Environmental services in Lewisham. Photo by Daisy Bowie-Sell
Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock has agreed to write to recycling firm Veolia asking them to justify their controversial work in the West Bank.
The move comes after residents addressed a council meeting last week calling for an end to their contract with the multinational French firm, which is involved in building a tram linking Israeli settlements with Jerusalem.
Leah Jennings from the local branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the settlements violate article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states: “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
“Put simply, Veolia is aiding and abetting war crimes and I do not want to see my council implicated,” Ms Jennings told the meeting.
The PSC put forward five points at the meeting, including looking at the terms of the contract to see if any relate to the company’s conduct outside the borough and use it as a basis not to extend the current agreement.
The Mayor said council members were not able to take this into account when awarding contracts, adding: “Nevertheless I shared those concerns and undertook to write to the company. When the letter is sent it will be made public.”
Veolia Environmental Services operates in over half of London’s boroughs, including Croydon, with activities ranging from household and business waste management and recycling services to street cleansing.
This seems rather one-sided in its coverage of opinions on the “war crimes”. What about a response from an Israeli representative?
Anna, I think the whole world’s heard enough of the Israeli government’s lies and justifications for it’s war crimes, torture, ethnic cleansing and murder. Israel have a big enough propaganda machine to speak for themselves, as a quick look at any mainstream media outlet will show. It’s good to be hearing from the Palestine solidarity movement for once.
Anna, you want balance? How can anyone be balanced when one of the largest militaries in the world, funded and backed by the largest military in the world, is waging a never ending war against one of the poorest most destitute nations on Earth? How do you balance that? What do you want to hear? You don’t think there were war crimes? Ask the UN: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/6194723/Israel-committed-war-crimes-in-Gaza-UN-says.html
I think your response pretty much vindicates my complaint.
There are always at least two sides to every story, and the point of news reporting is to attempt objectivity.
“The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity”. -Jacob Burkhardt