Israel, Palestine, and… Montreal?
One of the many frustrations I have when it comes to Israel is the whole settlement situation. It is illegal to start a new settlement in Israel. Every week, new settlements are started, and the government allows the majority to remain. It’s illegal, but the government doesn’t stop it. Huh. Israeli law, international law, the Geneva Convention, and Oslo are often sited in support of stopping, and removing, the settlements. But, still, Israel does not move on it. In fact, we often hear that the Israeli government is building houses in the territories, er East Jerusalem. (Because if you call it Jerusalem, the media’s less likely to call out the illegality of it.)
But what happens when the legalities play out elsewhere? Like in the Superior Court in Montreal?
[T]he gist of the case is the assertion that Israel is violating the 4th Geneva Convention, which prohibits a state from transferring its population into territories it occupies. Canada has incorporated that provision into its domestic law and it applies to Green Park and Green Mount. … [T]he lands in question are under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Bil’in and are part of Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
And what’s the case against Green Park and Green Mount?
Green Park International and Green Mount International, acting as agents of the government of Israel, are violating a host of international laws that govern conflicts, as well as Quebec’s Charter of Rights.
Also being sued is Annette Laroche, sole director and officer of the two corporations. Two million dollars in punitive damages are sought, as well as an order to cease construction.
The court documents allege the defendants, “on their own behalf and as de facto agents of the State of Israel, are… aiding, abetting and assisting and conspiring with the State of Israel in carrying out an illegal purpose.” [Full article.]
This case will be complicated, certainly. Israel has thus far refused to try cases on the grounds of jurisdiction, but will Quebec? As Green Park and Green Mount are both Quebec-based companies, they have to abide by Quebecois, Canadian, and international law; it seems clear that they’re not.
I’d like to see this case go through the system. If the plaintiffs win, it would set precedent for other Palestinian towns to file similar legal cases. And could possibly also deter international (ie, not Israeli) companies from supporting (building or funding) the illegal settlements. I mean, could you imagine how great it would be if Palestinians actually had a legal way to sue American Jews who buy homes in the territories (er, “Jerusalem”) sight unseen (such as the new Nof Zion community)? Will Quebec be an open enough venue for a case like this, with such strong opinions on both/all sides, especially in light of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission’s findings?
* * *
In other, only vaguely related news, a bank in Canada is being sued by Canadians who live in Israel. They claim this bank, Lebanese Canadian Bank (somehow related to Royal Bank of Canada, which isn’t being sued), knowingly dealt with Hezbollah. And Hezbollah’s to blame for the Lebanese war in 2006, during which the plaintiffs’ homes were damaged/destroyed. I’m not sure how this will play out. [Full article.]
(Is there something in the water, Montreal?)
Yes, those are muppets (Judge Gavel Doozer from “Fraggle Rock;” muggaphone player and Judge Marvin Suggs from “The Muppet Show”). Why not?)
Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East
Media Contact: info {at} adalahny(.)org
For Immediate Release
Palestinians Sue Canadian Companies Owned by Shaya Boymelgreen for War Crimes
Lev Leviev’s Company Danya Cebus in Israeli Settlement Partnership with Boymelgreen
New York, NY, July 10, 2008 – Evidence gathered by Adalah-NY indicates 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. Three Hebrew language Israeli media reports from 2005-2006 report that Boymelgreen owns the Green Park companies that 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 in violation of international law. The construction of Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention according to a broad international consensus.
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
Adalah-NY spokesperson Riham Barghouti explained, “We applaud the lawsuit filed by Bil’in for holding businesses accountable for settlement construction and violations of Palestinian rights. We also believe that these well-known Israeli businessmen like Boymelgreen and Leviev, who often try to hide their involvement in Israeli settlement construction from the international community, need to be made known to the public and to their business associates.”
The ownership of the two Canadian-registered companies named in the suit, Green Park International and Green Mount International, is murky, typical of many facts related to Israeli settlement construction. However, a May 8, 2005 article in Chabad On-line entitled “Boymelgreen is the controlling interest-holder in the Green Park Project” explains that Boymelgreen’s Green Park is building thousands of settlement homes in Modi’in Illit. In an April 11, 2006 article in Tsofar, Boymelgreen is quoted responding to a court petition that stopped construction by saying, “Flat buyers in my residential project, Green Park, in Modi’in Illit, will not be harmed.” A February 16, 2006 article about Boymelgreen in The Marker, the respected financial paper of Ha’aretz Daily, notes that “Of his investments in Israel, Green Park is noteworthy, a building project in Modi’in Illit…” Full English translations of these articles are available on the Adalah-NY website.
In their press release announcing the suit, Bil’in’s lawyers, Israeli Michael Sfard and Canadian lawyer Mark Arnold, noted that “the Green Park companies have… a single director who resides in the Montreal Region… it is believed that she is likely a nominal director having no direct involvement with Green Park.”
Though not a target of Bil’in’s suit, Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev is also implicated in the settlement construction in Bil’in, as well as in other parts of the West Bank. Three August 22 and 24, 2004 articles in the Israeli financial paper Globes announced Danya Cebus’ construction plans. The August 22 article noted, “Danya Cebus will build the $230 million Green Park project in the haredi (ultra-orthodox) town of Upper Modi’in… The company bought 939 dunam (234.75 acres) in the residential East Matityahu lot, zoned for the haredi community. Danya Cebus’s parent company, Africa-Israel Investments will market the project.” A May 8, 2005 Sales Agreement from Modi’in Illit between Green Park and a home buyer that was obtained by Adalah-NY notes, among many examples, that, “it is known and agreed upon among the buyers that the landscaping work and building for the project will be carried out by the Danya Cebus Company, Ltd.”
Boymelgreen and Leviev have also earned reputations in New York City as developers who abuse laborers while building expensive condos that price low-income and middle-income families out of their communities. Leviev’s companies’ human rights records in Angola and Namibia, where he mines and polishes diamonds, have also been severely criticized.
To see version with links to sources:
http://adalahny.org/index.php/.....implicated
—adalah-ny · July 16th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Activists say Montreal firms used as fronts for building Israeli settlements
http://www.metronews.ca/toront.....icle/86457
—xisnotx · July 21st, 2008 at 2:49 am