TREVOR Berkley, in his response to our letter (Observer Letters, June 14), misrepresents what we were saying.
We did not mention boycotts of Israel, but were talking about a possible contract between Harrow Council and Veolia, which is operating in the illegally Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs).
We are not here engaged in a general debate on human rights, which we know are infringed in the places Mr Berkley listed. We cannot take on all the world’s human rights infringements, and that does not mean that this one should not be considered.
Is Harrow Council intending to have a contract with any firms operating in those countries? If so, and if they are breaking international law of course they should also be excluded.
Throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Jordan Valley, Palestinians homes, farms and wells are being illegally demolished by Israel’s army, including many projects built with EU funds, with Palestinians being forcibly displaced.
Instead, illegal settlements are being expanded exponentially, and Veolia, with its light railway project in East Jerusalem linking to these settlements, running settler-only bus-routes and polluting land-fill sites, only consolidates this decades-long occupation.
The UK, the US other EU countries and the UN have repeatedly condemned these actions, well documented by UN and human rights bodies.
Veolia’s complicity in breaking international law, considered ‘grave misconduct’, is the issue we are dealing with and we hope the council will take this factor into account in the tendering process and not breach UK ethical codes, regulations, and EU directives.
Abe Hayeem
Margery Hancock
“Stop Veolia in Harrow”
stopveolia_harrow@yahoo.com
The opportunity to make submissions on this issue has now closed.
Editor
