Adri Nieuwhof

In October 2008 the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) published a strategic position paper for the upcoming Durban Review Conference, which will be held from 20-24 April 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. At the Conference, attending nations will assess the progress made toward the Program of Action adopted at the 2001 World Conference against Racism, which called for end racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. However, Western governments have repeatedly sidelined efforts to bring the case of the systematic violation of the rights the Palestinian people forward in the Durban review process.

In occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli light rail system currently being built in violation of international law on seized Palestinian land by Veolia, a European company, will fundamentally change the landscape. Veolia and partner Alstom have continued their involvement in the disputed project, drawing the attention of financial institutions and civil organizations. EI contributor Adri Nieuwhof reports on the latest developments of the campaign.

The silence and indifference of the world community to Israel’s racial discrimination against Palestinians is a blow to all people who cannot accept injustice and unjust behavior, either from individuals or states. Moreover, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said about racial discrimination against African-Americans in the US, “injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere.” EI contributor Adri Nieuwhof comments.

In August, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, the international watchdog organization, asked three Israeli companies to respond to a report by an Israeli non-governmental organization that protested the treatment of Palestinian workers at West Bank settlement industrial parks. EI contributor Adri Nieuwhof reports.

Palestine solidarity activists based in Basel, Switzerland demanded Bank Sarasin to divest from Veolia Environnement in early June, because of its involvement in the illegal tramway being built by Israel that runs through occupied East Jerusalem. Within a month Bank Sarasin replied with a five-page response, to explain its longstanding practice of assessing its sustainable investments. Adri Nieuwhof reports.

Dutch designer Annelys de Vet of the the International Academy of Arts in Palestine and the Dutch Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, joined forces with a group of Palestinian artists to realize a moving, beautiful, poetic and at times heart-breaking book. The resulting Subjective Atlas of Palestine offers a picture of Palestine that differs from the images the public generally receives through the mass media. On 26 June 2008 it was awarded the best designed book of 2007, beating out 465 others. Adri Niewuhof reports for EI.

Since early January the Palestinian village of al-Khader located near Bethlehem in the West Bank has protested against Israel’s construction of the Apartheid Wall and Jewish-only settlements built on village land every week. Al-Khader is known in the region for its vineyards which produce excellent-quality grapes. Adri Nieuwhof writes from al-Khader.

After the announcement of the Israeli government to put out new tenders for construction in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement expressing his deep concern, stating that “the government of Israel’s continued construction in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory is contrary to international law and to its commitments under the Road Map and the Annapolis process.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush follow contradictory policy tracks. In the major media offensive accompanying last November’s US-sponsored Annapolis peace conference both leaders presented themselves as the peace makers of the region. In Annapolis, Olmert committed to freezing settlement expansion. However, since that time according to numerous sources Olmert’s government has been accelerating illegal settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian land.

Last week, the managing director of SNS Asset Management, a division of the Dutch SNS Bank, sent me a letter explaining the bank’s position on divesting from Veolia. Veiola is a European company contracted to build a tramway on illegally seized Palestinian land that connects Israeli settlements on the West Bank, constructed in open violation of international law, with neighborhoods in West Jerusalem. EI contributor Adri Nieuwhof reports.