Every day Palestinian men, women, and children are harassed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and families are expelled from their homes to make way for new illegal settlements. For decades, the world has condemned this brutal occupation, but Israel has ignored those calls. Finally, the EU has voted to make Israel pay a price for breaking international law, but our leaders are being strong-armed to withdraw their plan, and now urgently need us to support their bold move.

The EU has just published new guidelines to clarify that no EU funds should be given to entities operating in the settlements. This will make sure that not a single one of our tax euros contributes to Israel’s settlement expansion policy. This is a hugely important move. So much so that Israel and its best ally, the US, are fighting tooth and nail to get the EU to water down the guidelines’ implementation. But we can counter that pressure and make clear that we, European taxpayers, support the right policy and don’t want to be accomplices to this brutal occupation.

These guidelines could be pivotal to making Israel understand that the world will no longer tolerate their settlement expansion policy. We know Avaaz's push last year to get Europe to back Palestinian statehood at the UN was crucial for the win. Let's make sure our leaders hear us again before negotiations begin in days. Sign the petition now to tell EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and other EU leaders to stand strong -- then tell everyone.