Palestine urges European firms to stop trading with Israeli settlements

Palestine has called on the European governments to forbid their companies from trading with Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party said in a statement.

"It is time for the European governments to implement international law on stopping all kinds of commercial dealings with Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement issued on Wednesday as saying.

On Monday night, American ice-cream giant, Ben & Jerry's announced that it will end the sale of its products in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), saying it was " inconsistent with our values".

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has controlled them ever since.

The Jewish settlements are considered a violation of international law by most of the international community.-IANS