The Violence at Khalet Al-Makhoul

 

 

” ‘They dragged me out of the truck and forced me to the ground with no regard for my diplomatic immunity,’ ” French diplomat Marion Castaing said.” ‘This is how international law is being respected here,’

 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/20/us-palestinians-israel-eu-hamlet-idUSBRE98J0GK20130920

THE pictures went around the world. European Union (EU) diplomats attempting to deliver emergency humanitarian aid, dragged from their vehicles by armed troops, who confiscated badly needed blankets and other supplies.

Not in some hidden corner of Africa, or forgotten Latin American dictatorship, but in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank, and by the troops of the supposedly civilised State of Israel, which boasts that it is "the only democracy in the Middle East", claims to uphold international law, and expects not just fair but privileged treatment by the European Union.

Here is the report of what happened on Friday, September 20:


(Reuters) - Israeli soldiers manhandled European diplomats on Friday and seized a truck full of tents and emergency aid they had been trying to deliver to Palestinians whose homes were demolished this week.

A Reuters reporter saw soldiers throw sound grenades at a group of diplomats, aid workers and locals in the occupied West Bank, and yank a French diplomat out of the truck before driving away with its contents.

"They dragged me out of the truck and forced me to the ground with no regard for my diplomatic immunity," French diplomat Marion Castaing said. "This is how international law is being respected here," she said, covered with dust.

The Israeli army and police declined to comment.

Locals said Khirbet Al-Makhul was home to about 120 people. The army demolished their ramshackle houses, stables and a kindergarten on Monday after Israel's high court ruled that they did not have proper building permits.

Despite losing their property, the inhabitants have refused to leave the land, where, they say, their families have lived for generations along with their flocks of sheep.

Israeli soldiers stopped the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivering emergency aid on Tuesday and on Wednesday IRCS staff managed to put up some tents but the army forced them to take the shelters down.

Diplomats from France, Britain, Spain, Ireland, Australia and the European Union's political office, turned up on Friday with more supplies. As soon as they arrived, about a dozen Israeli army jeeps converged on them, and soldiers told them not to unload their truck.

"It's shocking and outrageous. We will report these actions to our governments," said one EU diplomat, who declined to be named because he did not have authorization to talk to the media.
"(Our presence here) is a clear matter of international humanitarian law. By the Geneva Convention, an occupying power needs to see to the needs of people under occupation. These people aren't being protected," he said.

In scuffles between soldiers and locals, several villagers were detained and an elderly Palestinian man fainted and was taken for medical treatment to a nearby ambulance.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement that Makhul was the third Bedouin community to be demolished by the Israelis in the West Bank and adjacent Jerusalem municipality since August.

Palestinians have accused the Israeli authorities of progressively taking their historical grazing lands, either earmarking it for military use or handing it over to the Israelis whose settlements dot the West Bank.

Israelis and Palestinians resumed direct peace talks last month after a three-year hiatus. Palestinian officials have expressed serious doubts about the prospects of a breakthrough.
"What the Israelis are doing is not helpful to the negotiations. Under any circumstances, talks or not, they're obligated to respect international law," the unnamed EU diplomat said.
(Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Louise Ireland)


The Israeli troops who manhandled EU diplomats at Makhoul might have embarrassed Israel's representatives in Brussels and its supporters, insofar as they embarrass that easily. But they were not just unruly soldiers or raw conscripts flustered ("provoked" in the words of the IDF) by a difficult situation. They were carrying out their government's policy, and implementing consistent brutality.
   
Makhoul is one of a group of hamlets in the northern Jordan valley, part of what has been designated "Area C".  Israeli government propagandists here say the area was allocated to Israeli control under the Oslo agreement, as though that temporary arrangement for five years, made 20 years ago, was meant to give them permanent rule. They say the village has been ruled illegal by the Israeli Supreme Court, as though the people there are invading newcomers, like the illegal Israeli settlers.  But the people of Makhoul and neighbouring villages were established there on their land long ago, before the Israeli state existed, let alone the occupation.

