[ePalestine] McCain Should Explain About Liberty Killings

October 17, 2008   Southwest News-Herald - City & Suburban 

McCain Should Explain About Liberty Killings 

By RAY HANANIA 

If Barak Obama’s association with 1960s radical William Ayers is a critical issue in this campaign, then Sen. John McCain’s role in protecting the actions of his father in the deaths of 34 American sailors is an issue, too. 

While most Americans know all about the Ayers controversy, few know that McCain’s father, Navy Admiral John McCain Jr., was involved in the cover-up of the Israeli assault on the U.S.S. Liberty on June 8, 1967. 

On that day, Israeli fighter jets, torpedo boats and helicopter assault ships killed 34 sailors and wounded 174 others during the Arab-Israeli war. 

McCain and pro-Israel activists insist the attack was an “accident.” But eyewitnesses on the ship, American veterans in uniform who went into the Mediterranean Sea as champions of Israel, insist Israel wanted to sink the ship to force the United States to join the war against Egypt, then a Soviet client. 

Phillip Tourney was a young officer on the Liberty working in the security and communications room. In an interview on Radio Chicagoland on WJJG last week, which is online at RadioChicagoland.com, Tourney described what really happened. 

“The Israeli Air Force had been flying around us for seven hours. They knew exactly who we were,” Tourney said. “The Israeli planes left and a dozen unmarked planes returned and began firing on us.” 

Tourney said the planes put more than 800 holes in the ship, dropped napalm and strafed the ship with gunfire, killing 10 sailors. 

“We were waving an American flag from the deck that was 7 by 13 feet in size. They knew we were American and they shot at the soldiers carrying the flag,” Tourney said. 

The Liberty sent an SOS to Capt. Joseph Tully, the commander of the U.S.S. Saratoga, which was a part of the 6th Fleet. Tully’s order to help was reversed by 6th Fleet Rear Admiral Lawrence Geiss. Geiss received his orders not to protect the Liberty directly from Admiral McCain. 

Five clearly marked Israeli torpedo boats returned and one of the torpedoes hit the ship and immediately killed 24 young men. 

That means 24 American soldiers died after McCain intervened and prevented the 6th Fleet from responding to help the besieged American soldiers. 

As the attack intensified, the Israelis sent several assault helicopters filled with assault soldiers to finish the job. 

“They planned to come on board and kill every one of our men. They wanted to wipe us out,” Tourney said. “If they would have sunk our ship and killed all our men, everyone would have thought the ship had been sunk by the Egyptians and the United States would have attacked Egypt. I believe the Israelis wanted to drag the United States into the war.” 

The Israeli strike force only withdrew when it became clear that Israel had been identified as the attacking force, not Egypt. 

Several books by Liberty survivors were written documenting these events. But Admiral McCain’s son, Senator John McCain, decided a few years ago to endorse a book written by a pro-Israeli activist who insisted the attack was a “mistake.” 

If Obama must answer to his friendship with Ayers, doesn’t McCain have an obligation to explain his father’s role in the deaths of 34 American soldiers? 

Doesn’t Senator McCain have an obligation to explain his subsequent actions to protect his father’s name, rather than stand up for the dignity of our soldiers? 

We need a real, open investigation. The survivors and the families of those who died deserve it. 

http://www.swnewsherald.com/news_inside/2008/10/101708cs_rh_liberty.php

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[ePalestine] The Guardian: Black America may get a president before black Americans get to vote

Black America may get a president before black Americans get to vote 

The manipulation and intimidation that African-Americans must face in order to cast a vote will only get worse this year 

Gary Younge

The Guardian,

Monday October 27 2008

As the sun rose over Soweto on South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, the Mwale family were too busy with practical matters to ponder the historical resonance of the day. 

Following rumours that a white supremacist group was going to poison the main water tank, they boiled the water and cooked a huge pot of mealies. The day before, during early voting, granny had waited seven hours to cast her ballot for Nelson Mandela and the kids had to bring her food. Now it would be granny's turn to come to the rescue. 

I recall walking with the mother of the house, Esther Mwale, in silence at 7am through zone 9 of Meadowlands, the morning fog slowly lifting to reveal that people had ironed their best trousers and put on their sturdiest shoes for the day. All dressed up for democracy. 

