Adri Nieuwhof

Veolia Environnement affiliated Veolia Transport is a partner in the Israeli project to build a tramway that will run on occupied Palestinian territory. This is a violation of international law. Veolia received a lot of criticism since it first announced its intentions to become involved in the illegal project. Institut Veolia is an academic institute of Veolia Environnement, aimed at creating prestige and respectability to Veolia’s operations. Dr Freddy Karup Pedersen has been involved in activities of Institute Veolia and is thus indirectly involved in this violation of international law. Pederson is also a member of the Standing Committee of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Institut Veolia Environnement is founded and funded by Veolia, the company that is involved in the development of an illegal Israeli tramline in occupied East Jerusalem. A number of international experts that contribute to the institute have shown respect for international law and human rights in the past. It is likely that they are not aware of the Veolia’s role in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. This appeal is written to inform the international experts and to call on them to distance themselves from the illegal practice of Veolia and end their collaboration with the institute.

This week, ASN Bank, a Dutch bank based in The Hague, announced that it would end its relationship with Veolia Transport, and all companies that benefit from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. Since it first announced its intentions to become involved in an Israeli project to build a light rail/tramline system, to be constructed in occupied East Jerusalem, Veolia Transport, a French multi-national corporation, faced a lot of criticism from all over the world. The tramline aims to connect the illegally-constructed settlements in East Jerusalem with towns and cities in Israel. The case of ASN Bank shows that a call for boycott and divestment can be successful.

Traditional ways of spreading information about the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel did not bring about fundamental changes in public opinion for decades. In order to explore new ways of conveying information, Dutch development organization ICCO invited the Dutch rappers Lange Frans and Bass B. to visit the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. During the visit the rappers did not need their bodyguards to protect them from pushy behaviour of crowds of Dutch fans. They met their colleagues of D.A.M from Lod, the Refugee Rappers from Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem and the G-Town rappers from Kalandia refugee camp.

Veolia’s partnership in an Israeli project for a tramline, to be constructed on occupied Palestinian territory in East Jerusalem has drawn the attention of advocacy groups around the world who have responded to the call by Palestinian civil society for campaigns of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Building on an earlier article about the tramline in East Jerusalem with Veolia Environment head office in France and a Dutch Bank that invests in the company, Adri Nieuwhof further explores the background of the transnational company Veolia Environment.

In Europe, we are seeing the emergence of a strong movement against the Israeli occupation and against its war with Lebanon. Since Israel’s aggression began a couple of weeks ago, people have raised their voice in at least fifty-seven cities1 all over Europe, not only to denounce the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian and Lebanese people, but also to ask the United Nations and European governments to take action to stop this. The Bush administration was harshly criticised for its unbending support of Israel and for human rights abuses in its so called “war on terrorism”. In this article, Adri Nieuwhof assesses how far the movement has come.

During the course of the G8 Summit meeting in the European city of St. Petersburg, world leaders have been forced to address the crisis in the Middle East caused principally by Israel’s military aggression, both in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in Lebanon. While the response of the United States has been predictably devoid of criticism against Israel, messages coming from the European Union appear to be taking a different turn. Time will tell whether Israel’s current atrocities will generate more than just strong words. But history can be shaped as well. Just as what happened in the 1980’s concerning apartheid South Africa, Europe, its leaders and its citizens must take the opportunity to raise their voices against injustice and oppression.

The capture of a French-Israeli gunner on a tank during military operations on Palestinian territory triggered an extreme and illegal response from the Israeli government. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are paying an unacceptably high price as a consequence of Israel’s ongoing attacks and border closures. Israel’s performance shows a total disregard for the rules of international humanitarian law. They have lost sight of the human value and dignity of the Palestinian people. If Europe recognises that the lives of Palestinians are as valuable as the life of the French-Israeli soldier, it should act immediately to stop the tragedy that is unfolding.

Some weeks ago I heard Jan Wijenberg, a retired Dutch Ambassador, speak about what the International Community could do to break with its complicity to the ongoing violations of international law and human rights by the Israeli regime. Wijenberg served over a decade as an ambassador for the Dutch government in Jemen, Tanzania and Saudi Arabia. He regularly writes to Dutch ministers and politicians to remind them of the responsibility of the Dutch government and the EU to hold Israel accountable to international law. His views are expressed in this article.

In order to have a deeper understanding of the social suffering of the Palestinian people under occupation, a pilot Quality of Life study was undertaken by the World Health Organization - West Bank and Gaza and the Bir Zeit Institute of Community and Public Health in cooperation with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The investigation was completed one month before the Palestinian Legislative Council Elections on 25 January 2006. It can therefore be seen as a baseline study to measure the impact of the negative response of Israel and the West to the democratic victory of Hamas. Adri Nieuwhof looks at the survey.