Veolia | International Solidarity Movement

Plea to boycott firms with Israel link

Posted on: November 17, 2009 |

Abbas Al Lawati | Gulf News

17 November 2009

Group urges GCC states to shun Alstom and Veolia involved in Occupied Jerusalem projects

Dubai: A pressure campaign targeted at Gulf states was launched in Occupied Jerusalem on Monday by a coalition of 170 Palestinian organisations urging Arab states to boycott companies complicit in Israel’s expansion in the holy city.

In a rare public pressure campaign, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Palestine, a grouping of Palestinian civil society organisations, has turned its focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is preparing to build a multi-billion dollar railway … Continue reading

Updated on November 17, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
Tags: Alstom, BDS, Global Actions, Jerusalem tramway, Veolia

Palestinian-led movement to boycott Israel is gaining support

Posted on: September 19, 2009 |

Gal Beckerman | Forward

16 September 2009

Uzbekistan-born diamond mogul Lev Leviev announced late in August that his company, Africa-Israel, was drowning in debt of more than $5.5 billion that it could not repay. Over the next two days, shares in the company’s stock plummeted by more than one-third. It was relentless bad news for one of the world’s richest men. His holding and investment company had lost $1.4 billion since 2008, mostly due to failed real estate investments in the United States.

Watching Leviev’s precipitous downfall from the sidelines were pro-Palestinian activists. And they were cheering.

Though certainly not the cause of … Continue reading

Updated on September 19, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
Tags: BDS, Lev Leviev, settlements, Veolia

Derailing injustice: Palestinian civil resistance to the “Jerusalem Light Rail”

Posted on: August 25, 2009 |

Omar Barghoutti | Jerusalem Quarterly

25 August 2009

“I believe that this should be done, and in any event, anything that can be done to strengthen Jerusalem, construct it, expand it and sustain it for eternity as the capital of the Jewish people and the united capital of the State of Israel, should be done.”
Ariel Sharon, August 2005

Introduction

“Swimming against the tide” is regarded by many cultures, including Arab culture, as unwise, if not altogether irrational and desperately futile; swimming against the tide and hoping to reach your desired destination would, then, defy common sense and call into question one’s sanity. … Continue reading

Updated on August 25, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
Tags: BDS, East Jerusalem, Veolia

Veolia likely to abandon rail project

Posted on: June 10, 2009 |

Abbas Al Lawati | Gulf News

9 June 2009

Dubai: One of the two transport companies facing a lawsuit in France for their involvement in a controversial Israeli rail project in occupied East Jerusalem has reportedly planned to withdraw from the project.

French company Veolia Transport is considering the sale of its five per cent stake in the Citypass consortium which is tasked with building the occupied Jerusalem rail link, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The other French company involved in the project is Alstom Transport.

The paper cited observers attributing the move to pressure on the company in Europe and the … Continue reading

Updated on June 10, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
Tags: BDS, East Jerusalem, international law, Veolia

Jerusalem rail operator jumps ship, Tel Aviv group isn’t even responding

Posted on: June 8, 2009 |

Ha’aretz

8 June 2009

The light rail projects for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are both facing difficulties. In a body-blow to the future Jerusalem light rail, the French company Veolia, which was supposed to run the train system after its construction, is abandoning the project.

Moving on to Tel Aviv, the city can’t even get a response to the compromise it offered MTS, the consortium supposed to build an urban train system, in order to settle issues in dispute. It’s waited a month and gotten no answer, causing not a little consternation in government circles.

As for the Jerusalem system, Veolia not … Continue reading

Updated on June 8, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
Tags: BDS, East Jerusalem, Global Actions, Veolia

Prevent Alstom from building the Haramain Express Railway

Posted on: June 6, 2009 |

Saudi Arabia awarded French company Alstom a multi-million dollar contract for the construction of Haramain Express Railway, to link the holy cities of Makkah and Madina. Alstom is in violation of international law for its part in the construction of the Jerusalem Light Rail, which will link illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (including East Jerusalem) with the city of Jerusalem. The construction of the light rail is part of a wider Israeli policy to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians from Jerusalem and turn permanent the illegal occupation of the city.

The decision by the Saudi Arabian authorities is in … Continue reading

Updated on June 6, 2009
Posted under: Press Releases
Tags: Action Alert, BDS, East Jerusalem, Global Actions, international law, Veolia

Palestine urges withdrawal of rail contract

Posted on: May 31, 2009 |

Abbas Al Lawati | Gulf News

31 May 2009

Dubai: Palestinian officials have intensified diplomatic efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to withdraw a multibillion dollar rail contract awarded to a firm alleged to be complicit in Israel’s expansion in Occupied East Jerusalem, Gulf News has learnt.

Palestinian National Authority officials have said that they are in talks with the Saudis to find ways to block the Occupied Jerusalem light rail project.

The light rail project will link Occupied West Jerusalem to Occupied East Jerusalem and Jewish colonies in the Occupied West Bank when completed.

It has been described by Israeli leaders as the … Continue reading

Updated on May 31, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
Tags: BDS, East Jerusalem, settlements, Veolia

The Israel boycott is biting

Posted on: May 1, 2009 |

Nadia Hijab | Agence Global

30 April 2009

On May 4, protesters will greet Motorola shareholders, already disgruntled by the company’s losses, as they arrive for their annual meeting at the Rosemont Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

The protest, organized by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, is part of a drive to “Hang Up On Motorola” until it ends sales of communications and other products that support Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian land.

Inside the meeting, the Presbyterian, United Methodist and other churches will urge shareholders to support their resolution, which calls for corporate standards grounded in international law. Doing … Continue reading

Updated on May 1, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
Tags: BDS, international law, Motorola, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Veolia

Veolia loses another contract in Bordeaux

Posted on: April 16, 2009 |

The Big Campaign

14 April 2009

The transportation branch of the French multinational corporation Veolia loses a contract worth 750 million euros in Bordeaux.

The Greater Bordeaux local government give a contract for the management of the biggest urban network in France to Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF over Veolia. Veolia has been involved in the construction of a tramway in Jerusalem, designed to link West Jerusalem with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Veolia has now lost … Continue reading