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Swedish locks group to review possible move of West Bank plant

STOCKHOLM - Assa Abloy, a locks and security solutions group based in Sweden, said Tuesday it would consider moving a plant out of an industrial zone in an Israeli-occupied portion of the Palestinian West Bank after receiving criticism from Swedish human rights groups.

A group of Swedish human rights organizations earlier Tuesday published a report criticizing the company for operating the plant in the disputed zone in the town of Barkan.

The report, Illegal Ground: Assa Abloy's Business in Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the plant ‘contravenes both domestic Israeli law and a number of provisions in international law.’

The groups - the Christian charity Diakonia, the watchdog Swedwatch, and Church of Sweden Aid - said that ‘according to international humanitarian law all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory are illegal, whether built on state or private land.’

The groups citedsolutions by, among others, the United Nations Security Council, and statements by the International Court of Justice. They further argued that the settlements were ‘counterproductive’ to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

According to the report, Barkan is part of the Israeli settlement of Ariel, located 40 kilometres east of Tel Aviv.

The rights groups also called for ‘an independent investigation’ concerning the ownership of the land where the plant was built.

Assa Abloy was urged to halt ‘all investments’ in the plant and move it to ‘Israel or any other location that does not disrespect international legislation.’

Assa Abloy spokeswoman Ann Holmberg told Deutsche Presse-Agentur

DPA that it was not possible to say when an internal review on possibly relocating the plant would be completed.

The plant has some 100 employees, Holmberg said. She added that the plant was set up in 1984 by Assa Abloy's Israeli subsidiary Mul- T-Lock, which the Swedish group acquired in 2000.