Another BDS victory: Bank suspends loans to settlements
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- Written by Coteret Coteret
- Published: 31 December 2009 31 December 2009
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Last Wednesday (December 23 2009) Coteret ran a Yediot report on the exit of a the Swedish company, Mult-T-Lock, from a West Bank industrial zone. This morning (December 30 2009) Arutz 7, a right-wing news service, ran a settler-sourced report (full text below) on the withdrawal of Belgian-French owned bank from lending operations to settlement municipalities.
If true, this may be an even more dramatic development, because the bank would be in breach of contract with the Israeli Ministry of Finance. The Israeli project Who Profits apparently initiated the advocacy leading to the Dexia’s decision.
Dexia Bank severing relations with Judea and Samaria authorities
Dexia Israel Bank, which gives loans to Israeli local councils in cooperation with the treasury, informed the Judea and Samaria authorities it was cutting off relations with them
Shlomo Pyotrokovsky, Arutz Sheva [settler news service], December 30
Dexia Israel Bank, which gives Israeli local councils loans in cooperation with the treasury, informed the local authorities in Judea and Samaria it was cutting off relations with them, and asked them to pull their accounts out of the bank.
The bank won a tender Israel issued for providing credit to Israeli local councils, after the state privatized the Bank Otzar Hashilton Hamekomi. Dexia Israel is owned by the French-Belgian Dexia Bank, and the reason for the divestment is a demand by the management of the mother company in France.
The reason for the decision by the French-Belgian bank is pressure from pro-Palestinian organizations, parties, professional unions and others to stop the funding.
Reports say that Dexia’s management decided following the pressures that funding the settlements is against the bank’s ethical code and therefore will be stopped.
The decision by Dexia Israel is especially problematic because in July Dexia and the treasury’s accountant general, Shuki Oren, signed an agreement to give credit to local councils as part of a local council recovery plan in the sum of 274 million shekels.
The balancing grants the councils receive from the state will serve the bank as securities for repayment of the loans at a 5.8% interest rate attached to the index for 10 years, but the councils in Judea and Samaria will apparently not be able to enjoy those terms.
Dexia Israel denied the reports and said the bank was studying granting credit to local councils established by Israeli law in accordance with accepted banking regulations, without any other considerations.
Bentzi Buckstein, a new council member from Kiryat Arba, who exposed the Dexia Bank story, said Judea and Samaria council heads should bravely face the bank and not be intimidated. He said: “If Dexia Bank does not change its decision we should fight against the bank.”
Chairman of the center of regional councils, Shmulik Ripman, tells Arutz Sheva in response, “I am very concerned about Dexia Israel’s behavior towards the Judea and Samaria councils.”
“Most of my own council’s money is no longer with Dexia and if the heads of all the councils act like me maybe the heads of Dexia Bank will come to their senses. A bank operating in Israel can not surrender to Arab and anti-Semitic pressures operating against Israel,” added Ripman.
MK Dr. Michael Ben Ari (National Union) says “the Belgian bank’s harassment of the settlements in Judea and Samaria is a test of Jewish solidarity for the treasury and local government. Surrender to anti-Semitic elements will lead to harassment in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and, finally, the city of Herzliya.”
Update from Cairo: Gaza Freedom March rejects Egyptian offer to allow only 100 protesters into Gaza
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- Written by Adam Horowitz Adam Horowitz
- Published: 30 December 2009 30 December 2009
- Hits: 3022 3022
The latest from Cairo is that the Gaza Freedom March has rejected the Egyptian government’s offer to allow 100 protesters into Gaza. A press release from the march states:
After three days of vigils and demonstrations in downtown Cairo, Suzanne Mubarak’s offer to allow just 100 of 1,300 delegates to enter Gaza was rejected by the Gaza Freedom March.
Coordinating Committee as well as many of the larger contingents – including those from France, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and New York State (U.S.).
“We flatly reject Egypt’s offer of a token gesture. We refuse to whitewash the siege of Gaza. Our group will continue working to get all 1362 marchers into Gaza as one step towards the ultimate goal for the complete end of the siege and the liberation of Palestine” said Ziyaad Lunat a member of the march Coordinating Committee.
The clip from Democracy Now above features an interview with Ali Abunimah giving the latest update (starts around 30:00). Abunimah states that between 50-80 people did board a bus to head to Gaza for various reasons, and according to this twitter update the bus may have been turned back at the Suez canal. Abunimah explained his own decision not to go to Gaza on his blog:
This was a very difficult morning. Many delegations to the Gaza Freedom March rejected the Egyptian offer of two buses to Gaza. Personally I wanted nothing more to be in Gaza. I did get on a bus. But I could not go when people I know and trust in Gaza did not want us to come under such conditions and when there was so much opposition to this. For me that was the bottom line. Their fear is this small delegation would be used by the Egyptian government for propaganda and there was great anger at the statements made by the Egyptian foreign minister last night maligning the Gaza Freedom March. I understand the agony of people on those buses who wanted to reach Gaza. I felt that. But it was impossible. We need to keep up the struggle to end the siege. We’ve come this far. Solidarity means standing together and continuing the struggle.
