ImpACT International for Human Rights Policies sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urging her to take urgent action against the UAE's investment in institutions that operate in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In the message - which was published on Sunday on its website and account on Facebook - the organization warned Bachelet of the dangerous repercussions of encouraging investment in illegal settlements, noting that this leads to widespread confiscation of Palestinian lands, and deprives them of their right to self-determination.
The letter reviewed a number of Emirati investments that encourage settlement, including the so-called "Abraham Fund" to develop Israeli military barriers in the occupied territories, according to the normalization agreement signed by the UAE and Israel on September 15 in Washington under American auspices.
Impact - which is based in London - said that the UAE is thus contributing to the violations that Palestinians are exposed to by the occupation forces at military checkpoints, which include humiliation and repeated attacks.
The letter called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to expand the list that she had previously issued of companies that invest in settlements, to include any other entities, including Emirati companies, that are now investing in the economic fabric of Israeli settlements.
The organization also urged Bachelet to call on the UAE to abide by international humanitarian law when it imports Israeli products, so that it refrains from accepting settlement products.
In order not to support Israel in expanding its occupation of the Palestinian lands.
In the same letter, the researcher, Ottavia Siani, expressed the human rights organization’s concern about the acceleration of Abu Dhabi’s investments in commercial projects in Israeli settlements.
She pointed out that the Emirati investment and purchase operations include the settlement products of wine, tahini, olive oil and honey.
Impact stated that the Dubai-based FAM Holding Company signed a deal this month with companies operating in Israeli settlements to export these products to the UAE.
At the end of last October, the wines of the occupied Syrian Golan settlements began to be promoted in Dubai, according to an agreement between an Israeli factory and an Emirati company, and the agreement provides for the promotion of these wines later throughout the Emirates.