UK SUPERMARKET SHUNS ISRAELI-SETTLEMENT GOODS

LONDON, U.K. - The Co-Operative Group, a British supermarket chain, is extending a boycott of goods from illegal Israeli settlements and will now shun any supplier known to source from these areas, a statement has said.
"Following an audit of the Group's supply chain, it will no longer do business with four companies, accounting for £350,000 ($560,000) worth of sales, as there is evidence that they source from the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories," the statement said.

• The UK's fifth-largest food retailer has not bought goods from the settlements since 2009, it said, but does trade with about 20 Israeli businesses that do not source from the settlements.
• "The Group will also continue to actively work to increase trade links with Palestinian businesses in the occupied territories," it added.

The UN Human Rights Council in March passed a resolution ordering a first investigation into how Israeli settlements may be infringing on the rights of the Palestinians.
Israel approved another three settlements in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a move that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said left him "deeply troubled".
The three outposts will now join some 120 settlements dotted across the territory that are home to more than 342,000 people.

Source: Agency