Tag: Settlement

Israeli forces arrest Israeli and international activists in Safa

For Immediate Release

27 June 2009: Israeli forces arrest 24 solidarity activists and 2 hired Palestinian Israeli drivers in the West Bank village of Saffa.

At 7.30am, 35 Israeli and 10 international solidarity activists joined 3 Palestinian families from Beit Ummar to harvest their land. As the group tried to go down to their lands, 50 soldiers and border policemen stopped them.

Before reaching the land, Israeli forces arrested 10 Israeli and international activists, under the premise that Saffa was under a Closed Military Zone*. The army was aggressive towards the group and used violence against them.

After pushing the group, border policemen arrested another 9 activists.

Yousef Abu Maria from the Palestine Solidarity Project, had his leg broken from the use of excessive force. Israeli soldiers tried to arrest him, but the solidarity activists negotiated for the soldiers to release him and allow him to be taken by an ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent. He is currently being treated at a Hebron hospital.

A female Israeli activist from Tayyoush was also injured and is currently at an Israeli hospital seeking treatment for a potentially broken hand.

As 2 cars with hired drivers were leaving the area with other activists, Israeli forces stopped them and arrested 5 more activists and the 2 Palestinian Israeli drivers.

The arrested were taken to the Israeli prison in the illegal settlement of Gush Etzion.

The activists are members from Palestine Solidarity Project, Tayyoush, Anarchists Against the Wall, and the International Solidarity Movement. They have been accompanying Palestinian farmers to document and deter violence from Israeli forces as the farmers harvest their land.

Last Saturday, 8 Israeli activists were arrested as they accompanied Palestinian farmers.

*Israeli forces have declared the area in Saffa a Closed Military Zone (CMZ), in direct violation of an Israeli Supreme Court decision. The Israeli Supreme Court determined that Closed Military Zones cannot be issued on Palestinian agricultural land, cutting off Palestinian farmers, or prolonged periods of time. However, Israeli forces have been regularly declaring a Closed Military Zone on farm land in Saffa since 2 April 2009.

UPDATE: 1pm, 27 June 2009, All the activists and drivers have been released.

Africa-Israel under scrutiny for settlement construction

Adri Nieuwhof | Electronic Intifada

22 June 2009

Africa-Israel is the latest target of a boycott campaign by Palestine solidarity activists because of the company’s involvement in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. American and European financial institutions hold a substantial stake in Africa-Israel Investment, investigations reveal.

Africa-Israel Investment is an international holding and investment company based in Israel whose subsidiary, Danya Cebus, has been deeply involved in the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). According to research by the Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace, the company executed construction projects in the Israeli settlements of Modi’in Illit, Ma’ale Adumim, Har Homa and Adam. In addition, Africa-Israel offers apartments and houses in various settlements in the West Bank through the Israeli franchise of its real estate agency, Anglo Saxon, which has a branch in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

Diamond mogul Lev Leviev is Chairman of the Africa-Israel Investment Board of Directors, and holds roughly 75 percent of the company. On 8 March, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Lev Leviev does not have a problem with building in the OPT “if the State of Israel grants permits legally.”

Leviev and his brother-in-law Daviv Eliashov own the company Leader Management and Development (LMD). According to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, LMD requested and was granted approval to expand the Zufim settlement with approximately 1,400 housing units. The company has begun construction and in the process, orchards and agricultural lands belonging to the Palestinian village of Jayyus have been bulldozed, and their water wells and greenhouses confiscated.

Israeli settlements in the OPT are illegal under international law. This has been confirmed by numerous UN resolutions and the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Israel’s wall in the West Bank. The settlements violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The construction of settlements also violates of Article 53 prohibiting the destruction of property.

Recently, the Norwegian State Pension Fund came under pressure after Norwegian watchdog Norwatch revealed the pension fund had invested $850,000 in Africa-Israel Investment Ltd. According to the research of the authoritative financial source Capital IQ, with its investment, the Norwegian State Pension Fund became the fifth-largest investor in the company. Prior to a visit to the pension fund’s ethics committee, a delegation of the Norwegian Socialist Left Party traveled to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to learn about the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In a 15 May interview with the Ma’an News Agency, the party’s parliamentarian and spokesperson on foreign affairs, Aringgot Valle, stated that “No doubt we as a party cannot support investment in a company that violates human rights, contributes to an occupation and war.” Valle added that if the Norwegian State Pension Fund considers investing in Africa-Israel “then the ethics guidelines must be re-written.”

