A: ATFP is unequivocally committed to a two-state solution, and is opposed to the occupation but not to Israel. Therefore, ATFP supports boycotting settlement goods, products and investments. Because settlement activities violate international law and are illegitimate, the economic proceeds of this project, or funding it, also cannot be considered legitimate. Moreover, settlements diminish the prospects for a Palestinian state and for peace. However ATFP does not support boycotts of Israel in general, because we support a two-state solution, and believe that such boycotts conflate Israel itself with the illegitimate settlements. ATFP believes such a conflation is likely to encourage mainstream Israeli society to identify or feel more solidarity with the settler movement, thereby weakening the constituency for a two-state solution.

ATFP believes that the approach to this issue that is being developed by the European Union and some key individual European governments, as an alternative to the "BDS movement," is the most effective and rational response to Israel's ongoing illegitimate settlement activities. They are increasingly taking the approach that while they enjoy strong multilateral and bilateral relations with the State of Israel in its internationally recognized borders, they will not fund, finance, or cooperate in any way with the occupation and the settlement project. ATFP believes that this approach is firmly rooted in international law and the international consensus, and that it will help to promote a two-state peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.

 

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American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017