Introduction — campaign update
Derail Veolia
Veolia, a large French multinational, is helping to build and operate a tramway linking illegal settlements in East Jerusalem with Israel. Not only do the settlements contravene article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention forbidding an occupier transferring its own civilians into the territory it occupies, but in most cases the establishment of the Israeli settlements involved war crimes too. The tramway tightens Israel’s hold on occupied East Jerusalem, ties the settlements more firmly into Israel and undermines chances of a just peace for the Palestinian people.
Veolia also operates bus services for Israeli settlers, running them between the illegal settlements and Israel. The buses travel on settler roads, which have decimated Palestinian towns and villages by stealing their land for construction, and cut them off from each other. Palestinians are forbidden from using these settler-only apartheid roads, which are one of the means of restricting their movement within the West Bank.
Through its subsidiary, TMM, Veolia also collects refuse from illegal settlements at the Tovlan landfill site in the occupied Jordan Valley.
Veolia must be made to halt these activities which enable Israel to maintain and tighten its grip on the occupation.
PSC and the BIG Campaign are re-launching the Derail Veolia campaign in the UK.
Recent Achievements
Successful campaigning has already resulted in Veolia losing major contracts in Stockholm, Bordeaux and Melbourne this year. A campaign by West Midlands PSC led to Veolia failing to make the Sandwell borough’s shortlist for a rubbish collection contract.
The campaign is gathering momentum. In Britain, under the Public Contract Regulations 2006, a company can be excluded from a contract on the grounds of grave misconduct. What could be graver than aiding and abetting war crimes?
There are press reports that Veolia is buckling under the pressure and wants to get out of the Jerusalem project, but it has refused to comment. We are demanding that Veolia pulls out of the tramway project, ends the Israeli-only bus service and stops collecting rubbish from the illegal settlements.
We are at a crucial moment in this campaign and ask all members and supporters to take action.
What you can do:
- Circulate the information about Veolia’s complicity in the occupation to every local authority and business in the UK that might have, now or in the future, a contract with Veolia.
- Ask your local council to exclude Veolia from bidding for future contracts (whether they have an existing contract or not) or to cancel existing contracts at the earliest opportunity. Tell them why they shouldn’t contract with Veolia.
- Check the rubbish skips used by your area’s places of worship, local shops and businesses: if they are using Veolia Environmental Services, Onyx or Cleanaway (all Veolia) get them to switch to another contractor.
- Make sure to inform PSC if you find any more Veolia Environmental Services, Veolia Transport or Veolia Water public contracts ending in 2010 or 2011 in your area
Councils and public bodies with Veolia contracts ending within 2-3 years are a prime focus for the campaign. We can be sure that Veolia will bid for the replacement contract.
Contracts that are expiring soon that we have so far identified — all with Veolia Environmental Services — include: Greater London Authority (GLA); Westminster City; Richmond (London Borough); Norwich City; Portsmouth City; Glasgow University; West Yorkshire Wakefield &District Housing Ltd; South Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust and Welsh Health Supplies (NHS). Please take action and contact us if you live in any of these areas. Draft letters are on the BIG website.