Norwatch also revealed that private Norwegian banks were involved in Africa-Israel. Banks offered customers the possibility to invest in BlackRock Emerging Europe Fund (EEF), which invests in Africa-Israel.

One of these Norwegian banks, Storebrand made clear to BlackRock that its investments in Africa-Israel are in contradiction with its ethical guidelines during meetings with the company in April and May. However, Christine Torklep Meisingset, head of Responsible Investments at Storebrand, told The Electronic Intifada that the bank decided not to divest from BlackRock EEF. Although she would not provide any information on the discussion, she indicated that Storebrand considered BlackRock’s response satisfactory. However, BlackRock refuses to comment publicly on the discussions.

On 12 June, BlackRock announced its purchase of Barclays Global Investors, a subsidiary of Barclays Bank. Capital IQ lists Barclays Global Fund Advisors as the second-largest investor in Africa-Israel Investments after Lev Leviev. Based on Capital IQ’s most recent information for this year, BlackRock is mentioned as the seventh-largest holder of Africa-Israel shares. After purchasing Barclays, BlackRock is now the second-largest investor in the company after Leviev.

The fourth-largest investor is the Vanguard Group. Vanguard has been the target of a campaign calling for divesting from companies investing in Sudan, because of companies’ alleged complicity in the genocide in Darfur. In sixth place is the US Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund. According to Capital IQ, rounding out the top 10 investors in Africa-Israel are Danish fund managers Investeringsforeningen Sydinvest and Swedish AP 1 pension fund, which are the eighth- and tenth-largest, respectively.

As corporations that abet or profit from Israel’s human rights violations come under further scrutiny, financial institutions and their investors face increasing pressure to drop these companies from their portfolios. Most recently, the Swedish pension fund AP7 excluded the French transportation company Alstom because of its involvement in the Israeli tramway project that runs on Palestinian land, and the Belgian-French financial group Dexia announced it will no longer finance illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Adri Nieuwhof is a consultant and human rights advocate based in Switzerland.

Barak authorizes construction of 300 new homes in West Bank

Ha’aretz

23 June 2009

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the building of 300 new homes in the West Bank, defying U.S. calls for a halt to settlement growth.

According to Army Radio said 60 of the 300 homes slated for the Talmon settlement in the West Bank have already been built and that Barak had approved plans to construct another 240 units there.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pressed Israel to halt settlement activity as part of a bid to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Half a million Jews live in settlement blocs and smaller outposts built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

The World Court has ruled all settlements illegal under international law. The United States and European Union regard them as obstacles to peace.

Palestinians, who want their own state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, see the settlements as a land grab meant to deny them a viable state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to declare a settlement freeze, which could spark a backlash within his right-leaning coalition government.

Israel says the Palestinian Authority has not done enough to stop militant violence.

West Bank village sues developers in Montreal court

Leigh Anne Williams | Anglican Journal

22 June 2009

The Israeli-Palestinian dispute over land in the occupied territories has come to a Montreal courtroom this week. Lawyers for the West Bank village of Bil’in are suing developers Green Park International and Green Mount International, which are registered in Quebec, for building settlements on land that was confiscated from the village by Israel.

Prior to the start of the hearings, Mohammed Al-Khatib, who serves on the village council and is one of a committee of people who organizes weekly non-violent protests against the occupation, and Emily Schaeffer, a lawyer with the Israeli law firm that has taken on Bil’in’s case, traveled across Canada to explain why the village was suing the developers. Their tour was supported in part by Kairos, an ecumenical social justice organization of which the Anglican Church of Canada is a member, and numerous other organizations.

Late in 2004, Israel constructed the part of its security wall that cuts Bil’in’s land in half, Mr. Khatib says. It separated the residential part of the village from the agricultural land where they cultivate olive trees. In this place, he said, the wall is 4.5 km into Palestinian territory, outside the Green Line. The villagers were not offered compensation for the land that was taken, he said, but added they would not have accepted it anyway because they want their land, not money.

Ms. Schaeffer said that attempts to fight the case in Israeli courts have failed because it is within the context of “Israeli law, law made for the West Bank. And that’s why we’re here in Canada because we are looking for a country that will recognize that Israel’s laws in the West Bank are null and void. International law is what matters.”

Since the land was confiscated, parts of it have been used to build communities for Jewish settlers, and Green Park International and Green Mount International are the developers that have built the homes and buildings.