And not even the shabby and threadbare Oslo Agreement which Israel cites when it suits provided for blatant ethnic cleansing, which is being practiced. 

http://www.smh.com.au/world/israeli-forces-manhandle-eu-diplomats-seize-west-bank-aid-20130921-2u65f.html

  Here, from an Israeli who knows and does not mind telling the truth, is the background to what was happening:

DON'T SAY YOU DIDN'T KNOW #381 by Amos Gvirtz, (kibbutznik and long time peace activist, writing a weekly column):

The IDF was sent to evict the inhabitants of Khalet Al-Makhoul in the occupied Jordan Valley. The village existed long before the occupation started in 1967, when it was demolished the first time. The question is how to send soldiers to perpetrate a war crime, without them understanding that that is what they are being required to do …

One way is to devise a “legal” pretext. Probably the IDF lawyers realise it’s impossible to physically expel people, so the military acts in ways that are acceptable only to an Israeli court, in order to set up a situation in which it’s feasible to evict people. First, the area was declared a closed military zone. Next, residence permits were issued for two year periods. At a certain point, those permits were no longer given out. The Palestinian planning and building committees were cancelled and that authority was given to the IDF. At this point, the IDF has not authorised any construction plan, not a single one, so all construction has to be carried out “illegally.” Then, there’s no problem, at the next stage, in issuing demolition orders.

So the village has been demolished a few times over the years. On 16th September, 2013, all tents and shacks were demolished, and the residents were forbidden to erect tents or build homes or constructions of any kind. Under pretext of a “closed military zone,” the army confiscated trucks bringing humanitarian relief to the villagers, and prevented entry to international humanitarian organisations such as the Red Cross. The villagers, including women and children, are there in the scorching sun, without any relief aid or roof over their heads.

The army wants to force the Palestinian residents out in order to implement a plan to expel the Palestinians from the West Bank’s Jordan Valley. “Willing transfer”…

Questions & queries: amosg@shefayim.org.il

 

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/jvdemolitions.jpg

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/jordan-valley-khirbet-makhoul-palestine.html 

Theatre director on humger strike

NABIL AL-RAEE in working environment

JENIN Freedom Theatre's artistic director Nabil Al-Raee, held prisoner by the Israeli occupation forces, has begun a hunger strike to draw more attention to his plight, and pressure for his release.

"I don't understand why I am here, [in detention]. There is no reason for them to keep me here." Nabil said on Thursday, announcing his intention to start the strike.

The Palestinian director was taken from his home by armed troops at 3 am on June 6. For two weeks he was not allowed to communicate with his lawyer or have any contact with his family. Nor were any charges made against him.

The Freedom Theatre's co-founder Juliano Mer Khamis was shot dead outside the theatre in April last year. No one has been brought to justice for the murder, and theatre staff had voiced concern that not enough was being done to investigate it.

At first the Israeli authorities put out the story that they suspected Nabil al-Raee was witholding information that could lead to the identification of Juliano Mer Khamis’ murderer. But Nabil's colleagues refused to accept this. Managing director Jonathan Stanczak said the Israeli authorities were waging an intimidation campaign to deter people from joining.

Three weeks before Nabil was arrested the Israeli security service Shabak (also known as Shin Bet) had called nearly half the theatre staff into interrogation at an Israeli army base near Jenin. ,Everyone had complied, including Nabil and his wife Micaela.

"We were very clear that we want to participate and contribute to any investigation regarding the murder of Juliano, but we strongly oppose the means and methods they used to conduct these interrogations," Stanczak said. During the interrogations staff were not just asked questions relating to the murder but about the activities of the Freedom Theatre, and things happening in the Jenin refugee camp.

Later, n a court hearing after Nabil's arrest, the Israeli prosecutors claimed that Nabil was involved in “terror activities”. Then in a recent court hearing the military judge declared that no evidence of any illegal activity had come up during the almost one month of interrogations and that Nabil would be released.

