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Palestinian Villages Launch Lawsuit Against Canadian Companies
Letter from Bil’in’s Popular Committee
Dear friends,
As you may already know, the village of Bil’in recently announced the launch of an unprecedented legal action against two Canadian companies, Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc., charging them with war crimes. The case has been filed in the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal, Canada.
Bil’in charges that these companies have violated both international law and Canadian domestic law by acting as agents of Israel, illegally constructing residences and other buildings in the West Bank, a territory internationally recognized as illegally occupied due to an act of war in 1967. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, an occupying power may not transfer its civilian population into territory that it has occupied as a result of war. Canada has similar prohibitions under its Canadian Geneva Conventions Act and its Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. Moreover, the Canadian statutes have jurisdiction over all its citizens everywhere, regardless of where in the world the offence has been committed.
Bil’in is seeking an immediate Order from the Canadian Supreme Court that these companies halt their illegal construction and provide punitive damages and other relief to the village. Upon obtaining such an Order in Canada, Bil’in intends to petition the Israeli Court to enforce the Canadian Court Order in Israel and the West Bank.
This landmark court case aims to bring international companies active in illegal settlement construction to justice. Bil’in’s case is strong, and the lawsuit will foreground the political issue of settlement colonialism as well as the legal responsibility of perpetrators abroad, regardless of the case’s actual outcome. However, if the outcome of the case is positive, other companies in other countries could be dealt with in a similar manner.
Chris Webb is a journalist and activist living in Toronto. He is currently the Publishing Assistant at Canadian Dimension magazine and a Communications Officer with SEIU-Local 1 Canada. Read more by Chris Webb.
Bullfeathers!
According to international law it’s illegal to terror and suicide bomb civilian populations, which is why Israel has been compelled to build a separation wall between it and the Palestinian territories until the Palestinians finally decide that the attempted genocide of their neighbors isn’t in their best interests.
This is just like the ISM scam of trying to sue the Caterpillar corporation because their bulldozer ran over that hysterical terrorist wannabe Rachel Corrie.
What a farrago of lies and racist, terrorist nonsense!
#1. Posted by Hugh on July 31st 2008 at 9:38am
For the record, if there were ever “a farrago of lies and racist, terrorist nonsense,” Hugh’s posting would encapsulate it.
Israeli settlers have stolen almost half of the West Bank, and have, along with the Israeli army, subjected the indigenous Palestinian population to a military occupation so brutal that the only way to comprehend the alternate universe that exists there is to go see for yourself.
Or ask Yisrael Medad, who lives in “Shiloh” (i.e., the Palestinian West Bank). Oh wait, Yisrael doesn’t like being called a “settler.” Perhaps because he’s really just another entitled American (of the virulently pro-Israel variety) who feels entitled to all of historic Palestine. It would be amusing if it weren’t so tragic.
#2. Posted by ariana friedman on August 1st 2008 at 11:06am
Does that mean that Jesus wasn’t Jewish?
In any case, the scenario has kind of moved on. Abbas and his regime are in negotiations with Israel to try and reach some kind of mutual agreement so that there could indeed be a viable 2 state solution, and the Hamas crazies appear to be upholding a ceasefire, which I hope will turn out to be more than just a “re-load.” There actually has been news of the Hamas arresting other crazies who shot mortars and rockets across the border into Israel so maybe there’s hope yet.
At the end of the day, the only reasonable solution is for the Arabs and Jews to reach some kind of agreement and live beside each other and work towards normalization. That could be too much to ask.
Of course, Ariana, if you happen to be mentally ill then my comments maybe won’t make too much sense, but at least the others who read this will see that I’ve tried.
#3. Posted by Hugh on August 2nd 2008 at 1:28am
Jews are indigenous to the Middle East too.
And the reason there are Jews in the West Bank is because the Palestinians (and others) failed an attempted genocidal annihilation of the Jews and Israel in 1967.
Brutal military occupation? Well it only got re-occupied after the suicide homicide bombings of Israeli civilians, or did Ariana happen to forget that that happened? ie: blowing up buses, pizza parlours and people sitting down for a passover meal.
Here’s another one for you.
The Israelis withdrew from Gaza in 2005 leaving millions and millions of dollars worth of valuable and functioning greenhouses behind as a gift. The response to that was years of random missile attacks from their neighbors. Or I guess you forgot about that too.
#4. Posted by Hugh on August 2nd 2008 at 6:13am
It’s getting more complicated by the minute.
Here’s a late-breaking news story about Israel sheltering Palestinians from being massacred BY OTHER Palestinians…
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331170502&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
“...Toward Saturday night, more than 180 (Fatah) clan members approached the border fence with Israel near the Nahal Oz fuel crossing, laid down their weapons and asked soldiers to allow them to cross over. Military sources said the group was allowed into Israel out of “humanitarian concerns” that they would be slaughtered by Hamas. ...”
#5. Posted by Hugh on August 2nd 2008 at 7:35am
Hugh, you’re remarkably uninformed. In part, this is because you’re clearly not Israeli (as I am, and as you couldn’t possibly be with a name like “Hugh”).
Your comments reflect a complete lack of understanding—of Israeli history and of Palestinian history, as well. I recommend that you read a few b-o-o-k-s. You’ve heard of those, surely?
Why don’t you start with “Lords of the Land” by Idith Zertal (a distinguished Israeli historian) and Akiva Eldar (an Israeli journalist). An English-language edition was recently published, and I’m sure you can order it online. The book provides a detailed history of the culture of Israeli aggression in the West Bank and Gaza. It may help in deprogramming you.
#6. Posted by ariana friedman on August 3rd 2008 at 2:20am
Capitalist companies based within Canada must not be permitted to expand to foreign in disregard to the local political unrest in these countries. They must be held accountable for their behavior. Building in occupied lands is a disgrace and a blight on the name of Canada that must be stopped. Hopefully this lawsuit is just the first of many.
#7. Posted by Octaevius on August 3rd 2008 at 6:49pm
Yes, it is really unbelievable that Canadian companies would try to profit off of the Israeli colonization of Palestinian land—and construct settlements on that land.
What would happen if Canadian companies built on “disputed” territory in the US?
#8. Posted by sirus on August 4th 2008 at 5:14pm
Let me correct some of the writers on notions such as “conquest,” “colonization” and “occupation” with respect to the West Bank. Those terms may be used by the United Nations to characterize Israeli jurisdiction; however, as a matter of international law, they are without validity. The UN is a political organization and was never intended to have legislative authority.
Israel acquired the West Bank defending against agression in 1967. Since the West Bank represented a part of the 1947 UN partition agreement that remained unsigned by some of the parties concerned when the British withdrew, the document became a legal nullity and a sovereignty vacuum was created in the territory. The Jordanians, as invaders without entitlement in 1947, occupied the area illegally. When the Jordanians were dislodged in 1967, there being no sovereignty reversioner, Israel came into lawful possession of the West Bank (and of Gaza which was illegally occupied by Egypt).
As a matter of international law, UN General Assembly resolutions notwithstanding, the West Bank is sovereign Israeli territory. There may be political reasons for Israel to give up some of the West Bank as part of a two-state solution involving Palestinians, but that is a matter entirely within Israeli discretion.
As to violations of international law by Canadian construction companies operating in the West Bank: there may be issues of domestic trespass involved, but that will be resolved by Israeli civil law.
#9. Posted by Blue on August 7th 2008 at 2:11am