Campaign of the Month: Who Profits from the Israeli Occupation Industry
The Coalition of Women for Peace (http://www.coalitionofwomen.org) in Israel has launched in January 2009 a ground breaking new database of companies directly involved in the Israeli occupation. This online database (see: www.whoprofits.org) reflects an on-going grassroots investigation effort by The Coalition of Women for Peace, a leading Israeli feminist peace organisation dedicated to ending the occupation and reaching a just peace in Israel/ Palestine. Rigorous research, including site visits and cross references of documents, have resulted in a database of several hundred international and Israeli companies directly involved in the Israeli occupation. During 2009 they intend to upload hundreds more of companies which are under investigation.
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights is fuelled by corporate interests. Israeli companies and multinational corporations deal in real estate; develop the Israeli infrastructure and settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories and the Golan Heights; contribute to the construction and operation of an ethnic separation system, including checkpoints, walls and roads; design and supply equipment and tools used in the control and repression of the civilian population under occupation.
While governments are calling on Israel to stop settlement expansion, multinational corporations continue to participate in the Israeli colonial enterprises in the oPt and the Golan Heights in their investments and operations. Consumer markets around the world also continue to accept settlement products, and thus tacitly support the effective economic annexation of occupied resources including land and labour into Israel.
Currently, the focus is on three main areas of corporate involvement in the occupation: The Settlement Industry, Economic Exploitation and Control of Population. At this stage the project, is not investigating the vast industry of military production and arms trade. The information provided on the exploitation of Palestinian labour and production is also very limited. Other organisations (Kav LaOved, Adva Center, and The Alternative Information Center) have investigated these fields of involvement in depth, and wherever necessary, there is a link to their publications.
Who Profits does not call for any one specific form of action towards any of the companies on the database, since different methods and strategies are appropriate for different conditions and locations. As an information centre, they plan to support and encourage diverse methods to influence corporations to stop their involvement in the occupation.
Dalit Baum, project coordinator, explained: "Many companies attempt to mislead customers - they hide the reality of their operations in the settlements by marketing their products from within Israel. Through site visits, we have been able to map some of these companies and to identify them on our website. Large construction firms also try and downplay their involvement in Israeli real estate deals on Palestinian land – and we want them to answer for it. For the first time, we are shining a light on corporate practices that sustain the settlements or benefit from the unequal setting of the occupation; these cannot be condoned as regular business activities”.
For more information contact: whoprofits (at) yahoo.com
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