However the prosecution was given a 48 hour period to appeal, and last week it put forward a third accusation against Nabil. This time he is accused of possessing guns, and of helping a wanted person (Zakaria Zubeidi) as well as three other wanted but unnamed persons. The help Nabil is accused of rendering Zakaria – who years ago was granted amnesty by the Israeli authorities – is that he has driven him in his car and given him food and cigarettes. In response to these accusations Nabil declared that he was starting a hunger strike.

Micaela Miranda, Nabil’s wife, who attended the court hearing on Thursday, said “This farce started with them accusing Nabil of being involved somehow in the murder of Juliano, then they accused him of terror activities and now it’s something else. Every court hearing we go to there’s another accusation, it’s ridiculous and it’s obvious that they are trying to find a justification for having kept Nabil incarcerated for so long.”

Founded on a vision by Juliano Mewr Khamis mother, Arna, of creating a safe haven for Palestinian children to find respite and develop artistic skills, the Freedom Theatre, situated in Jenin refugee camp, has more than once been trashed and its workers harassed, by Israeli occupation troops.

At the same time its activities drew resentment from conservative and oppressive elements within Palestinian society, and during tours abroad to raise support, Juliano Mer Khamis sometimes ran into misguided opposition from self-claimed supporters of the Palestinians who thought he was "normalising" the occupation by practising cultural "collaboration".

Juliano Mer-Khamis made clear that, on the contrary, his theatre's work was not intended as an "alternative" to resistance, taking the place of Palestinian struggle, but as a contribution to it. This work has ranged from raising youngsters' morale, self-confidence and ability to express their view, to providing practical skills training with cameras abd video. The Freedom Theatre has attracted enthusiastic audiences and participation from children, and praise from seasoned militants.

So naturally it has also atracted enemies.

Jonathan Stanczak believes the accusations against Nabil al-Raee are part of the Israeli occupying force’s attempt to destroy The Freedom Theatre.

“Maybe they thought we would break down when Juliano Mer Khamis was assassinated, but we kept on and now they are trying to suffocate us slowly but surely by harassing our employees, members and supporters with various accusations, one more absurd than the other. This systematic harassment has gone on for a year now, it’s enough!”

An international campaign has been launched with support from artists and intellectuals who admire the Freedom Theatre's work, and 56 members of the European Parliament recently signed a letter urging EU High Commissioner Catherine Ashton to take action. Petitions are also being circulated.

http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/aboutus-staff.php

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/201261165349126599.html

Online petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/464/514/564/freedom-for-nabil-al-raee/

Israel and Palestine: Can parallel struggles converge?

"

Above : Maintaining the "Peace" ; Palestine Authority police in Ramallah.
Below: "From the Jordan to the Sea, Democracy for Everybody"; young people try a new slogan, simple but thought-provoking , on downtown Tel Aviv demonstration.

CAN the "social justice" movement in Israel - which despite attacks by establishment media has almost 70 per cent support in polls from mostly Jewish Israelis - continue to be effective in mobilising opinion if it starts to risk its position by taking up a stand on the occupation and relations with the Palestnian people?

On the other hand, how can the movement seriously hope to change anything or expect to continue being taken seriously if it ignores he injustice being perpetrated on Palestinians both within Israel's borders and the territories, and for that matter by the siege on Gaza? Israeli Labour ran the country for decades by combining social democratic ideals and institutions that had been useful with military strength, underwritten by American aid. Many immigrants who fell outside its "protektsia" and were treated as inferior voted for the parties of the Right as a form of rebellion.

But both Labour and the Right have gone for privatisation and letting capital rip, while money that should be going to the poor and public housing is channeled to the ever-growing requirements of the military and the privileged settlers. Shas, the Orthodox religious party that favours welfare will only try to get handouts and consideration for its supporters, in return for delivering their votes to the establishment.

Labour leader Yitzhak Rabin paid with his life for trying to make peace after making his career as a military man. His successors seem to have thought they could con the Palestinians, or at least the Americans, by talking about peace while building the separation wall and continuing settlements. In the career of Amir Peretz, the Moroccan-born Histadrut militant from Sderot who became Labour leader then defence minister in the Lebanon war, we see how Israelis too were taken in to believing that both the cake and the halfpence could be kept.

