Tag: Canada

Bil’in villagers appeal Canadian court

Dan Izenberg | The Jerusalem Post

21 October 2009

Farmers from Bil’in, 12 km. west of Ramallah, are continuing their efforts in Canada to obtain a court order instructing two building companies registered and domiciled in Quebec to stop all apartment construction on land they maintain belongs to them, a Toronto lawyer representing them said on Tuesday by conference call during a press conference in Jerusalem.
Map of the Bil’in area.

The lawyer, Mark Arnold, said that on Monday, he had filed an appeal against the September 18 ruling of Quebec Superior Court Judge Louis-Paul Cullen, dismissing a civil action suit by the plaintiffs on the grounds that the claims should be heard by the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem.

The suit was filed against Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc., which were originally slated to build 3,000 housing units in East Matityahu, a neighborhood in the Modi’in Illit settlement. As a result of a court decision that shifted the route of the West Bank security barrier in the area, the companies are now set to build a total of 2,000 units, including 500 that are already completed and others currently under construction.

Arnold explained that the legal action is based on the fact that, unlike in Israel, the Geneva Conventions have been incorporated into Canadian Law. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is forbidden for the occupying power to transfer citizens of its own country to the occupied territory. Since the two construction companies are based in Canada and are allegedly violating Canadian law, the case brought by the Bil’in farmers ought to be heard in a Canadian court of law, he said.

The lawsuit against the two construction companies marks the first time that Israeli and Palestinian human rights and social action organizations have fought a legal battle against Israeli settlement building in a foreign country.

In the appeal against Cullen’s decision, Arnold argued that the judge had erred in several ways. First of all, the High Court of Justice only hears petitions aimed against the State of Israel. Second, the High Court has repeatedly refused to rule on questions involving the legality of the settlements, on the grounds that the issue is not justiciable.

He also rejected Cullen’s argument that the connection between the construction companies and Quebec was “merely superficial,” given the fact that the defendants are registered and domiciled in Quebec.

Attorney Michael Sfard, who represents the Bil’in village council here, said it was important to take action against private individuals and companies that help the state in its actions that violate international humanitarian law.

Palestinian village of Bil’in seeks justice in Canada

As part of the Village’s campaign against the construction of settlements on their lands, Bil’in has filed an unprecedented legal claim in Canada against two Canadian companies and their Canadian director. The claim arises from the construction of apartment buildings and the marketing and selling of residential units in the Modi’in Illit settlement which is built, in part, on the lands belonging to Bil’in. The lawsuit has been filed in the Canadian Province of Quebec where those companies and their director are registered and live.

The lawsuit is based on Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own population into the territory occupied. That Article expressly forms part of Canadian law under its Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act and Geneva Conventions Act. Bil’in has strongly submitted that Canadian courts are an appropriate forum to adjudicate on the conduct of Canadian companies in the Occupied West Bank under International humanitarian Law, including Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In June 2009, the Green Park Companies brought Preliminary Dismissal Motions before the Quebec Superior Court sitting in Montreal. In Reasons released on September 18, 2009, Justice Louis-Paul Cullen decided that the Israeli High Court of Justice was a more appropriate court to hear the case against these Canadian companies and their Canadian director on a legal principle known as “forum non conveniens”. Judge Cullen dismissed the case. In so doing however, the Quebec Court affirmed, for the first time in Canadian law, the principle of corporate civil liability for breaches of International Humanitarian law.

An appeal to the Quebec Court of Appeal from the decision of the Quebec Superior Court declining jurisdiction on the basis of forum non conveniens will be filed in Montreal by Bil’in’s Canadian Legal Counsel, Mark Arnold, on October 19, 2009. The appeal alleges that the Quebec Superior Court made grievous legal and factual errors in declining jurisdiction because Israeli courts have consistently ruled that the question of the legality of settlements under the Fourth Geneva Convention to be a matter of politics that the Israeli High Court of Justice will not hear. The appeal also alleges numerous other factual errors.

