Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign: BDS Newsletter #5

Worldwide Activism

BDS Newsletter #5 - August 2008
Worldwide Activism, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, August 7th, 2008

BDS NEWSLETTER

Edition: 05 - August 7, 2008

CORPORATE NEWS

Feature: Derail Alstom - Saudi Arabia deal

The state owned Saudi Electric Company (SEC) has signed a letter of intent to award Alstom a 1.9 billion Euro contract to build a power plant in Shoaiba.

French multinational Alstom is a 20% shareholder in Citypass consortium that has been contracted by Israel to build a light rail in Jerusalem. Alstom is the bigger partner of the two international shareholders in the project.

The light rail in Jerusalem is a crucial infrastructure project to further Judaize Jerusalem via settlement expansion. Its path clearly discriminates against Palestinians in their capital, catering to a vision of a Jewish-only Jerusalem.

The Shoaiba plant contract allows Saudi Arabia to pressure Alstom to withdraw from the Jerusalem light rail project. The Jerusalem Coalition and Stop the Wall have called on Saudi Arabia not to contract Alstom for the construction of the new Shoaiba power plant, to phase out existing contracts and not to award it any new contracts. In addition, Saudi Arabia is being called on to ensure Alstom is inserted in the boycott lists of the Organization of Islamic Countries and the Arab League.

To see the full briefing on the Alstom-Saudi deal in English, click here.
To see the full briefing on the Alstom-Saudi deal in Arabic, click here.

Actions and Ongoing Campaigns:

Leviev linked with Bi’lin lawsuit – celebrities and Jewlers of America (JP) called upon to cut ties

Adalah-NY has shown that Brooklyn-based billionaire Shaya Boymelgreen owns the two little-known Canadian companies sued Wednesday for war crimes in Canada by the West Bank Palestinian village of Bil’in. These companies are now being sued for $2 million in Quebec Superior Court for building and selling the Israeli settlements of Mattityahu East/Modi’in Illit on Bil’in’s land.

Additional evidence gathered by Adalah-NY shows that, though not a target of the lawsuit, the Israeli company Danya Cebus, a subsidiary of Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel, was contracted by Boymelgreen’s Green Park to execute the settlement construction. Billionaires Leviev and Boymelgreen were US partners from 2002 -2007.

Celebrity supporters of Leviev have been called to follow the actions of UNICEF and cut ties with the businessman. Additionally, Adalah-NY has issued a call for Jewelers of America (JA) to cease doing business with Leviev, whose business practices in Palestine and Angola violate the JA code of conduct.

For more information, click here or here.

Other News:

NICE Systems takes four contracts in July

NICE Systems is an Israeli company specializing in communication technology and solutions. NICE works closely with a number of prominent technology firms that have extensive ties in Israel, including Cisco, Motorola and IBM. This month, NICE won contracts in the EU and the United States, among other places.

In Denmark, the company took an order from Danish Ministry of Interior through Motorola for an undisclosed sum.

In the United States, NICE Systems gained two contracts. The firm will work with Salt River Project, who is the third largest public utility in the US and the largest provider of water and power to Phoenix Arizona. The size of the deal has not been released. Also, NICE was awarded a contract to work with Norfolk Southern, a major US transportation company. NICE will provide communication security in a deal worth $1-10m

Finally, NICE won a $14m order from “EMEA law enforcement agency.”

fore the full article, click here.

Dan Hotels to build hotel in India

Dan Hotels Corp. Ltd. will build a 250-room hotel in Bangalore, on a 2.1-acre lot that it is buying for $15m. The project is being carried out through wholly-owned subsidiary Dan Hospitality India Private Ltd.

Dan Hotels plans to build a four or five-star hotel adjacent to Bangalore's high-tech park and will have easy access to it. The company estimate the total cost of the project at $50 million, including the cost of the land. The company plans to finance the project from its own resources, with no external financing.

For the full article, click here.

IEC in talks to design Greek power plant

Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) is negotiating to design a large power plant in Greece. The deal is estimated to be worth tens of millions of shekels and the expected profit is NIS 10m.

The negotiations are part of IEC's cooperation with Metka Metal Constructions of Greece SA under a contract signed nine months ago. Metka has proposed to bring IEC into other projects.

The current project reportedly involves the design and construction of a natural gas-fired 420-megawatt cogeneration plant in Volos. IEC is due to provide design and engineering services for the project and may become a subcontractor. General Electric Company is the equipment vendor.

Metka is Greece's largest electricity producer and it also operates elsewhere in Europe. In October 2007, IEC won a NIS 10 million Metka tender to design a 420-MW power plant to be built 75 kilometers northeast of Athens. Following the success of this project, Metka decided to expand its collaboration with IEC.

for more, click here.

