"Palestinians appeal to the diamond industry", 30 January 2020

Palestinian civil society organisations, groups and individuals working for justice and peace in the Middle East call upon..the diamond industry not to attend the International Diamond Week in Israel February 10th-12th 2020. 

On December 20th, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court...concluded there is reasonable basis to believe Israeli forces committed war crimes during the 2014 assault on Gaza which resulted in the deaths of over 2250 people mainly civilian including over 550 children. [T]he Israeli diamond industry [allegedly] sponsored...equipment sent to soldiers committing suspected war crimes. According to Israeli political economist Shir Hever, "...Every time you buy an Israeli diamond some of that money ends up in the Israeli military”.

In November 2019...the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme failed to broaden the definition of a “conflict diamond” which is restricted to rough diamonds that fund rebel violence.  As a result, diamonds that are a significant source of funding for government forces guilty of grave human rights violations continue to flood the market. [Israel] blocked a previous attempt to broaden the definition. 

[Signatories to this call urge]...jewellers and consumers...[to] avoid diamonds from Israel until such time as Israel respects Palestinians'...inalienable rights and international law.The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights...require...business enterprises [to] “[s]eek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts”.