The Bil’in case raises major issues about the use of the legal system in Israel and internationally to achieve justice within the reality of the Occupation. In addition, and in light of the recent Goldstone report, which raises the question of impunity within the Israeli legal system, and the country’s accountability in international forums to center stage, this case is extremely important for Israeli, Palestinian and world jurisprudence with respect to the application of International humanitarian Law to conflicts arising from war.

What
The Palestinian Village of Bil’in has filed an appeal to a Canadian Court against two Canadian companies involved in settlement construction on their land
Where
B’Tselem conference room, 8 Hata’asiya St, Talpiyot Industrial Park, Jerusalem
When
Tuesday, October 20th 2:00 pm
Who
Adv. Mark Arnold, Bil’in’s Canadian Legal Counsel will speak via video conference from Toronto about the case, its precedent-setting significance, and the recently submitted appeal.
Adv. Michael Sfard, Bil’in’s Israeli attorney will speak about the village’s cases in the Israeli court system, and the decision to pursue the course of universal jurisdiction.
Statements will also be given on behalf of the Bil’in Popular Committee and the Al Haq Palestinian human rights organization

MOHAMMED KHATIB’S STATEMENT

First, I would like to thank you for coming here today, even though I myself am barred from being here because of the Israeli policy of closure.

Recently, following the Goldstone report, there has been a lot of talk around Israel’s refusal or inability to adhere to, and implement international law, and the resulting impunity. For me, this is not an abstract matter. In February of 2005, Israel began building its so called separation wall on my village’s lands. Israel has done so despite the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion the previous year deeming the wall – in its entirety – illegal.

My village has exhausted every option we could possibly come up with in fighting this unjust evil. Together with our Israeli and international partners, we have launched an ongoing campaign of civic resistance, for which we have paid dearly: dozens were and are jailed – I myself saw the inside of a prison cell. Hundreds were injured, and one, my friend Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed. He was killed for nothing more than demonstrating peacefully.

In our search for justice we have also turned to the Israeli High Court, which despite refusing to take on the issue of settlements, was willing to take on the issue of the wall. In its ruling, the court has pronounced the path of the wall on our land illegal, and pointed to the fact that it was planned to allow the expansion of the neighboring settlement, Modi’in Illit. It had also ordered the rerouting of this wall in a less harmful way, that will return *some* of our lands back.

It has been two years now since this ruling, and even this very partial change, had not yet materialized. The wall remains on our land, in its original path. Meanwhile, the settlement behind this wall continues to grow, in clear Israeli contempt of international law. Obama or no Obama the construction of 84 new residential units was approved just last month by Ehud Bark, the Israeli minister of defense.

In turning abroad, to the Canadian court today, and to others in the future, we hope to find a way to breach Israeli impunity; to find a way to realize justice and our rights. It is a way for us to sustain our belief in civic and grassroots action, and hope that our sacrifices have not been in vain.

Thank you all for coming here today

* Mohammed Khatib Bil’in is the secretary of Bil’in’s Village Council and a leading member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements

AL-HAQ’s STATEMENT

Al-Haq is disappointed that its representatives could not be here to join you in this press conference due to the policies of the Israeli occupation. While these policies impact us on a daily basis, we will never accept them, as the people of Bil’in will never accept the theft of their land.

Al-Haq is privileged to have the chance to fight for justice alongside the resilient villagers of Bil’in and the brave legal team of Mr. Sfard and Mr. Arnold. As long as we continue to pursue justice there will be hope for Bil’in, as well as all Palestinians struggling for their right to self-determination.

This case is another example of that pursuit for justice. We are confident in the appeal, as it is clear that the Israeli judicial system cannot serve as the forum for achieving justice for Palestinians.

We stand ready to raise the issue of corporate accountability and work with lawyers anywhere in the world to hold corporations accountable for their complicity in the policies of the Israeli occupation and the breaches of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory.

