Boycott of Israel beginning to work

Sweden has delivered a massive blow to a French company involved in building light rail and travel infrastructure between illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine



"Diakonia Press Statement

Stockholm, 20 January 2009

Today the Stockholm community council in Sweden announced that the
French company Veolia who has been the current operator at the Subway's
in Stockholm County for 10 years lost the contract to the
MTR-cooperation.

The contracts for the coming 8 years is worth 3,5 Billion EURO and has
been the biggest ongoing public contract procurement process in Europe.

Although the board for county's public transportation ensured the
decision was based on commercial factors the debate about Veolias
involvement in a controversial tramway project in Jerusalem (Jerusalem
light railway) has been intense in Swedish media.

The tramway connecting the Israeli west Jerusalem with illegal Israeli
settlements on occupied Palestinian territory has triggered discussions
about Veolia's ethical policy. Public protests against Veolia has
brought the attention to the dilemma of operating public services when
you at he same time are involved in politically controversial
activities.

As late as the day before the decision the community council received
lists with thousands of signatories from people demanding the county
council to choose an operator who should not be associated with
violations of international humanitarian law.

- This is clearly another sign of the importance for commercial actors
not to have their brand associated to unethical behaviour, in the case
of illegal settlements on occupied palestinian territory we can already
see a trend of international companies who are moving out their
operations from settlements, says Joakim Wohlfeil, at the Swedish
development organization Diakonia.

Diakonia is a Swedish Christian development organisation working
together with local partners for a sustainable change for the most
vulnerable people of the world

Joakim Wohlfeil

Diakonia Head Office (Sweden)

Policy Officer, Conflict and Justice

Mobile: + 46 (0) 705 15 61 45

www.diakonia.se "

ermmm, isn't Veolia behind the Luas??

Yes, they run it under a PPP.

Tonight, 11.05pm, Channel4, Dispatches Special on Unseen Gaza, unseen footage and analysis of the decision by Israel to ban foreign journalists from Gaza. Probably worth a peek...

Veolia also look after the administration of most of our county councils' waterworks. Veolia Ireland
Mmmm, I feel some letter writing coming on...

Quote :

Although the board for county's public transportation ensured the
decision was based on commercial factors

So it wasn't actually anything to do with their involvement in Israel?

Aragon wrote:

Sweden has delivered a massive blow to a French company involved in building light rail and travel infrastructure between illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine



"Diakonia Press Statement

Stockholm, 20 January 2009

Today the Stockholm community council in Sweden announced that the
French company Veolia who has been the current operator at the Subway's
in Stockholm County for 10 years lost the contract to the
MTR-cooperation.

The contracts for the coming 8 years is worth 3,5 Billion EURO and has
been the biggest ongoing public contract procurement process in Europe.

Although the board for county's public transportation ensured the
decision was based on commercial factors the debate about Veolias
involvement in a controversial tramway project in Jerusalem (Jerusalem
light railway) has been intense in Swedish media.

The tramway connecting the Israeli west Jerusalem with illegal Israeli
settlements on occupied Palestinian territory has triggered discussions
about Veolia's ethical policy. Public protests against Veolia has
brought the attention to the dilemma of operating public services when
you at he same time are involved in politically controversial
activities.

As late as the day before the decision the community council received
lists with thousands of signatories from people demanding the county
council to choose an operator who should not be associated with
violations of international humanitarian law.

- This is clearly another sign of the importance for commercial actors
not to have their brand associated to unethical behaviour, in the case
of illegal settlements on occupied palestinian territory we can already
see a trend of international companies who are moving out their
operations from settlements, says Joakim Wohlfeil, at the Swedish
development organization Diakonia.

Diakonia is a Swedish Christian development organisation working
together with local partners for a sustainable change for the most
vulnerable people of the world

Joakim Wohlfeil

Diakonia Head Office (Sweden)

Policy Officer, Conflict and Justice

Mobile: + 46 (0) 705 15 61 45

www.diakonia.se "

Do you have any more links to this story?

What about CRH?

About Veloia from Electronic Initfada:

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5723.shtml

Aragon wrote:

About Veloia from Electronic Initfada:

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5723.shtml

Thank you.

Pensioners in Wales show how to do a proper Boycott:


http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/brynmill/Pensioner-picks-date-protestarticle-594221-details/article.html

Aragon wrote:

Pensioners in Wales show how to do a proper Boycott:


http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/brynmill/Pensioner-picks-date-protestarticle-594221-details/article.html

Feckin brilliant!

Betcha there'll be no prosecution either.

Hermes wrote:

Aragon wrote:

Pensioners in Wales show how to do a proper Boycott:


http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/brynmill/Pensioner-picks-date-protestarticle-594221-details/article.html

Feckin brilliant!

Betcha there'll be no prosecution either.

That's a double whammy all right. How can one be sure "West Bank" dates are not Palestinian grown though?

cactus flower wrote:

Hermes wrote:

Aragon wrote:

Pensioners in Wales show how to do a proper Boycott:


http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/brynmill/Pensioner-picks-date-protestarticle-594221-details/article.html

Feckin brilliant!

Betcha there'll be no prosecution either.

That's a double whammy all right. How can one be sure "West Bank" dates are not Palestinian grown though?

They're definitely not Palestinian: LINK.

Quote :

Sometimes they are labelled “produced in the West Bank” – this just confirms they are grown in the illegal Israeli settlements.

Thanks for that link Hermes - Id not seen it before - watched the whole video (NB anyone who wants to watch it, it is longer than it seems at first - it's posted in segments which play automatically in sequence). Very informative and compelling.

Aragon wrote:

Thanks for that link Hermes - Id not seen it before - watched the whole video (NB anyone who wants to watch it, it is longer than it seems at first - it's posted in segments which play automatically in sequence). Very informative and compelling.

No problem Aragon.

Yup the video is heartbreaking stuff. I should have embedded it in my last post, the more it gets around, the better. Here it is now:

Hermes wrote:

Aragon wrote:

Thanks for that link Hermes - Id not seen it before - watched the whole video (NB anyone who wants to watch it, it is longer than it seems at first - it's posted in segments which play automatically in sequence). Very informative and compelling.

No problem Aragon.

Yup the video is heartbreaking stuff. I should have embedded it in my last post, the more it gets around, the better. Here it is now:

I've posted it on three other places this pm.