Quakers join international campaign to stop foreign complicity in Israel's illegal settlement project
Quakers in Britain has joined more than 80 civil society organisations in a new campaign, Stop Trade with Settlements.
The campaign calls on countries to ban all trade with illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, including by major multinational companies and financial institutions that sustain the settlement enterprise.
It focuses on companies that trade, or have until recently traded, with Israeli settlements: JCB (UK), Barclays Bank (UK), Siemens (Germany), Carrefour (France), Maersk (Denmark), Tui (Germany), eDreams Odigeo and Opodo (Spain).
A new report, 'Trading with illegal settlements', sets out how foreign states and corporations, through ongoing trade with illegal settlements, enable the humanitarian crisis driven by Israel's prolonged occupation.
The campaign targets settlement trade because of Israel's oppression of Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), fragmentation of its economy, and undermining of the viability of a future Palestinian state.
Over the past four years, Israel has significantly accelerated its settlement activities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In May 2025, the Israeli cabinet agreed 22 new settlements.
Ending trade with settlements is necessary to uphold human rights, protect Palestinian livelihoods, halt settlement expansion, and end the unlawful occupation, campaigners say.
UK one of Israel's largest European trade partners
The UK is one of Israel's largest European trade partners worth just under £6 billion a year.
Campaigners are calling on countries, particularly the UK and those in the EU, to explicitly ban trade with Israeli settlements, including the provision of services and investments.
Banks and financial institutions, they argue, should be barred from offering loans or credit to settlement-based corporations that fund settlement projects.
The International Court of Justice's advisory opinion of July 2024 makes clear that governments permitting trade with the settlement economy are complicit in the maintenance and expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.
Campaigners stress that such trade only serves to legitimize the settlements, despite their illegality under international law and their role as a barrier to peace.
Israel's control over land and resources costs the Palestinian economy billions of dollars each year.
In the West Bank, poverty has risen from 12 to 28 per cent in the past two years, while unemployment has doubled to 35 per cent since October 2023.
Look out for campaign actions you can take in the coming months.
Since being informed of their inclusion in the report, eDreams and Maersk have announced changes to their policies in relation to business activity in illegal Israeli settlements. By the time of publication, Opodo had withdrawn its offerings. These changes are reflected in the report.