Urban District Haaglanden: Veolia-transport undesirable and unacceptable in city of peace and justice From: - United Civilians for Peace (Cooperation between Cordaid, ICCO, IKV Pax Christi, Oxfam Novib) - Another Jewish Voice To: - Urban District Haaglanden Re: - Fact file Veolia Date: - April 19, 2012 1. Introduction The French multinational Veolia Environment1 („Veolia‟) is possibly contributing to violation of international law including the Geneva Conventions and discriminates Palestinians concerning its activities in Israel / the occupied Palestinian territories as shown in the fact file presented below and the accompanying legal opinion.2 Based on these facts, Veolia has to be excluded from participation in the tender procedure for the concession „public transport bus Haaglanden-city‟. 2. Veolia: The facts 2.1 Jerusalem Light Rail project (JLR) The Jerusalem Light Rail project connects West-Jerusalem with a number of Jewish settlements in and around occupied (and illegally annexed) Palestinian East-Jerusalem. The establishment of settlements is illegal under international law. The JLR is part of the „Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan‟, drawn up by the Israeli Government in March 1996.3 The City Pass Consortium consists of Veolia (Veolia Transport Israel), Alstom, two Israeli companies and the Israeli banks Hapaolim and Leumi. In 2002, this Consortium won the tender of the Israeli Government for the construction, maintenance and exploitation of the JLR as well as the 1Veolia Environment is the name of the parent company and consists of 4 divisions: Transport, Water, Energy and Environmental Services. In March 2011, Veolia Transport merged with Transdev in VeoliaTransdev, still a division of Veolia Environment. 2 See Annex 1: Legal opinion. 3 http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1998/6/Jerusalem%20Urban%20Development%20- %20Urban%20Projects%20and%20F 1 production of the tramcars and signaling. In 2005, Veolia signed its contract with City Pass, obtaining a share of 5% in the City Pass Consortium as well as the right of exploitation of the JLR for the duration of 27 years from the moment the JLR would become operational in 2011. As operator, Veolia is fully responsible for its exploitation (day-to-day performance of the JLR, including customer service, maintenance planning, sales, track control, etc.). Former prime minister Ariel Sharon said in his speech at the occasion of the signing ceremony of this contract in July 2005 that regarding the light rail “we did this in Jerusalem (…) because it is the united and eternal capital of Israel” and “this should be done (…) to strengthen Jerusalem, construct it, expand it and sustain it for eternity as the capital of the Jewish people and the united capital of the State of Israel”.4 In 2009, Veolia tried to sell 49% of its contract with the City Pass Consortium to operate the light rail, to the Israeli transport company Dan Bus. The deal fell through. In October 2010 Veolia reached an agreement in principle with the Israeli transport company Egged concerning the sale of its shares in the City Pass contract and its share of 79% in Connex Jerusalem; the Veolia subsidiary operating the Jerusalem light rail. The Jerusalem public transportation authorities rejected this deal in January 2012 as Egged, in their opinion, has not sufficient expertise to operate a light rail.5 Veolia therefore continues to remain fully responsible for the exploitation of the light rail. The first of the in total 6 planned tramlines opened to a restricted public on August the 19th 2011 and fully on December 1st 2011 and connects the Jewish settlements Pizgat Zeev and French Hill with West-Jerusalem.6 A station on Ammunition Hill (occupied Palestinian territory) will serve as transfer station for traffic to and from Ma'aleh Adumim, a large Jewish settlement on the West Bank, and the Jewish settlements in the occupied Jordan Valley. A maintenance- and storage depot for tramcars is built on a plot of 40.000 m2 near the Jewish settlement French Hill.7 It‟s the intention to expand the system in order to also connect the Jewish settlements Neve Yaacov and Gilo with West-Jerusalem.8 The light rail strengthens the permanent character of these Jewish settlements9 and contributes to their expansion.10 10 of the 23 tram stops are located in occupied East Jerusalem.11 All Jewish settlements that are being served by the light rail are located at the Israeli side of the separation barrier. This separation barrier is largely built on the West Bank and therefore illegal according to the International Court of Justice.12 The barrier divides the Jewish settlements from the rest of the West Bank and the areas populated by Palestinians in East-Jerusalem. In this way, the light rail contributes seriously to the process of spacial integration / annexation of the