LONDON, April 12, 2010 (WAFA) - Green Party campaigners asked yesterday, Croydon Council to cancel Veolia's contract, in east Jerusalem, International Solidarity Movement said.
Campaigners said, Veolia, the company responsible for waste and recycling collections in Croydon, should be boycotted for 'breaching human rights' in Palestine.
They called the council to ditch the firm because of its involvement in the construction of a controversial tramline in Jerusalem. The firm's French parent company, Veolia Environnement, is building the light railway system to serve Jewish settlements in the east of the city, which are illegal under international law.
The condemnation from human rights activists because the rail network will stop at Israeli communities, but not in Palestinian areas. Now Croydon's Greens have added their voice to intense international pressure for the company to halt construction.
The party wanted from Croydon Council to cancel Veolia's lucrative waste collection, recycling and street cleaning contract, which runs until 2014.
Campaigners also wanted the South London Waste Partnership to reject the company's bid to dispose of Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton's future waste.
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Croydon Central, Bernice Golberg, said: 'It is wrong that council taxpayers' money should be actively supporting a company which is engaged in the colonization of the occupied West Bank. He added, 'the council should withdraw from its current deal with Veolia.'
Veolia said, it is legally bound to operate the tramline once it is finished later this year,It will link west Jerusalem to the Jewish settlements in the east of the city.
Mean while, in 2009, Dutch bank ASN broke off relations with Veolia because of its involvement in the project. Two years earlier, the company was taken to court on the grounds that the contract breached the French Civil Code and the case is still under investigation.
The council said, it will look to the Government for advice on the company's actions. A spokesman stressed: 'This is a matter for international law, not individual local authorities and we would take our guidance from the Foreign Office.'
Veolia insisted that, the Jerusalem Light Rail project will not discriminate against Palestinians as, while the tramline won't stop in their communities, they can still use it. A spokeswoman for the company said: 'The freedom to travel is one of the most crucial human rights issues in the Jerusalem area and more generally in the occupied territories.
She added, the (tramline) will enable easier and faster access.'It is intended to benefit all residents of the area and will not restrict its services according to religious background.'
