UN defers report on firms with Israeli settlement ties

A United Nations report on establishing a database of companies with business interests in Israeli settlements in the West Bank is set to be delayed until later this year, diplomats and activists say.
It was to have been presented at a session opening Feb. 27, but will be deferred for months, at least until September,

Jeremie Smith, director of the Geneva office of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said: “We've heard unofficial reports that there is strong pressure by states who did not support the creation of this database to try to delay its release and bury its findings."