The case, Ms. Scaheffer said, is based on Canadian legislation called the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act of 2000, which incorporates the fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court and calls settlements a war crime. Bil’in’s lawyers are asking the court to declare that settlements are illegal, to stop the building of new structures, to remove the buildings and restore the land and to rule that each company must pay a penalty of $2 million and the registered director must pay $25,000. “It’s important to say that this is not compensation for the loss of the land but only a penalty. There is no price tag for this land. Bil’in is not interested in selling,” she said. “The next thing that is bigger than Bil’in and even bigger than Palestine is the idea that corporations need to be held accountable for violating human rights and violating international law,” she said.

The case is in its early stages. Filed in July 2008, this is the first time the two sides will appear in court for preliminary hearings on three motions filed by the corporations to dismiss the case. Ronald Levy, one of the lawyers representing the corporations, was unavailable for comment, but CBC reported that he planned to argue that the case should be dismissed because it is not the right jurisdiction for this issue.

Bil’in is known for its non-violent approach to protest, and it has many international supporters, including Israelis, who come to show solidarity with the villagers for weekly protests, and on anniversary days when there are larger demonstrations. Mr. Khatib says there are sometimes hundreds of Israelis protesting with them. “The struggle came to us, so it forced us to struggle, but also we [were] waiting for this chance to do what we think is a good way to resist, which is the non-violent resistance,” he said. Still, this kind of protest can be dangerous and has cost the villagers dearly. Mr. Khatib said thousands of protesters have been injured and, in April, a friend was killed when he was hit by a tear gas canister at close range. The canisters are meant to shoot as far as a half a kilometer, so they are like rockets, Mr. Khatib said.

He added that “our struggle is not against the Jewish (people)…we are against the occupation.” He said that the group does resist against the settlers as representatives of the occupation, but not as human beings. Mr. Khatib said he counts an Israeli man who was in the army as one of his best friends. “He was in the army and we know that he was in the army, but he’s here in Bil’in to resist the occupation … so we welcome him and anyone who will come to know and understand and to participate with us.”

The preliminary hearings are scheduled to wrap up on June 25.

Hearing begins over Palestinian lawsuit against Quebec builders

CBC News

22 June 2009

A Palestinian village in the West Bank will argue Monday that a Quebec court should hear its lawsuit against two Canadian construction companies that it alleges illegally constructed buildings on Israeli-occupied territory.

Bil’in, a community of about 1,700 inhabitants located northwest of Ramallah, is suing the Quebec-based companies for $2 million.

“They know it’s a legal long shot, but if the Quebec Superior Court even agrees just to hear their case, it would be a partial victory, set an international legal precedent, and it would be a public relations coup for the small village,” said the CBC’s Dan Halton, reporting from Montreal.

Beginning Monday, the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal will hear arguments from both sides on whether it should hear the suit.

The village’s claim was filed July 9, 2008, against sister companies Green Park International and Green Mount International. It asks the Quebec Superior Court for an injunction to stop further construction and demolish apartment buildings already erected in Moddin Illit, a Jewish settlement northwest of Ramallah.

It alleges that both companies illegally built buildings and roads in the settlement, which was part of the Palestinian village until Israel seized the West Bank from Jordanian control in the Six-Day War in 1967. That seized land is subject to international law, which the construction violates, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit asks the court to rule whether the construction represents a violation on several fronts: the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the protection of civilians in times of war and occupation; Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes; the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms; and the Civil Code of Quebec.

The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids an occupying power from transferring its own civilians into occupied territory.

Jurisdiction disputed

In the lawsuit, the village’s municipal council and chief Ahmed Issa Abdallah Yassin allege Green Park and Green Mount acted as “agents of Israel” by building the housing.

The lawyers for Green Park and Green Mount International declined to be interviewed by the CBC.

But Ronald Levy, one lawyer for the two companies, told Halton “that he considers the lawsuit totally inappropriate.” He has filed three dismissal motions in the case.

“Today in court, he’ll argue that the judge dismiss the lawsuits on the basis that it’s just not the right jurisdiction,” said Halton.

“International legal experts say while this is a very creative legal challenge, they’re pessimistic on the chances for their success. They say that Canadian courts would be very reluctant to interfere with Canada’s foreign relations and really weigh in on the legal status of Israeli settlements,” Halton said.

The lawsuit also names Annette Laroche, who is named as the director of both companies. She did not return the CBC’s calls.

The hearings into the dismissal motions will take place Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.