Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Brussels City Council bars procurement of Israeli settlement products, PTB supports, while MR and N-VA abstain; emphasizing adherence to standards.
Brussels City Council passed a motion unanimously to bar public procurement of products forming in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with the MR and N-VA parties abstaining. The city’s First Alderman Benoît Hellings (Ecolo) argued that following checks at the City’s Purchasing Centre and Brussels Catering, no reserved products currently originate from any such areas.
The PTB party, which supported the majority motion, had suggested a motion to sever both economic and political links until Israel “complies with international law.” The council offered a more city-focused text, regarding its public procurement which incurs almost €70 million in annual expenses for the capital’s central municipality.
The motion requests the mayor and alderman to provide future public contracts that do not benefit companies that don’t respect international, human, environmental, social and labour freedoms. According to Hellings, this could pertain to other parts of the world as well.
The motion also explicitly asks that potential bidders be allowed to present evidence demonstrating their adherence to these standards.
In Past Western Bloc Urges Israel to Halt Destruction of Palestinian Schools
Last February. A Western bloc of countries including Belgium has urged Israel to immediately cease destroying Palestinian schools and confiscating homes and property in the occupied West Bank.
Israel must respect its commitment as an occupying power to ensure the right to education of the occupied Palestinian population, a 13-country bloc of mostly European countries stated. The joint statement was published by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, together with the EU and the Palestinian Ministry of Education.
Since 7 October, brutality has further increased in the West Bank, including with the persistent demolition of Palestinian infrastructure – a large part of which is supported by European countries. “Palestinian schools in Area C – including those financed by donors – remain vulnerable to Israeli destructions and settler violence,” the statement reads. “Palestinian children’s right to schooling is undermined by Israel’s planning and zoning scheme in Area C which contains Palestinian development and construction of schools in Area C.”
The statement summons a reversal of the determination made by the Israeli Civil Administration to destroy a donor-funded school in Amera, Hebron, which will depart 39 Palestinian schoolchildren denied their basic right to education. The closest alternative schools are around 5km away, which seriously affects the right to education of many helpless students.
“Without adequate transport, students must make the long journey by foot, revealed to settler attacks, a heavily trafficked road and rough weather,” the countries stated. “Under these conditions, girls and children with disabilities in special are at a high risk of dropping out.”
Since 2022, Israeli authorities have destroyed three donor-funded schools. In addition, three donor-funded schools have been damaged by Israeli settlers and are currently not operational, according to the statement.
In this context, the Western coalition urges Israel “to cease the policy of settlement construction and growth, of designating land for exclusive Israeli usage and of denying Palestinian development.” Failure to do so especially undermines a two-state solution and is a significant impediment to peace and security, the coalition highlights. Belgium has been a large funder of education in Palestine since 2000. Between 2010 and 2020, it disbursed in one programme alone over €38 million on school building and rehabilitation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It has also been involved in funding projects on curriculums and school books, work-based learning ambitions and teacher training.