We might note too that Tel Aviv's mayor Ron Huldai, whose police turned nasty last weekend, is ex-Army, but a Labour man.

Netanyahu and his companions in crime no longer bother with pretending to be serious about peace. They leave that to some remaining hasbara'niks trying to defend the indefensible Israeli policies abroad and any naive politicak friends Israel still has. "Two States"? They mean one they call "Tel Aviv" and "Judea and Samaria", perhaps. And at home the message is, if you want to be strong you must shut up about welfare, and stop imperilling national unity by criticising the government and attacking the rich.

If that's not enough, the Right has another answer, and its one which Jews conscious of our history have to be familiar with. It's no accident that the settler racists and the Right wing politicians set out to stir antagonism against immigrant minorities, and whipped up a pogrom in south Tel Aviv.

You can ignore the occupation and the reactionary politics it feeds, but it won't leave you and your "democracy" alone.

There are some Israelis taking part in the social struggles and making these points, and they just got a helpful illustration last weekend, as described in a report for +972 mag:

Sunday, July 1 2012|Noam Sheizaf

Occupation comes home: What was a military surveillance vehicle doing in TLV last night?

Protesters taking part in the #J14 march last night couldn’t help noticing a large army vehicle near the route of the protest, on the corner of Ibn Gvirol and Frishman streets (basically under my house). The car, nicknamed Raccoon, is a modified Hummer with special surveillance equipment. It is often used in the occupied territories against unarmed Palestinian protesters (you can see it used in army training in this link).

IDF surveillance vehicle, usually in service in the
West Bank, used against #J14 protesters in central
Tel Aviv (photo: Ariella Azoulay)

Update: Before reaching the corner of Rabin square, where this
picture was taken, the vehicle waited opposite the Defense Ministry
on Kaplan St., accompanied the march to Azrieli junction, and only
then reunited with the procession at Ibn Gvirol.

Bystanders and families tried to peep inside the military car,
in what seemed like a sign of days to come in Israel - more
evidence that the occupation does not end with the Green Line.
If there is no democracy in Ramallah and Nablus, there will be
none in Tel Aviv.

class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_49845" style="width: 620px;">Update II: A military spokesperson told the site mako.co.il that
the Raccoon didn’t belong to the army, but to the Border Police,
a quasi-military unit under the command of the Israel Police,
deployed mostly in the West Bank, but which also carries out
missions west of the Green Line. The police refused to comment
on the deployment of the surveillance vehicle inside Tel Aviv.

Update III: MK Zehava Galon from Meretz wrote on her
Facebook wall: “Those criticizing the police for deploying
a surveillance car in the demostration yesterday don’t
understand the achievement here - it’s the first time
the government is listening to the protest!”

SEE FULL REPORT:
http://972mag.com/occupation-comes-home-what-was-an-idf-surveillance-vehicle-doing-in-tlv-last-night/49842/
Incidentally, a few years ago when some people were in Whitehall
one cold night chanting "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will
Be Free!", an Arab reporter - from Tunisia as it happened - asked me
what I thought of this. I replied that I had no problem with the slogan,
though it might be interpreted in different ways. He nodded agreement
and we both laughed, before proceeding with the rest of the interview.

With the slogan carried in our picture above, I don't think anybody
could reasonably disagree, "Democracy for Everyone, From the Jordan
to the Sea!" To paraphrase a famous saying, that is the principle that
must underly any political solution, the rest, what kind of state
arrangements are agreed along the way, is merely a matter of
practical interpretation.

An Authority without a State,
or a State bereft of Authority?


PALESTINIANS too have been getting a lesson
about the state, as if they needed it, or at least
about the Palestine Authority.

As usual, even when demonstrators in Tel Aviv were
experiencing rough handling from the police, it was
the Palestinians who took harder knocks, but this time
from their "own" police.