The two hours Esther spent queueing to vote somehow served as a dignified, humane response to the horrors of apartheid. After his wife, Ruth First, was killed by the regime, African National Congress militant Joe Slovo said: "The most effective punishment is to force those who did it to live in a democratic South Africa." And here it was. 

But if long lines of black people at polling stations showed the promise of a fledgling democracy in South Africa, the prospect of similar scenes next week will illustrate a failing democracy in the US. A longstanding, systematic, legal and political campaign to suppress the vote in Democratic areas combined with the shambolic, shameful neglect of the electoral infrastructure could yet cause chaos on an unprecedented scale. 

In short, come next Tuesday, the issue may not so much be who votes for whom, but who gets to vote and whose votes get counted. A recent CNN poll showed that 42% of voters are not confident their vote will be accurately cast and counted - almost three times the figure four years ago. With the record numbers of newly registered voters will be a record number of lawyers on both sides. If it's close, the courts may once again pick the winner. 

The popular response to such an unpopular outcome is not difficult to imagine. According to the Washington magazine The Hill, police across the country are preparing for unrest. Swat teams will be on standby in Oakland, California. The Democratic secretary of state in Ohio now has protection from death threats after she refused to make a list of 200,000 newly registered voters available to Republicans. 

Some of this mayhem stems from a noxious blend of officiousness and incompetence. In Jackson County, West Virginia, people have been hitting the touch-screen for Barack Obama and finding they have voted for John McCain. In Florida they are testdriving the third ballot system in three election cycles. Election workers are struggling. Those who thought they would vote early and avoid the queues are waiting in line for three hours. 

Added to the technological flaws with machines and lack of technical training for those operating them are technocratic electoral laws that aren't fair, don't work and in any case aren't being heeded. According to the New York Times, tens of thousands of eligible voters in six battleground states have been illegally removed from voter rolls or will be prevented from voting in ways that violate federal law. In Wisconsin, one in five voters' names on the registration database did not completely match names on other state records, including four of the six former judges charged with overseeing the elections. Both presidential candidates may have been wasting their time wooing Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher - aka Joe the plumber - at the last debate. He is registered as Worzelbacher, and therefore may find himself ineligible to vote. 

While this is happening everywhere (Jackson county is 98% white and voted for Bush in the last two elections), it is compounded by a protracted Republican effort to disenfranchise Democratic voters under the guise of combating voter fraud. Voter fraud is a serious issue. The trouble is it barely exists. In the six years since the Bush administration has made it a priority, barely 100 people have been convicted and fewer than 200 have been charged. The overwhelming majority were either people who thought they were eligible but weren't (immigrants, felons etc) or those registering fictitious people. 

"If they found a single case of a conspiracy to affect the outcome of a Congressional election or a statewide election, that would be significant," Richard Hasen, election law expert at the Loyola Law School, told the New York Times last year. "But what we see is isolated, small- scale activities that often have not shown any kind of criminal intent." 

But that hasn't stopped Republicans trying. Five of the 12 US attorneys who were fired last year, in the scandal that led to the resignation of US attorney general Alberto Gonzales, were axed because they refused to pursue the issue of voter fraud with sufficient vigour. It also explains the Republican attacks on the community group Acorn, which pays people to register voters in low income and minority areas. Some of Acorn's workers made up names. That should be and has been condemned. But there is no evidence that it has resulted in a single fraudulent vote ever being cast since Acorn began its large-scale voter registration drives four years ago. 

While attempts at voter suppression are partisan in intent they are racial in effect. The Democrats have not won an election without the black vote since 1964. The most effective and crude way to undermine their base is to minimise the vote in black areas. This is precisely what happened in Florida in 2000, where Republicans lowered the threshold for inclusion on the "purge list" of ineligible voters. By the time they were done, African- Americans accounted for 88% of those purged, even though they only comprised 11% of the actual electorate. 

The practical consequences of this interference, manipulation and, at times, intimidation is twofold. It disenfranchises people who either don't have the time, inclination or wherewithal to stand up to officialdom. And it creates huge lines while others stay and fight. A Democratic party survey from 2004 found half of the state's African-American voters in Ohio reported some problems at the polls on election day. On average, black voters waited in longer lines than whites, were more likely to be asked for identification when they got there and felt more intimidated. 

