|
|
June 19, 2009
Hearings start June 22
Palestinian village sues Quebec companies.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
On June 7 and 8, Israeli lawyer Emily Schaeffer and Palestinian leader Mohammed Khatib were in Vancouver to speak about a lawsuit filed in Quebec Superior Court by the Palestinian farming village of Bil'in against Canadian corporations Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc.
The public talks – marketed as "Israeli Apartheid on Trial: Canadian Companies Being Sued by Palestinian Village" – were part of a Canada-wide speaking tour hosted in Vancouver by the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign (BIAC) and organized nationally by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, Tadamon (Arabic for solidarity) and Young Jews for Social Justice.
Endorsing organizations of the BIAC include several Arab, Muslim and Palestinian groups, as well as Canadians Against War, Code Pink Women for Peace (local chapter), DTES Elders Council, Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), Indigenous Action Movement, Jews for a Just Peace, No One is Illegal (Vancouver), South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, StopWar Coalition, Students for a Democratic Society (University of British Columbia), the Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice, Vancouver Socialist Forum and the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).
According to Michael Elterman, regional chair of the Canada-Israel Committee, the case involves "two Quebec-registered companies that are involved in Israeli construction on land in the settlement community of Modi'in Illit/Bil'in.... Bil'in are arguing that the defendants are subject to international law because the West Bank is occupied territory arising from an act of war that took place in 1967. Upon obtaining an order in Canada, they want to petition the Israeli court to enforce the Canadian court order in Israel and the West Bank."
"The lawsuit in Canada is about the construction of Israeli settlements on Bil'in's municipal lands. It is not about the wall," said Schaeffer, who is representing the village in the Israeli courts and in Canada on the publicity tour, as well assisting lead Canadian counsel, Mark Arnold, in the preliminary hearings June 22, 23 and 25 on three motions to dismiss. The case was filed in July of 2008.
"The Israeli courts have repeatedly and consistently declined to rule on the legality of the settlements and have declared the issue 'non-justiciable,'" she said. "In other words, despite international humanitarian law and its prohibition on creating settlements, there is no possibility of claiming that a settlement violates international law in the Israeli courts. The Israeli courts recognize Israel's military laws over property rights in the occupied Palestinian territories (whereas international humanitarian law and the international legal community at large do not). Therefore, there was no means of bringing our claim against the settlement built on Bil'in's land, in part by Green Park International and Green Mount International, under international law, which is what we have done in Canada (under Canadian and international law)."
The two companies "are openly constructing, marketing and filling their buildings with Israeli settlers on Bil'in's land. This constitutes the aiding and abetting of the illegal transfer of a civilian population of an occupying force into the territory it occupies," according to Schaeffer. Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act "gives Canadian courts universal jurisdiction to try states and those aiding and abetting them for their actions both in Canada and abroad," she said.
"The decision to sue in foreign courts is part of the 'Lawfare approach' adopted at the 2001 Durban conference," said Elterman. "The assault on Israel is an attempt to embarrass, isolate and de-legitimize. The reality is that Israel is a vibrant democracy with a court system accessible to both Israelis and Palestinians. In a broader context, there is a current push by opponents of Israel to portray settlements as the obstacle to peace. This focus on the settlements is a transparent attempt to distract from the real impediment to peace, which is the rejection of a two-state solution. Israel has shown that it can and has the political will to withdraw from settlements when it thought there was a chance for peace."
Elterman stressed, "Our community needs to understand this case in the broader context of the assault on Israel using Lawfare to demonize and de-legitimize Israel."
^TOP
|
|