Back when football player Mahmoud Sarsak was still
on his third month of hunger strike, Maan News Agency reported
that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud
Abbas (whose term ended in January 2010 but still
hasn’t budged from his position) would be meeting
with Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz in Ramallah.

Mofaz commanded the Israeli army from July 1998 to
July 2002 and then as defense minister.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights notes:

Under his the Israeli Army implemented “Operation Defensive Shield”
in the West Bank. This Operation, which started on 29 March 2002,
resulted, inter alia, in the massacre in Jenin refugee camp in
the north of the West Bank. On 04 November 2002, Mofaz was
appointed as the Israeli Defense Minister. When he was serving
in these 2 positions, the Israeli occupation forces committed many
war crimes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, resulting in the
death and injury of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians.
PCHR has filed several cases before a number of European courts
against Mofaz for his responsibility for such crimes.

Palestinians reacted against this. Even the Fatah student party
in the universities issuing a statement condemning the meeting
and accusing Abbas of being a traitor. Once the angry reaction
reached the ears of the PA headquarters,
Abbas “postponed” the meeting.

The youth network Palestinians for Dignity,
formed in January this year, issued a statement
and announced a protest would go ahead on
Saturday, 30 June - the day before Mofaz was
initially set to be received by Abbas in Ramallah.
We will meet on Saturday
at 5pm and then march
on towards the PA compound al-Muqata’a to
express our categorical rejection of the meeting
with the murderer Mofaz, ex Israeli war minister
and currently Netanyahu’s deputy prime minister,
either in Ramallah or any other place. We will
protest because the meeting is postponed
and the policy of meeting with Israeli politicians
is still the same."

Protestors made a strong argument for their opposition to the Mofaz visit. They explained that Mofaz cannot make it to many countries around the world because of his role in executing war crimes against Palestinians, including the killings in Jenin and the crimes that took place during the Israeli army’s reoccupation of major West Bank cities in 2002. They also accused Mofaz of assassinating PFLP leader Mustafa Abu Ali and Hamas’ handicapped leader Ahmad Yassin, and of the imprisonment of Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi.

Although the Mofaz visit was called off, the demonstration continued and was met with a violent crackdown. Linah Alsafin, a young woman student who took part in the march has written a graphic account for the Electronic Intifada website:

Young women braved the blows from the police batons as they tried to protect the male protesters from getting dragged away. Some were verbally assaulted, and were sneeringly told to back home “where they belong.” Journalist Mohammad Jaradat was filming the protest with his camera before a plainclothes officer came up to him, threatened him, and then proceeded to beat him up. Pictures of Jaradat lying on the floor while getting punched have been circulated widely. He was then dragged to the police station near Manara Square.

And there was more. Both uniformed and plain-clothes police were involved in the attacks, and women police officers were just as violent as the men. We might note that Palestinian police and security forces have been British and American-trained.

Writing in the Jordan Times, Daoud Kuttub says something more than bones were broken:

"Regardless of the reason, the violent attacks against protesters brought to the front images of the Arab Spring. The acts of plainclothes security under the eyes of the head of the Ramallah police reminded many of similar attempts by thugs and shabiha in various Arab countries.

The scores of injured in the July 1 demonstration triggered a second demonstration the following day, in protest of the crackdown, and again Palestinian security used violence to prevent hundreds of demonstrators from reaching the Palestinian Authority’s Muqata headquarters.

While the successive crackdowns received minor coverage in the Palestinian press, and even on some of the most read websites, the news and pictures of Palestinian violence trended on social media. To her credit, the PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi was among the first to publicly denounce the violence against nonviolent protesters. It took Palestinian human rights organisation and civil society groups a few days to gather the evidence and issue a strong statement of protest.Eventually the Palestinian minister of interior issued a statement saying that an investigation will be conducted into what happened. Few Palestinians trust such statement, based on previous promises when investigations either never took place or the results were not made public.

The fact that the latest protests came from young people that do not belong to either PLO factions or Hamas seems to have made the security apparatus feel that it can act with impunity against them. This has proved to be a mistake and if it continues, it will bring long-term damage to the Fateh leadership.