Israeli company involved in Indian port operation

According to Globes, Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. is a member of one of the six consortia that passed the pre-sorting stage in the $1 billion BOT tender to build and operate a new container terminal at Ennore Port Ltd. in southeast India. The terminal is due to begin operating in 2012-2013, and the tender winner will operate it for 20-30 years.

Ennore Port is the 12th largest port in India. It is the only port that is not a port trust, but a private company that owns the port infrastructure, which is operated by the private sector.

The Ennore Port project is not Zim's first venture into the Indian market. Last year, the company was reportedly in talks to buy a stake in Indian port operator ABG Heavy Industries Ltd.

Fore more, click here.

MILITARY AND ARMS TRADE NEWS

Actions and Ongoing Campaigns: Hang up on Motorola

The US Campaign has recently added a fact sheet to supplement its campaign against Motorola. The company has been actively supplying Occupation forces with weapon parts and equipment that has been used against both the Palestinian and Lebanese people. The US Campaign has identified four key ways that Motorola contributes to the maintenance of military control and apartheid, including manufacturing bomb fuses, supplying Occupation forces with communication equipment, and providing surveillance systems for both settlements and the Apartheid Wall.

For the campaign and fact sheet, click here.

Other News:

Elbit Systems wins two new contracts

Elbit Systems won two new contracts, one in Europe and one in Israel, in July.

In Europe, the firm will supply the Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a contract worth $20m. UAVs are used extensively for surveillance and targeted killings in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. In the first week of October 2004, for example, UAV strikes killed 40 Palestinians in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza.

Elbit Systems has also been given a contract with the IDF to supply handheld “thermal imaging and target acquisition” systems for Occupation soldiers. This equipment is used to for infantry, including special units, and like the UAVs assist in assassinations in the West Bank and Gaza.

For more, click here

Expand Networks technology used by US Air Force

Northrop Grumman and the United States Air Force have integrated Expand technology. This technology improves radar and communication systems used to coordinate intelligence gathering and attacks. Expand Networks technology has already been used extensively in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Fore the full article, click here.

U.S. gives Israel missile detecting technology

The United States will provide Israel with a radar system used to detect and track missile and rocket attacks. The system should be in place before the Bush administration is out of office.

Israel has also asked for a "substantial" U.S. investment in Israel's "Iron Dome" and "David's Sling" short-range defensive systems, the source said. The U.S. recently agreed to provide Israel $30 billion over the next decade.

Fore the full article, click here.

Pentagon proposes $1.9 bln Lockheed sale to Israel

Israel is set to make a huge deal with Lockheed for the sale of 9 Lockheed cargo planes, plus 6 spare engines, 9 missile warning systems, advanced radars, radios and other communications equipment.

Fore the full article,
click here.

FREE TRADE AGREEMENT NEWS

Feature: BNC calls on the EU not to upgrade relationship with Israel

On the fourth anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel’s Wall is illegal, the BNC called on the EU not to upgrade its relationship with Israel and to suspend the EU Association Agreement.

The BNC demanded that the EU to reverse the decision taken by the EU Association Council on 16 June 2008 to upgrade the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Israel has been in breach of Clause 2 of the agreement, which demands respect for human rights, since the treaty was signed in 1995.

The call, which is supported by 100 European civil society organizations, is part of a growing movement to isolate Israel internationally through boycott, divestment and sanctions until it conforms to international law and human rights standards.

For more information, click here.

Actions and Ongoing Campaigns:

British Select Committee on the EU-Israel Association Agreement

Various Palestinian and UK organizations are keeping the EU-Israel Association Agreement on the British Select Committee agenda. The Committee has taken submissions from Stop the Wall, War on Want, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Trocaire and Broederlijk Delen, Oxfam UK, all of which have called for the suspension of the Agreement.

For the report of the Select Committee, click here.

For written evidence, click here.

Other News:

Delek Energy prepares for new Vietnam drilling

According to Globes, Delek Energy Systems Ltd. announced that Premier Oil Vietnam Offshore BV began drilling the 12 W-CC-1X well at the Chim Cong (Peacock) concession in the offshore from Vietnam in the South China Sea. This is a new exploration drilling, and will cost an estimated $16.5 million, not including production tests.

For more, click here.

Ilex Medical software installed in South Africa hospitals

According to Globes, Ilex Medical Ltd. has received a $700,000 order to install its eL@b laboratory information system at two military hospitals in South Africa, one in Durban and the other in Cape Town. eL@b interfaces with clinical analyzers, host machines and ERP systems.

Illex has a fully owned subsidiary, ILEX South Africa, which was established in 1992.

For more, click here.