The British government has awarded £10.7 million ($14.4 million) in new public-sector contracts to companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite announcing plans to sanction businesses profiting from settlement activity.
An investigation by Al Jazeera found that 18 new contracts were awarded to companies identified by the United Nations as being involved in settlement-related activities, or to subsidiaries of those companies. Importantly, the contracts were published after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced on 8 September that the government would introduce sanctions against businesses and individuals facilitating settlement expansion.
Among the largest recipients were subsidiaries of German building materials company Heidelberg Materials, which secured 14 contracts worth £10.4 million, primarily for roadworks and resurfacing projects in England. Its Israeli subsidiary, Hanson Israel, owns the Nahal Raba quarry in the occupied West Bank, located on land belonging to the Palestinian villages of az-Zawiya and Rafat.
Other contracts included £87,900 awarded to Motorola Solutions and its subsidiaries for police communications, £84,000 to Thomas & Adamson International, a subsidiary of French engineering group Egis, and £98,000 to Breas Medical, owned by Chinese conglomerate Fosun International.
The findings come amid questions over the government's commitment to its announced sanctions regime, which has not yet come into force and could take up to nine months to implement. The government has continued awarding contracts in the meantime.
The UN has identified the companies' parent groups in connection with activities including the use of Palestinian natural resources, the provision of security and surveillance infrastructure, and transport services supporting the existence of settlements.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised the continued awards: “Britain cannot credibly claim that it is imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements while letting contracts continue through the back door.”
The latest findings follow an earlier investigation in August, which identified at least 17 companies linked to illegal settlements holding more than £2.1 billion in UK public-sector contracts.
