A man walks past graffiti reading ‘Victory to Palestine’ after Ireland has announced it will recognize a Palestinian state, in Dublin, Ireland, May 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Ireland aims to pass a law curbing goods traded with Israeli settlements in the West Bank by mid-July with Israel, some US lawmakers, and business groups opposing the move, Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said on Tuesday.

Ireland‘s government, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, first promised to sanction Israeli settlements in October 2024. The legislation has since been held up by pressure from opposition politicians who aimed to extend the ban also to services trade, on one side, and international company lobbyists seeking to scrap the bill, on the other.

Sources told Reuters last October that the bill was set to be limited to goods. Prime Minister Micheal Martin confirmed that last week and said widening the scope to services was neither “implementable” nor “viable.”

Limiting the bill to goods only will impact just a handful of products imported from Israeli settlements such as fruit that are worth just 200,000 euros ($234,660) a year, Ireland‘s Central Statistics Office said.

Business groups warned that the wider category of services could pull foreign multinational companies into unworkable sanctions.

“We have consistently advocated for a peaceful solution … but it’s very clear from the actions taken most recently by the Israeli government, but in particular the continued increase in settler violence, the escalation in settler violence in the West Bank, the continued violence in Lebanon, that they have no desire to take this particular road,” McEntee told reporters.

Israel’s right-wing governing coalition has enabled a rapid expansion of settlements, which much of the international community considers illegal under international law.

Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the area. It says the settlements provide strategic depth and security. Defenders of Israel also note that, while about one-fifth of the country’s population is Arab and enjoys equal rights, Palestinian law forbids selling any land to Israelis.

McEntee said last week she hoped to pass the law in tandem with Belgium, the Netherlands, and possibly Slovenia, which have also committed to introducing bans. Spain has already introduced similar curbs, the only European Union member to so far do so.

A group of US lawmakers wrote to Martin last year, warning that passing the bill would damage US-Irish relations and impact American companies in Ireland.

Ireland is particularly sensitive to pressure from the US as mainly US-owned foreign multinationals are a major part of the economy and employ around 11% of Irish workers.