"Trading with Illegal Settlements: How Foreign States and Corporations Enable Israel’s Illegal Settlement Enterprise", September 2025

Israel’s illegal settlement project has fragmented the West Bank and destroyed the Palestinian economy, resulting in widespread poverty and suffering...

Despite the devastating humanitarian impact and illegality of Israeli settlements under international law, foreign states continue to support Israeli settlements...

Israel has occupied the Palestinian West Bank, (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 War....

Today, there are over 700,000 Israeli settlers and hundreds of settlements located in occupied Palestinian territory—the majority of them in Area C of the West Bank...

Israeli settlements control over 42% of the West Bank’s total land, confiscated from Palestinian communities, along with the majority of the region’s water resources...

The agricultural sector—historically serving as the backbone of the Palestinian economy—has experienced severe disruptions due to settlement expansion. Palestinian farmers have lost significant amounts of agricultural land to settlement construction and associated security infrastructure, driving long-term economic devastation...

Since 1967, over 800,000 olive trees have been uprooted by Israeli forces and settlers...

Israeli settlers consume an average of 247 litres of water per day, while Palestinians in the West Bank on average consume 82.4 litres—which is far below the World Health Organization’s recommended 100-litre minimum...

Due to heavy subsidisation of Israeli companies operating in settlements, settlement produced products are artificially cheaper...

The European Union (EU) and its member states represent Israel’s largest trading bloc, and the policies of these states continue to financially support and normalise the settlement economy...

Foreign corporations, through the supply of construction equipment, can play a key role in the construction of illegal settlements and related infrastructure, and the demolition of Palestinian homes, enabling the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities and the expansion of Israeli control over the occupied territory....

[Oxfam] supports calls for the European Union, the United Kingdom and others in the international community more broadly to implement laws that ban all trade, including investments and the provision of services, with businesses that are based in or operate from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. [Oxfam] believes that any trade with Israeli settlements legitimises their presence on illegally occupied territory, undermines the viability of a future Palestinian state, and exacerbates the poverty of Palestinians...

All companies and financial institutions mentioned in its 2024 report were given the opportunity to review the results and provide input on the findings as well as on their approach to human rights due diligence. Annex 2, available on the DBIO website, includes the responses of companies and financial institutions that agreed to have their response mentioned in the report. Following the same methodology, our research team ensured another round of Opportunity to Comment (OTC) for the companies that were selected to feature in this final report. The OTC was conducted in the period 21 May-4 June 2025.