The Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group hosted an online briefing on how the UK can learn from settlement trade bans being implemented in the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Spain on Tuesday 7 July.
This event enabled Parliamentarians to hear from experts with knowledge of the drafting and the adoption processes of settlement trade bans in the Netherlands, Belgum, Ireland, and Spain. The speakers will share details of the political and technical process through which the ban is being introduced in their respective countries, so that Parliamentarians can better understand how the UK could join these states committed and put in place a UK ban on settlement trade.
This provided useful context, ahead of the debate on settlements in the UK Parliament on Thursday 9 July.
The event capitalises on an important development at the EU level, as the European Commission is expected to present options on how to restrict imports of goods coming from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of a gathering of EU Foreign Ministers in July. This comes after relentless pressure by the above mentioned member states among others to put forth a concrete proposal on restricting trade with the settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
You can watch in full here:
About the speakers:
Dr. Shahd Hammouri is a Lecturer in International Law and Legal Theory from the Levant region. She is the author of the forthcoming book Corporate War Profiteering and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Dr. Hammouri is also a Non-Resident Fellow at Al-Haq for Applied International Law and a Senior Legal Consultant at Law for Palestine. Her work examines the intersection of public and international economic law from a critical and decolonial perspective.n 2023, she served as an International Legal Consultant, drafting submissions for the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Dr. Hammouri has also made submissions to United Nations Independent Procedures and the International Criminal Court. She has also worked as a researcher and consultant in international law for several civil society organizations, including Chatham House, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Transparency International, Syrian Legal Development, and HEC Paris.
Gerard Jonkman has been Director of The Rights Forum, a leading Dutch human rights and international law organisation, since 2019. Jonkman has worked extensively on issues relating to Israeli settlements, state obligations under international law, and measures to ensure that governments, businesses, and financial institutions do not contribute to the settlement enterprise in occupied Palestinian territory. Since January 2023, Jonkman has contributed to research projects and reports examining the Dutch government's settlement discouragement policy and the responsibilities of states, companies, financial institutions and public bodies in relation to Israel’s settlement enterprise. His work combines legal analysis, policy advocacy, public campaigning and coalition-building at both the Dutch and European levels.
Willem Staes is Coordinator Middle East at Belgian NGO 11.11.11, which operates projects and programs with local CSO partners in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Türkiye. He has been closely involved in ongoing efforts around a Belgian ban on the import of settlement products, and has participated in different parliamentary hearings in the Belgian parliament. The Belgian government announced in September 2025 that it would advance such a national-level ban and is currently in the final stages of the legislative process. Staes is also one of the co-founders of the international “Don’t Buy into Occupation” (DBIO) coalition, which brings together 25 European and Palestinian CSOs and conducts research and advocacy across Europe around the relationships between European (incl UK and Norway) financial institutions and companies operating in the OPT.
Jessica Stober is Legal Director at Global Echo Litigation Center, a non-profit organisation dedicated to pursing strategic litigation worldwide against corporate actors complicit in human rights violations associated with armed conflict and occupation. She is also the author of Global Echo’s recently published report on Israeli settlement agricultural exports to the EU, Importing Occupation.
