The UN includes ACS, Ineco, and CAF on its blacklist of companies doing business in the occupied West Bank.

BarcelonaThe United Nations (UN) has added Florentino Pérez's ACS and the Spanish public company Ingeniería y Economía del Transporte (INECO) to its updated blacklist of companies with ties and business links to Israeli settlements. Nearly 70 more companies have been added to a blacklist of firms from eleven countries that are "complicit in the violation of Palestinian human rights through their business links with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank," according to the ONE.

The new list stems from the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to determine the implications of Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the Palestinian people in the territories occupied by Israel, including East Jerusalem. The document identifies companies that do business deemed favorable to settlements, which many consider illegal under international law.

The report therefore includes a number of companies such as sellers of construction materials and excavators, as well as providers of security, travel, and financial services. The other three Spanish companies included in this document are Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) and Sociedad Española de Montajes Industriales (SEMI), although the latter is a subsidiary of the French company Vinci. Odigeo is removed from the updated eDreams list, as is the French company Alstom; the Dutch companies Kardan and Tahal Group; the British company Opodo; and the Israeli companies Ariel Properties Group and Hadiklaim Israel Date Growers Cooperative.

ACS and Ineco deny relations

A total of 158 companies are included. The UN accuses the companies on the list of "providing equipment or materials that facilitate the construction and maintenance of settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes or properties, as well as surveillance activities, the use of natural resources for commercial purposes, or pollution and dumping." Specifically, Efe reports that the UN notified the affected entities—primarily related to the construction, mining, and quarrying sectors—in writing of the results of its preliminary assessment. Of the 215 companies investigated, 158 were involved in these activities.

Although most are based in Israel, there are also companies from Canada, China, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. ACS sources consulted by Europa Press deny having contracts in the area, either in occupied Palestine or in Israel, and attribute their mention to former industrial subsidiaries sold to the French group Vinci. SEM is one of them.

The public company Ineco also rejects having links or contracts with illegal territories and, they claim, only works in legal territories. The company, which reports to the Ministry of Transport, asserts that since October 2023, following the Hamas attack and Israel's response, they have begun a process of disengaging from the Israeli administration and companies. Meanwhile, the Basque company CAF, with the participation of the Basque government, is involved in a tram that passes through the occupied zone. The company owns 50% of TransJerusalem JNet Ltd., jointly with the Israeli company Shapir. The contract for a tram that partially passes through East Jerusalem was awarded in 2019. Neither company declares itself "firmly committed to business ethics and respect for human rights."