It is unlikely that the current protests will produce anything close to the two intifadas that shook the earth of the occupiers. If anything, the current protests and the dynamism created by the security’s crackdown will produce large protests against the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian resentment at the unending West Bank-Gaza split and the disgust with the negotiation process will most likely lead to a strengthening of this popular anti-PA movement. And if the demands and aspirations of these protesters are not taken seriously, the very foundation and legitimacy of the current Palestinian leadership will be seriously put to test.

The Arab Spring might have taken some time to reach Palestine, but as one Arab leader said, spring is a season that comes back every year."

Can the growing movements against existing leaderships either side the border ever be united? Of course it would be foolish and dishonest to pretend that Israelis and Palestinians are simply divided by national antagonism and propaganda, when one nation is in reality ruling over another, even if by doing so it is "forging its own chains". as the saying goes. It does make a difference that Israelis already have a state, whatever their discontents, whereas Palestinians are still fighting to live in their own country, and have only a stooge authority. The police who were lashing out at their own people so hard must swallow their own shame that they cannot do anything to protect Palestinians from settler violence.

No one has the right to preach unity and peace without recognition that the Palestinians have been victims of a historic and continuing national injustice, and supporting policies that try to rectify this. If there is to be peace, it has to include national freedom, and be not just "peace" but a just peace. Rather than make false moral parallels, we can see that the struggles in Israel and Palestine are developing in practical parallel.

Can parallel lines ever converge? Centuries ago Arab mathematicians worked out that, contrary to what Euclid's geometry said, parallel lines could converge if another dimension was joined. If that sounds weird and way out, remember that the lines of longitude which appear parallel on a Mercators map of the world do converge at the poles in global reality. Providing the dimensions of democracy and social justice are brought out we might also see that in politics.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=501119

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/linah-alsaafin/first-hand-ramallah-protests-against-mofaz-meeting-attacked-pa-police-thugs?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=d0fa6114a6-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGhN&utm_medium=email

http://jordantimes.com/share-content/also-broken-in-ramallah.html

http://electronicintifada.net/content/pa-repression-feeds-flames-palestinian-discontent/11456

EU takes account, and Veolia counts the cost

IN an apparent change from the days when Britain used its presidency of the European Union to suppress a report criticising Israeli policy on the West Bank, the EUs ambassador to Israel has submitted a formal protest to the Israeli Foreign Ministry over plans to displace Bedouin, and demolition of Palestinian homes in the E1 area near the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.

The EU Ambassador, Andrew Standley, also expressed profound concern over the deterioration in the Palestinian residents situation in the West Bank Area C, under Israeli control. He cited the rise in the number of houses demolished by Israel, an excess of 500 in 2011, resulting in more than 1,000 Palestinians displaced.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is taking some credit for ensuring that European governments and the EU are kept aware of what is going on. It says that after a briefing and field visit lead by ICAHD Co-Director Itay Epshtain, and Advocates Michael Sfard and Emily Schaeffer, European foreign ministers received a report compiled by the European consuls in Ramallah and East Jerusalem on the situation of the Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank.

"The report cited a rise in the number of Palestinian houses demolished by Israel, and the growing distress of the Palestinians living in Area C. "ICAHD has long cautioned about the emergence of a greater Jerusalem" said Epshtain "linking the Judaization of East Jerusalem and displacement of Bedouin in E1, with the development of Ma'aleh Adumim, all the way to the Jordan Valley."

"The significance of this development is not only the creation of a greater Jerusalem that controls the center of the West Bank" says ICAHD Director Dr. Jeff Halper "but the emergence of Israeli Occupation territorial contiguity, that effectively eliminates the two state solution."

Halper referred to the EU protest saying: "The EU is picking up on ICAHD's long standing analysis which connects seemingly unrelated developments on the ground to the larger political picture."

