Israeli firms on Palestinian building project sign anti-settlement clause

Agreements involving companies building new West Bank city spark call
for counter-boycott from Jewish settler groups



Rawabi An artist's impression of the new city of Rawabi. Photograph:
Guardian

A dozen Israeli companies working on a Palestinian construction project
have signed contracts stipulating they must not use Israeli products
originating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights.

The move has sparked calls from Jewish settler groups and their
supporters for a counter-boycott.

The lucrative contracts are conditional on the firms agreeing to eschew
"products of the territories" in line with the Palestinian Authority's
boycott of goods and services from settlements.

The companies have signed agreements with Bayti, a Palestinian-Qatari
group building a new city in the West Bank intended to become a hub for
the technology industry and house 40,000 people.

The £850m Rawabi project is a sign of the West Bank's flourishing economy.

Israeli politicians and settlement supporters have condemned the
contracts. Dozens of members of the Knesset (parliament) have called for
the government to boycott Israeli companies that have signed the Rawabi
deals, a demand backed by the Knesset's economics committee.

"Anyone building Rawabi should know that they won't build Tel Aviv," the
rightwing pro-settler Knesset member Aryeh Eldad said.

The Land of Israel Lobby, headed by Eldad, said in a statement: "This is
shameful and shocking collaboration with Palestinian economic
terrorism." The companies had "sold their Zionist souls for a deal with
the enemy".

Bashar Masri, Bayti's managing director, said the clause was not new,
adding: "I have been insisting on this for three years at least. I
always put this in as a condition up front. Someone has decided to make
an issue of this now.

"It's the norm that we don't support the aggressor, those who take our
land and make our lives miserable."

He said he expected "a whole lot more" Israeli companies to agree to the
clause in order to win contracts with Bayti. "None of the people who
have already signed have backed out, despite the threats of the
radicals," he said.

The Samaria Settlers' Committee this week offered a 500 shekel (£90)
reward to anyone disclosing the identity of companies involved. Two
companies have been named in the Israeli media.

One, Ytong, which makes concrete blocks, denied it had agreed to boycott
settlement products. "Ytong is not a partner to this boycott or any
other," the firm said in a statement.

Another, Teldor Cables, has a factory in the occupied Golan Heights,
according to a report in Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, has vigorously promoted a
boycott of settlement produce in the West Bank, with shops ordered not
to stock such goods.

The implementation of a law banning Palestinians from working in
settlements has been delayed as alternative employment has not yet been
found. An estimated 21,000 Palestinians work in construction,
agriculture or industry in Jewish settlements.

The boycott movement has attracted support in other countries. Israel
accuses its backers of trying to delegitimise the Jewish state.

An attempt by Masri to buy land from an Israeli company in East
Jerusalem to build housing for Palestinians foundered this week after a
campaign to block it.

The Jewish settlement of Nof Zion has been in financial difficulty for
some time. "It's in the heart of East Jerusalem, surrounded by thousands
of Palestinian homes," Masri said.

"But [the campaigners] wanted to block land going from a Jewish owner to
a Palestinian owner. It's a racist issue – they made this very clear."

• Prev
• Next