This year will be worse. Obama's strategy has hinged on registering huge numbers of new voters. Overrepresented among them are the black, the young and first-time voters. For at least six months this eventuality has been predictable. And yet electoral officers around the country have declared themselves entirely unprepared. Just as in South Africa 14 years ago, the huge turnout we are seeing in early voting, and which will undoubtedly come on election day, marks a celebration of a historic moment in the nation's democracy. But the long lines and their demographic composition will mark not dignity but disorganisation and discrimination. 

It remains one of the paradoxes of this election that black America may yet get a president before black Americans have fully secured their right to vote. 

g.younge@guardian.co.uk 

· This article was amended on Monday October 27 2008. It said 12 US judges were fired last year. This has been corrected to 12 US attorneys 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/27/african-american-voters-barack-obama

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[ePalestine] Your US Taxdollars at work in the Gaza sea...

A 4:45 min clip of a Palestinian fishing ship, inside Palestinian waters, being harassed:

http://redressnewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/video-day-in-life-of-gazan-fisherman.html

Until when?!

Sam

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[ePalestine] New short film from Nahr al-Bared Refugee Camp online!

THIS IS A MULTILINGUAL NEWSLETTER: 

FOR english, deutsch, español, italiano, français SEE BELOW. 

>>> 

"Nahr al-Bared Between Past and Present" 

One year has passed since the first Palestinians were allowed to return to the outskirts of the destroyed Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, to the so-called "new camp". Meanwhile, up to 15.000 people have resettled there, many of them waiting to access their destroyed homes in the "old camp", the core of what used to be Nahr al-Bared Camp. The Lebanese army still exclusively controls the old camp as well as parts of the new camp. 

Nahr al-Bared Camp used to be an economic center in the north of Trablous. Although the first shops and companies have reopened in Nahr al-Bared, they struggle with difficult economic conditions such as the siege of the camp. 

This 16-minute film was produced in a small workshop in the camp. It deals with the current developments in Nahr al-Bared, focusing on economic aspects and on reconstruction. 

The film can be watched and/or downloaded here:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/2008/10/videobetween-past-and-present.html

Please check the collective's website for further videos on Nahr al-Bared:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/

>>> 

"Nahr al-Bared zwischen gestern und heute" 

Ein Jahr ist vergangen seit die ersten PalästinenserInnen in die Umgebung des zerstörten Flüchtlingslagers Nahr al-Bared, ins sogenannte "neue Camp", zurückkehren durften. Mittlerweile haben sich dort knapp 15.000 Menschen niedergelassen. Viele von ihnen warten darauf, endlich in ihre zerstörten Häuser im "alten Camp", d.h. im Kern des einstigen Nahr al- Bared Camps, gelassen zu werden. Die libanesische Armee kontrolliert derweil noch immer das alte Camp und Teile des neuen Camps. 

Nahr al-Bared Camp war einst ein Wirtschaftszentrum in der Akkar-Region nördlich von Trablous. Die ersten Läden und Unternehmen haben in Nahr al-Bared wiedereröffnet, kämpfen aber mit schwierigen wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen wie bspw. der Belagerung des Camps. 

Dieser 16-minütige Film wurde in einem kleinen Workshop im Camp produziert. Er behandelt die gegenwärtigen Entwicklungen in Nahr al-Bared und fokussiert auf ökonomische Aspekte und den Wiederaufbau. 

Der Film kann hier angeschaut und heruntergeladen werden:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/2008/10/videobetween-past-and-present.html

Weitere Videos aus Nahr al-Bared finden sich auf der Website des Kollektivs:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/

>>> 

"Nahr al-Bared Entre el Pasado y el Presente" 

Ha pasado un año desde que los primeros palestinos fueron autorizados para volver a las afueras del destruido campamento de refugiados de Nahr al-Bared, al llamado "campamento nuevo". Hasta ahora cerca de 15.000 personas han retornado, muchas de ellas esperando poder acceder a sus casas, completamente destruidas, en el "campamento viejo", el centro de lo que solía ser el Campamento de Nahr al-Bared. El Campamento Viejo, así como gran parte del campamento nuevo siguen bajo control exclusivo del Ejército Libanés. 

El Campamento de Nahr al-Bared solía ser el centro económico y comercial de la Región de Akkar, al norte de Trípoli. Si bien las primeras tiendas y pequeños locales comerciales han reabierto sus puertas en Nahr al-Bared, sus habitantes siguen enfrentando enormes dificultades económicas debido al estado de sitio impuesto en el campamento. 

