LJUBLJANA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Slovenian government announced on Wednesday a prohibition on imports of goods from illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a step intended to put more pressure on Israel to end its war on Gaza.
Slovenia’s government has frequently criticized Israel over its war in Gaza and last year recognized a Palestinian state as part of efforts to end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible.
“The actions of the Israeli government … constitute serious and repeated violations of international humanitarian law,” the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
Slovenia “cannot and must not be part of a chain that enables or overlooks” such violations, it said, including the “construction of illegal settlements, expropriations, and the forced evictions of the Palestinian population.”
The Slovenian government, therefore, decided to “ban imports of goods originating from Israeli illegal settlements.”
It described its move as a “clear reaction to the Israeli government’s policy, which … undermines the possibilities for lasting peace and a two-state solution.”
“While symbolic,” the ban “is a necessary response to the ongoing humanitarian and security situation in Gaza,” Slovenia’s foreign minister Tanja Fajon said of the measure.
The government said that it was also examining a ban on exports of goods from Slovenia “destined for illegal settlements,” saying that it would also “decide on further measures.”
Early in July, Slovenia was the first EU country to ban two far-right Israeli ministers from entering the country.
It declared both Israeli ministers “persona non grata,” accusing them of inciting “extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians” with “their genocidal statements.”