According to Haaretz, EU foreign ministers have also received information from human rights organizations, referring to ICAHD's publication'Nowhere left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin Ethnic Displacement', saying Israel is planning to forcefully transfer some 3,000 Bedouins of the Arab al-Jahalin tribe from their residence in the E1 area, to allow for the expansion of illegal settlement Ma'aleh Adumim.

In November 2011, Israel expropriated 1.5 km2 of Palestinian land in the northern Jordan Valley and de-facto annexed the land to a Jewish community within Israel proper. This is considered the first instance of Palestinian land in the Occupied West Bank to be annexed to Israel, (excluding East Jerusalem) in defiance of international law.

In his May 2011 address to US Congress, Israeli PM Netanyahu asserted that "Israel will never cede the Jordan Valley. Israel would never agree to withdraw from the Jordan Valley under any peace agreement signed with the Palestinians. And it‘s vital – absolutely vital – that Israel maintain a long-term military presence along the Jordan River."

The Path to Annexation – 2011 Fact Sheet published by ICAHD highlights the matrix of control laid over the Jordan Valley, the legal framework, fact and figures associated with the de-facto annexation of the Jordan Valley.

To download the fact sheet, press here…

http://www.icahd.org/?p=8028

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1AOvsjv8IjdMjNlYTk5YjItZGU4Mi00ZmJiLWFlYjMtN2UwZWRkNTk1M2Q3&hl=en_GB

http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/israel/about_us/delegation_role/index_en.htm


Meanwhile, in London, campaigners celebrated the good news before Christmas that French-owned company Veolia appears to have been left out of the bidding for a £485 million contract for the West London Waste Authority ('WLWA') , covering disposal and treatment of of residual domestic waste from o1.4 million inhabitants of the London boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames.

The reasons behind the decision by the WLWA to exclude Veolia from the short list are commercially confidential. The company has a wide range of business in Britain, from water supply to bus services. It has recently lost contracts in Richmond and Ealing, and been criticised for wanting to cut street cleaning it carries out in Brent.

But what has really engaged the activity of Palestinian solidarity and human rights campaigners is Veolia's involvent in projects assisting and profiting from Israel's occupation and colonisation in the West Bank. Together with another French company Alstom (formerly better-known in Britain as Connex) it has been involved in the Jerusalem light railway project which links illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank with Jerusalem, helping to reinforce the cordon of settlements which separates the city, including Arab East Jerusalem from its hinterland.

Veolia also runs bus services whose segregated character was exposed recently by Palestinian youth who were arrested for boarding the bus at certain points (and one of them simply for being at the stop).

Over the last six months campaigners in London lobbied local councillors and officials to exclude Veolia from the waste contracts, and submitted a letter to the WLWA documenting Veolia's direct complicity in grave breaches of international and humanitarian law in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Besides the transport issues, - including what amounts to discrimination in recruitment of staff - campaigners also pointed to Veolia involvment in taking waste from Israel and illegal Israeli Settlements and dumps this on Palestinian land at the Tovlan landfill, in the Jordan valley.

Some of this information came from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem in its report on the Jordan valley, and in North London where councils are considering a contract similar to the West London one, they received a letter from the coalition of women;s peace groups in Israel and Palestine. The campaign in west London had support from the Green Party and more recently from Brent Trades Union Council.

There are signs that Veolia would like to divest from its controversial Palestine involvments as its business elsewhere starts to suffer. Alstom has already been hit by institutional investers in Holland and Norway deciding to pull out, and it suffered the loss of a major rail contract in Saudi Arabia following publicity over its Israeli operations.

http://www.thejc.com/blogs/suzanna/veolia-takes-severe-blow-as-it-fails-to-win-485-million-pound-contract-in-west-london-

http://www.palestinecampaign.org/index7b.asp?m_id=1&l1_id=4&l2_id=25&Content_ID=2312

http://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/p/letter-to-west-london-waste-authority.html

http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Summary?s=fr%3AVIE

http://www.zawya.com/marketing.cfm?zp&p=/story.cfm/sidGN_28102011_291011/Alstom_loses_94bn_Saudi_rail_contract