* Al-Haq is a Palestinian human rights organization
Al-Haq is an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based in Ramallah, West Bank, which holds a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. http://www.alhaq.org

Support Bil’in amidst the ongoing Israeli arrest and intimidation campaign

Support Bil’in’s struggle

“Just as a simple man named Ghandi led the successful non-violent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bil’in are leading a non-violent struggle that will bring them their freedom. The South Africa experience proves that injustice can be dismantled.”
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu, during a visit to Bil’in on 27 August 2009

The Israeli military’s most recent attempt to crush Bil’in village’s ongoing popular non-violent resistance campaign against the Apartheid Wall is a wave of night raids and arrests targeting protesters and the leadership of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.

The recent raids began concurrently with the opening of a legal trial in Montreal.  The village of Bil’in has taken two companies registered in Canada (Green Park International & Green Mount International) to court for participating in war crimes by building settlements on Bil’in’s land under the 2000 Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute  (which incorporates both the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute into Canadian federal law).

According to Bil’in’s attorney Emily Schaeffer, the judge Justice Louis-Paul Cullen is meant to give a decision very soon about whether the Canadian court has jurisdiction to hear Bil’in’s claims.

Since the trail began Israeli forces have arrested 30 people (most of which are under 18). Twenty-one residents of Bil’in remain in Israeli detention.

Through Israel’s interrogation and intimidation tactics, some of arrested youth have falsely ‘confessed’ that the Bil’in Popular Committee urges the demonstrators to throw stones. With such ‘confessions’, Israeli forces then proceed to raid the village at night , invade homes and arrest leaders of the non-violent struggle in the community.

Two of the three popular committee members who traveled to Montreal to represent the villages case , Mohammad Khatib and Mohammad Abu Rahme were arrested and have since been released on bail. (see B’Tselem report: http://www.btselem.org/english/separation_barrier/20090818_night_arrests_in_bilin.asp).

Another leading Bil’in non-violent activist, Adeeb Abu Rahme, remains in detention since his arrest during a non-violent demonstration on 10 July 2009 (see report & video: https://palsolidarity.org/2009/07/7652. Adib has been charged with “incitement to damage the security of the area.”

On 29 August 2009, two additional Bil’in houses were simultaneously raided by at least 40 soldiers, arresting Ashraf Al-Khatib (age 29) and Hamru Bornat (age 24). A local cameraman, Haitham Al-Khatib, brother of the arrested Hamru, was repeatedly forcibly moved and hit, and threatened with arrest unless he stopped filming. Soldiers declared his home a “closed military zone” but could not produce any military order.

What can you do?
Attempts to criminalize the leadership of non-violent protests where curbed in the past with the help of an outpouring of support from people committed to justice from all over the world.

  1. Please protest by contacting your political representatives, as well as your consuls and ambassadors to Israel to demand that Israel stops targeting non-violent popular resistance and release Adib Abu Rahme and all Bil’in prisoners.
  2. The Popular Committee of Bil’in is in desperate need for funds in order to pay legal fees both for the trail in Montréal and for representing the arrested protesters in the military courts and bail.Please donate to the Bil’in legal fund through PayPal. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation in the US or Canada contact: bilinlegal@gmail.com.

    The Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements

Background
The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular struggle. For almost 5 years, its residents have been continuously struggling against the de facto annexation of more than 50% of their farmlands, confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

In a celebrated decision, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on the 4 September 2007 that the current route of the wall in Bil’in was illegal and needs to be dismantled; the ruling however has not been implemented. The struggle of the village to liberate its lands and stop the illegal settlements has been internationally recognized and has earned the popular committee in Bil’in the Carl von Ossietzky Meda award.

Bil’in vs. Green Park

Corporate Watch

24 July 2009

The Green Park construction company is engaged in building illegal settlements in the West Bank, notably, the settlements of Mattiyahu East and Modi’in Illit, which have been built on land annexed from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, by the Israeli apartheid wall.

