The SNP welcomed UN Security Council Resolution 2334 in December 2016 which underlined that the establishment of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has no legal validity. This sends a clear signal that the expansion of illegal settlements within the West Bank are an obstruction to the pursuit of a successful peace process in the region.
The SNP strongly discourages trade with companies active in the Occupied Territories, and the Scottish Government has issued formal procurement advice to public bodies to reinforce this.
We believe that the continuation of the blockade in Gaza is exacerbating the suffering experienced by the people there and tantamount to collective punishment. The SNP Scottish Government stressed this during the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in July 2014.
The SNP is deeply concerned about Palestinian children detained through the Israeli military court system. We believe Israel must incorporate the principle and provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol on children and armed conflict into its domestic legal system. We urge the UK Government to take up reports of ill-treatment of children in custody and to demand immediate action from the Israeli Government to behave in line with international law, in this and other respects.
The SNP Scottish Government has committed to always consider the human rights implications of its engagement with countries and business and to ensure that investment agreements should only be signed where appropriate due diligence, including on the human rights record of companies involved, has been undertaken. The SNP Scottish Government is now engaging with Amnesty International to put these commitments into practice. SNP MPs will demand that the UK government follows the lead of the Scottish Government in this area.