Project 'Business on Illegal Ground' was launched by DanWatch in 2010. The aim was to investigate Danish companies' relations to the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Among others, we undertook a study of Danish imports of fruits and vegetables from the settlements. The study showed that Danish supermarkets and restaurants sell fruit and vegetables that are - or may be - grown in illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

Israel has a relatively large export of fruit and vegetables to Denmark. And it has previously been documented that a number of the largest Israeli exporters of fruits and vegetables also buy from produceneter in settlements. Therefore DanWatch in the winter of 2010/11 checked the packaging of fruit and vegetables in Danish supermarkets and vegetable wholesalers in order to investigate their origin. For the most part it has been possible to see whether the goods come from Israel, and the exporter behind. In the cases we have investigated whether the exporter may have bought the product of a settlement. In some cases we have been able to find the name of the producer. In these cases we have been able to determine with certainty whether the product is made in a settlement.

The project 'Business on Illegal Ground' also investigates the Danish-British G4S delivery of security services to settlements, checkpoints and prisons in the West Bank.