Boycott roundup: French companies to drop out of Jerusalem rail project

Boycott roundup: French companies to drop out of Jerusalem rail project: "In a significant victory for the global Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, French companies Veolia and Alstom have dropped out of the Jerusalem light rail project due to sustained pressure from Palestine solidarity groups. The companies were contracted by the Israeli government to construct and manage the tramway linking Jerusalem to several illegal Israeli settlement colonies in the occupied West Bank.

The Associated Press reported on 28 November that Yoni Yitzhak, the spokesperson for Veolia Israel, 'denied the company had succumbed to political pressures,' saying that '[a]ll decisions by Veolia Israel are based on financial, not political, considerations ('French firm drops out of Israeli light rail project,' 28 November 2010).

However, a spokesperson for Dan bus lines, an Israeli company that hoped to secure the contract after Veolia dropped out, said that Veolia had told Dan executives that the company had decided to end its involvement in the Jerusalem light rail project specifically because of the mounting BDS campaigns and political pressure, according to the Associated Press report.

Speaking at the recent London session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof testified against Veolia for its involvement in profiting from the illegal settlement industry. Nieuwhof is a human rights advocate whose writing focuses on corporate complicity in violations of international law, including Veolia's role in the project. The jury subsequently included Veolia in a list of seven corporations it identified with 'corporate complicity in Israeli violations of international law.'"