settlements and parts of the occupied Palestinian area between the separation barrier and the green line (=demarcation line) with Israel „proper‟ (i.e. Israel within the demarcation line of 5 June 1967).13 Moreover, this leads to a decreasing consciousness that the light rail of Israel (Jerusalem) goes to and from occupied territory, thus „normalizing‟ the occupation. Furthermore, Palestinian land is confiscated for the construction of the light rail. In Shuafat, the station is built on two square kilometers belonging to the Palestinian Mahmoud al-Mashni. Still more of his land has been confiscated for the construction of the parking lot adjacent to this station. Property from other Palestinian families has also been confiscated. The main road from Shuafat and Beit Hanina, a busy road between East-Jerusalem and Ramallah, has been used for the construction of the rails, effectively reducing this three-lane road on occupied Palestinian territory 4 http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Archive/Current+Events/2005/07/event170705.htm 5 http://www.veolia.com/en/medias/focus-on/jlrt.htm 6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karte_der_Stra%C3%9Fenbahn_Jerusalem_(topographisch).png. See also Annex 3. 7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Light_Rail 8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Light_Rail 9 See legal opinion for clarification why Jewish settlements are illegal 10 See Annex 2: schematic map of the light rail routes. 11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karte_der_Stra%C3%9Fenbahn_Jerusalem_(topographisch).png. Starting from Mount Herzl the light rail passes the demarcation line („green line‟) between stations 13 and 14 and continues in occupied Palestinian territory. 12 http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=71&code=mwp&p1=3&p2=4&p3=6&ca See also legal opinion (Annex 1) 13 Map with route separation barrier: http://www.btselem.org/Download/Separation_Barrier_Map_Eng.pdf 2 to a one-lane road with all negative consequences for mobility of Palestinians and air pollution.14 In a report on the situation in the Palestinian territories that was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2008, the confiscation of privately owned land for the construction of this light rail was condemned.15 During its 13th session in March 2010, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations opposed the „Israeli decision to establish and operate a tramway between West-Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement Pisgat Zeev, which is in clear violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions’.16 The Palestine Liberation Organization PLO, as legal representative of the Palestinian People abroad, has opposed the light rail and Veolia‟s involvement in this project from the start and issued a press release in July 2001, clarifying its point of view on the subject.17 In a press release of October 2007, the PLO stated that the project „harms the Palestinian population and their right of self-determination‟. The PLO warned Veolia in 2005 to distance itself from the light rail, and started a court case against Veolia in 2007, together with the Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), before the French court, demanding the cancelation of Veolia‟s contract with the City Pass Consortium.18 This lawsuit is still ongoing. In November 2009, Dr. Rafiq Husseini, director-general of the President‟s office of the Palestinian Authority, called on the Arab states to stop doing business with the companies involved in the light rail.19 Also the Arabic League condemned the illegal construction of the Jerusalem light rail during its summit in Khartoum, March 2006.20 In a letter to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in November 201021 Veolia states that it „tries to respect international law at all times.‟ Already in May 2006, as a reaction on the criticism of third parties on Veolia‟s involvement in the light rail, Veolia stated it would seek an independent legal opinion. Veolia contracted Ove Bring, a respected emeritus professor International Law from the University of Stockholm and the Swedish National Defense College, for advice. Bring informed Veolia that, due to Israel‟s illegal occupation, it can be assumed that the Jerusalem Light Rail project is illegal as well.22 An important advice, as this specialist was hired by Veolia itself. 2.2 Veolia bus services to settlements Besides the involvement of Veolia in the Jerusalem Light Rail project, Connex Israel, a full subsidiary of VeoliaTransdev, operates six bus lines (line 7, 19, 109, 110, 422 and 425) connecting Israeli communities in Israel with Jewish settlements on the West Bank. In the same way as the light rail, these bus lines strengthen the process of integration of the Jewish settlements, illegal according to