A Dutch pension fund has stopped investing in five Israeli banks because they are financing Jewish settlements and have branches in the West Bank. PGGM was withdrawing on the basis of UN resolutions which have defined the settlements as illegal, the newspaper 'Haaretz' reported, and this report was confirmed by PGGM spokesman Wout Dekker.
Dekker said the decision followed years of discussions with the banks. PGGM said it considers settlements unethical due to the International Court of Justice's 2004 advisory opinion that found the settlements violated Palestinian rights. He added that the Israeli banks had argued they couldn't change their policies due to practical reasons and Israeli law.
Several Dutch companies recently pulled out of Israeli investments. Water company Vitens ended an alliance with Israel's state-owned water company Mekorot and civil engineering group HaskoningDHV pulled out of a water purification plant project in eastern Jerusalem.
PGGM manages the pensions of 2.5 million people and is the biggest pension fund in the Netherlands.