The village of Bil’in has been struggling against the construction of the wall for over five years, holding weekly demonstrations, first at the construction site and then at the gate in the apartheid wall separating the villagers from their land. The Israeli army has often responded by attacking demonstrations with water cannons, sound bombs, plastic bullets and live ammunition. Bil’in has also been used as a testing site for new weapons. Demonstrators have been subjected to high-pitched screeching and doused with nerve agents, blue dye and, most recently, a foul-smelling ‘skunk’ weapon. In March 2009, an American activist, Tristan Anderson, was critically injured after a new brand of tear gas canister was fired at his head. He remains in a coma. In April 2009, Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah was killed by a plastic coated bullet while demonstrating against the wall. Despite this weekly demonstrations continue unabated and have been successful in saving some of the village’s land.

For years international campaigners from all over the world have been attending the weekly demonstrations in Bil’in. Three international conferences on non-violent resistance to the wall and the occupation have been held in the village. The residents of Bil’in have brought several cases to the Israeli supreme court against the seizure of their land for the construction of the wall. Now the village is extending its resistance from the contractors building the wall and the soldiers protecting it to the international companies profiting from the building of the settlements the wall is designed to benefit.

Last year Bil’in’s village committee, with the help of Israeli human rights group Yesh Din (‘There is Law’ in Hebrew), began work on a case against two Canadian companies linked to Green Park. Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc. are both registered companies in the Province of Quebec. Lawyers for the village claim both companies are involved in building residential and non-residential units for settlers on land belonging to the village. They further claim that the village is due the protection of the Geneva conventions as it is based in territory subject to military occupation.

In what appears to be a deliberate attempt to evade restriction of its business, Green Park has nominally registered itself in Canada. Green Park has a token Canadian director who has little to do with the company’s operations in Palestine.

The Bil’in committee claims that Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc. have violated international law and Canadian domestic law and that the village has a right to protection under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Both statutes prohibit an occupying power from transferring its civilian population into territory that it has occupied as a result of war. Bil’in also relies on the Canadian Geneva Conventions Act and the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, which contain the same prohibition. The acts have jurisdiction over Canadians regardless of where in the world the offence has taken place.

Lawyers for Bil’in are claiming damages as well as attempting to obtain an order for settlement construction to cease. If successful, they plan to try to force the Israeli supreme court to enforce the Canadian court’s order.

Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc have lodged motions in the court for the claims to be thrown out on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction. Bil’in’s Canadian lawyers argue that, as the companies are registered in Canada, the court does have jurisdiction. The judge’s decision is likely to come after September 2009.

The case of Bil’in vs Green Park is similar to the case lodged by the Association France Palestine Solidaritie against Veolia and Alstom, two French companies engaged in building a tramway on illegally occupied territory (see Corporate Watch Newsletter 43 – www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3400). In that case, it was accepted that the French court did have jurisdiction to hear the case.

Battle of Bil’in

Stefan Christof | Hour

16 July 2009

Palestinian activists from Bil’in village say the Israeli military has raided their village almost daily this week. They claim the early morning raids are linked to a recent lawsuit filed by the village in the Quebec Superior Court.

Last month Bil’in launched the lawsuit against two Montreal-based companies, Green Park International and Green Mount International, claiming they played a role in building Israeli-only settlements on Palestinian lands in Bil’in, an act they say is illegal under international law and under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, established in 2000.

“Israel’s military raids began exactly at the same time that we started court hearings in Canada,” says Mohammed Khatib of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in. “Israel’s army raids are aiming to stop our struggle, and our court case in Quebec. Israel is collectively punishing us for our efforts to resist [the] Israeli colonization of our lands.”

According to eyewitness accounts captured on video (such as www.youtube.com/user/haithmkatib), Israeli soldiers have been entering Bil’in with heavy weaponry to target Palestinian youth who attend regular demonstrations against Israel’s “separation wall,” built on Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

“Israeli military forces have arrested nine
Palestinian youths this week, some of whom are still in prison,” says Khatib from Bil’in. “These Palestinian youths have not been charged with anything. This clear detention of Palestinian children without charge is illegal under international law.”

An initial ruling on the Bil’in lawsuit in the Quebec Superior Court is still pending. Justice Louis-Paul Cullen is expected to rule within the next six months. Palestinians in the village are bracing for further Israeli raids.

For more information, visit www.bilin-village.org.