The Fund said that the decision against Catpeberler and five Israeli banks because of their contribution “in serious violations of rights in war and conflict situations.”
The Norwegian wealth fund, which costs $ 2 trillion, the largest in the world, has disposed of the American building equipment giant to involve the alleged company in violations of the rights committed by the Israeli army in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The Norwegian Central Bank said on Monday that it decided to exclude Catpeberler from the fund, which is run, “because of the unacceptable risks that companies will contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals to war and conflict situations.”
The Fund also announced that it had disposed of five Israeli banks, based on the recommendation of the Ethics Council.
In a statement, the Ethics Council said that “the bulldozers made by Catpeberler are used by the Israeli authorities in the extensive destruction of Palestinian property.”
“There is no doubt that Catpeberler products are used to commit widespread and methodological violations of international humanitarian law,” the council said.
He added that Catpeberler “had not been carried out any measures to prevent this use” by the Israeli authorities.
Before withdrawing, the fund kept 1.17 percent in Caterpillar with a value of $ 2.1 billion as of June 30, according to the fund’s data.
The five banks mentioned in the Fund statement were Habayywim, Bakka Li -Daily, Mizraray Tivahot Bank, Israel First International and Baby.
The Ethics Council said that the excluded banks were, “by providing financial services, which are a basic condition necessary for construction activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem … has contributed to preserving Israeli settlements.”
The council said: “Settlements were created in a violation of international law, and its continued existence constitutes a continuous violation of international law.”
Only last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the Israeli settlements built on the Palestinian territories that were seized in 1967 must end “as quickly as possible”, as it was “established and preserved in a violation of international law.”
Last week, 21 countries signed a joint statement condemning Israel’s plans to build an illegal settlement on an area of 12 square kilometers (4.6 miles) of the land east of Jerusalem Known as “East 1” or “E1”.
The huge construction, which imagines 3400 new homes for Israeli settlers, cuts most of the occupied West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem.
The Israeli Finance Minister in Israel, Bezallil Smotrich, said that the extent of the settlement and its cutting into the Palestinian territories would bury the possibility of a Palestinian state in the future “because there is nothing that must be recognized and no one is recognized.”
The shares of the Norwegian Fund in the five Israeli banks were evaluated at $ 661 million, according to the fund’s data.
Caterpillar, Hapoalim, First International Bank of ISRAEL and Bank Leumi immediately responded to requests via email to comment by Reuters news agency.
On August 18, the Fund announced that it will be separated from six companies as part of the continuous morals review of the war in Gaza and the situation in the occupied West Bank, but at that time he refused to name any groups until their shares were sold in entities.
The fund is invested in about 8,400 companies worldwide.
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