestinian economy, dispossessing Palestinians of their land, water, and other resources and creating mass unemployment. They also address the status of those Palestinian workers – a minority of the work force – that have been forced to earn a living in the very settlements that have done so much damage to the Palestinian economy and to Palestinian rights more broadly. They go on to examine the European Union (EU) move and recommend additional steps the EU should take to be fully compliant with international and European law.
