Non-aligned states want sanctions on Israel By Shlomo Shamir
NEW YORK - The Non-Aligned Movement last week urged all of its members to act "individually or collectively" to impose sanctions both against Israeli settlements and against international companies that participate in settlement activity, including construction of the separation fence.
The 115-member movement, whose foreign ministers met last week in Durban, South Africa, said in its final document that it wanted the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution chastising Israel and to take other measures to force Israel to stop building the 600-kilometer fence, which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in July.
The group also urged the Security Council to establish a register of damages caused by the wall and then require Israel to pay reparations.
"With regard to member states, the ministers called upon them to undertake measures ... to prevent any products of illegal Israeli settlements from entering their markets," the statement said. It also called on them "to decline entry to Israeli settlers and to impose sanctions against companies and entities involved in the construction of the wall and other illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian territory."
Diplomats at the UN in New York termed the document "one of the gravest" ever issued against Israel, even though it is strictly declarative and does not bind the movement's members, and said that it demonstrates the negative effect that the ICJ's ruling is liable to have on Israel's diplomatic position.
However, African and South American countries frequently ignore Non- Aligned Movement resolutions adopted under the influence of Arab and Muslim states, and it is considered particularly unlikely that the measures described would be implemented by movement members with which Israel maintains full diplomatic relations.
Diplomats said the idea of having member states bar settlers from entering their countries seemed especially far-fetched, since there is no way to distinguish settlers from other Israelis.