It’s been difficult to piece the situation together online, but clearly the march was put in a near impossible situation by the Egyptian offer and any decision regarding the offer would have been controversial. Here is a fascinating update on how march participants handled the news of the offer, and it’s clear that critics who felt that Egypt was using the march to whitewash their own complicity in the Gaza blockade won out. This decision was supported by Palestinians who were coordinating the march inside Gaza. Here is a statement from the Gaza-Gaza Freedom March Steering Committee:
Gaza 30.12.2009
Over the past week we, representatives of various civil society sectors in Gaza, have been humbled by the sacrifices that you, 1400 people, have made in order to come and support us in breaking the siege.
Despite our grave disappointment that we can not yet meet you all that we are still separated by this medieval siege we feel that your arrival in Cairo has already borne fruits. Your insistence to break the siege in order to be in solidarity with us has inspired many and shamed many others. Thanks to your presence with us, a network to break the siege and free Palestine has been established.
We support any decisions taken by the Gaza Freedom March Coordination Committee about the entry of just 100 of 1400 delegates into Gaza instead of all the delegates presently in Cairo. Obviously it is, as all previous decisions, a majority decision. We, at the Gaza- GFM Steering committee have reiterated our position, namely, that it is up to The Gaza Freedom March Coordination Committee in Cairo to decide. We initially felt that if representatives of all forty some countries can go to Gaza and join a march along Palestinians it would convey a very strong message to the world public opinion. Had they decided to go through with the Egyptian offer, we would have welcomed them in Gaza and deeply appreciated their solidarity.
The decision to send 100 delegates, however, seemed too divisive for the growing solidarity campaign with the Palestinian people. The unity of the global solidarity campaign is of utmost importance for us, the besieged Palestinians of Gaza. We have repeatedly argued that the march itself is not supposed to be only a symbolic gesture, but rather a part of a series of events which will lead to the end of the siege, once and for all. We want to intensify and continue building the solidarity campaign, not divide it.
We salute the GFM delegates and thank them for the tremendous amount of work they have been doing and whatever decision they came up with.
Gaza-GFM Steering Committee
Egypt to allow 100 protesters of 1300 into Gaza; Two Oregon Students are included!
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- Written by Samer al-Atrush (AFP) Samer al-Atrush (AFP)
- Published: 30 December 2009 30 December 2009
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CAIRO — Protest leaders stranded in Cairo accepted an Egyptian offer on Tuesday to allow only 100 out of about 1,300 protesters into blockaded Gaza after the activists staged demonstrations and a hunger strike.
The decision split delegates from more than 40 countries who came to Cairo planning to reach the Palestinian enclave, which shares the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Some organisers said Egypt's offer was a victory after it initially refused to allow any of the protesters into the Gaza Strip for the Gaza Freedom March, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
"It's a partial victory," said Medea Benjamin, an American activist and one of the demonstrations organisers. "It shows that mass pressure has an effect."
They said the foreign ministry offered to let them choose 100 delegates who would be allowed into Gaza. They were due to leave Cairo for Gaza on Wednesday morning.
Activists have staged demonstrations and sit-ins around Cairo to push for entry to Gaza. Dozens of French activists camped out in front of their embassy in Cairo after being refused passage.
The offer, however, angered many of the activists. A French organiser rejected it as divisive and said the sit-in in front of the French embassy would continue.
"This just gives the Egyptian government a photo-up and the chance say we allowed people through," said Bassem Omar, a Canadian protester. Activists left behind in Cairo said they planned further protests.
Egypt had said it barred the protesters because of the "sensitive situation" in Gaza. It has refused to permanently open the Rafah crossing since the militant Islamist group Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, prompting Israel's blockade, but opens it for a few days every month.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said earlier at a press conference that his country would allow some of the protesters to enter Gaza.
"We are looking into allowing a limited number...in the coming days," he said. He accused other protesters of "conspiring" against Egypt and said they could remain "on the street."
Egypt has vigorously contested allegations of complicity in the blockade of Gaza, which was devastated last winter during a war between its Hamas rulers and Israel that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Separately, organisers of another aid convoy trying to reach Gaza -- Viva Palestina led by British MP George Galloway -- said it would head to Syria en route for Egypt after being stranded in Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba for five days.
They had planned to drive to Gaza from the Red Sea port of Nuweiba -- the most direct route -- but Egypt insisted the convoy could only enter through El-Arish, on its Mediterranean coast.
Gaza marchers go on hunger strike
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 28 December 2009 28 December 2009
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Protesters trying to march into Gaza a year after an Israeli offensive are on hunger strike after Egypt blocked them from crossing the border.
Hundreds of people in Cairo have been prevented from getting close to the border with Gaza.
A group who got as far as the Sinai port of El Arish have been detained by the Egyptian police.
A separate convoy of vans delivering medical supplies is stuck in the Jordanian port town of Aqaba.
At least 38 people of various nationalities were picked up by Egyptian security services in El Arish and held in their hotel rooms, AFP news agency reported.
'Whatever it takes'
In Cairo hundreds of activists are camped outside the United Nations mission in Cairo trying to get them to pressure the Egyptians to let them cross the border with the Gaza Strip.
"I've never done this before, I don't know how my body will react, but I'll do whatever it takes," 85-year-old Hedy Epstein told AFP.
The American activist is a Holocaust survivor, the agency reported.
Meanwhile a convoy of vans carrying supplies which travelled all the way from London to Jordan has been told by Egyptian officials it must go all the way back to Syria to get into Egypt.
The "Viva Palestina" convoy, led by British MP George Galloway, has been blocked from getting on a ferry from Aqaba to the Egyptian town of Nuweiba where it planned to continue by road to the Rafah border crossing.
But now the convoy faces a potentially budget-draining journey back through Jordan to the Syrian port of Latakia, followed by several ferries to El Arish.
'Sensitive situation'
Earlier in December, Egypt rejected a request to allow activists to march across the border into the Gaza Strip to mark the anniversary of last year's conflict.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said the march could not be allowed because of the "sensitive situation" in Gaza.
Over 1,000 activists from 42 countries had signed up to join "the Gaza freedom march" to mark the anniversary of the Israeli military incursion into Gaza last year.
Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the 22-day conflict that ended in January, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.
Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.
Gaza is under a tight Israeli and Egyptian blockade, tightened since Hamas took over the strip in 2007.
Most medicines are allowed into the territory, but their transfer can be slowed by Israeli and Palestinian bureaucracy, and the entry of medical equipment and other supplies is limited.
The World Health Organization says that at the end of November 2009, 125 of 480 essential drugs were at "zero level", meaning there was less than one month's stock left.
Israel says the military operation was - and the continuing blockade is - targeted at Hamas, not Gaza's civilians.
The Islamist movement has controlled Gaza since June 2007, and has launched thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel in recent years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8433010.stm
Published: 2009/12/28 18:22:48 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Egyptian Security Forces Detain Gaza Freedom Marchers in El-Arish and shut down Cairo Gaza Memorial
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- Written by Wendy Goldsmith Wendy Goldsmith
- Published: 28 December 2009 28 December 2009
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Egyptian security forces detain Gaza Freedom Marchers at El-Arish
By Wendy Goldsmith
| December 27, 2009
Egyptian Security Forces Detain Gaza Freedom Marchers in El-Arish and shut down Gaza Memorial in Cairo
What: Egyptian security forces detain internationals in el-Arish, break up memorial actions in Cairo
When: Sunday, December 27, noon: the Egyptian security forces detained a group of 30 internationals in their hotel in el-Arish and another group of 8 at the bus station. They also broke up a memorial action commemorating the Cast Lead massacre at the Kasr al Nil Bridge
At noon on 27 December, Egyptian security forces detained a group of 30 activists in their hotel in el-Arish as they prepared to leave for Gaza, placing them under house arrest. The delegates, all part of the Gaza Freedom March of 1,300 people, were Spanish, French, British, American, and Japanese. The Egyptian security forces eventually yielded, letting most of the marchers leave the hotel, but did not permit them to leave the town. When two younger delegates, a French and Japanese woman, attempted to leave el-Arish, the Egyptian authorities stopped their taxi and unloaded their luggage.
Another group of eight people, including citizens from American, British, Spanish, Japanese and Greece, were detained at the bus station of Al Arish in the afternoon of December 27. As of 3:30 PM, they were still being held.
Simultaneously, Egyptian security police broke up a commemoration of the Israeli invasion of Gaza organized by the Gaza Freedom March at Kasr al Nil Bridge, one of the main bridges connecting Zamalek Island, in the middle of the Nile, to Cairo. As a nonviolent way of commemorating the more than 1300 Palestinians killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza that began a year ago on December 27, 2008, Gaza Freedom Marchers tied hundreds of strings with notes, poems, art and the names of those killed to the bridge.
"We're saddened that the Egyptian authorities have blocked our participants' freedom of movement and interfered with a peaceful commemoration of the dead," said Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, one of the March's organizers.
Benjamin added that the Gaza Freedom March participants are continuing to urge the Egyptian government to allow them to proceed to Gaza. They visited the Arab League asking for support, various foreign embassies and the Presidential Palance to deliver an appeal to President Mubarak. They are calling their supporters around the world to contact Egyptian embassies and urge them to free the marchers and allow them to proceed to Gaza.