Este video de 16 minutos fue producido en un pequeño taller en el campamento. Aborda los actuales desarrollos en Nahr al-Bared, centrándose en los aspectos económicos, la reconstrucción y el contexto político. 

Puede ser visto y/o descargado aquí:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/2008/10/videobetween-past-and-present.html

Por favor revise el sitio web del colectivo para más videos sobre Nahr al-Bared: http://a- films.blogspot.com 

>>> 

"Nahr al-Bared Tra Passato e Presente" 

È passato un anno da quando è stato consentito ai primi palestinesi di ritornare nei dintorni del campo distrutto di Nahr al-Bared, in quella zona chiamata “campo nuovo”. Nel frattempo, fino a 15.000 persone si sono trasferite lì, molti di loro aspettano di entrare nelle loro case distrutte nel “campo vecchio”, il centro di quello che era il campo di Nahr al-Bared. L’esercito libanese ha ancora il controllo esclusivo del campo vecchio così come alcune parti del campo nuovo. 

Il campo di Nahr al-Bared era un centro economico nel nord di Tripoli. Benché i primi negozi e compagnie hanno riaperto a Nahr al-Bared, lottano con una situazione economica difficile con un simile assedio del campo. 

Questo film di 16 minuti è stato prodotto attraverso un piccolo laboratorio video nel campo e tratta degli attuali sviluppi a Nahr al-Bared, concentrandosi sugli aspetti economici e sulla ricostruzione. 

Può essere vista e/o scaricata qui:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/2008/10/videobetween-past-and-present.html

Visita il sito del collettivo per altri video su Nahr al-Bared:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/

>>> 

"Nahr al-Bared Entre Hier et Aujourd’hui" 

Une année a passé depuis que les premiers Palestiniens ont été autorisés à retourner dans la banlieue du camp de refugiés détruit Nahr al-Bared. Cette banlieue fait désormais office de prétendu "nouveau camp". En attendant, plus de 15.000 personnes s’y sont déplacées, la plupart d’entre elles patientent encore afin de pouvoir accéder à leurs maisons détruites dans "l’ancien camp", le centre de ce qui était autrefois Nahr al-Bared. L’ancien camp ainsi qu’une partie du nouveau camp sont toujours soumis au contrôle exclusif de l’armée libanaise. 

Nahr al-Bared faisait office de centre économique du Akkar, région située au nord de Tripoli. Bien que quelques petits magasins et autres petites boutiques aient rouvert dans le nouveau camp, ils luttent contre des conditions économiques qui ont empirées depuis le siège du camp. 

Ce film de 16 minutes a été produit dans un petit atelier vidéo dans le camp. Il traite du développement actuel à Nahr al-Bared, particulièrement autour de l’aspect économique, de la reconstruction et du contexte politique. 

Vous pouvez visionner et/ou télécharger le film en suivant ce lien:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/2008/10/videobetween-past-and-present.html

Vous pouvez visionner plus de vidéos de Nahr al-Bared sur le site du collectif:

http://a-films.blogspot.com/

>>> 

SPREAD IT! 

Best regards, a-films 

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[ePalestine] TIME Magazine: Cat Stevens Denied Entry to Israel

TIME Magazine

October 23, 2008 10:29 

Cat Stevens Denied Entry to Israel 

You’d think that if Shimon Peres invited you to Israel, getting a visa would be snap. After all, Peres does happen to be the country’s President, and surely that counts for something. But apparently not if you’re a musician named Yusuf Islam, formerly known as the folksy singer- songwriter Cat Stevens. 

Stevens, a Briton who converted to Islam over 30 years ago, was invited to play at a 10th anniversary bash for the Peres Center for Peace, along with Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. According to the Israeli press, Stevens was excited about the show and was going to play a re-written version of his hit “Peace Train” alluding to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. 

But the show’s producer Irit Tenhangel made a late check with the Israeli security services, who said that Stevens would not be allowed into Israel, even if it was at President Peres’ request. 

In 2000, Stevens had been denied entry to Israel for allegedly making contributions to the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas. "This put me in a very embarrassing situation with Stevens and his personal manager,” Tenhangel told Ynetnews.com. “What am I supposed to tell them now, that the State of Israel doesn’t want him to come and talk about peace voluntarily?" She added: "He may have supported Hamas once, but the fact that a singer who converted to Islam wants to come to Israel and express his support for peace and we're not letting him do so infuriates me.” 

A name like Yusuf Islam on a passport does tend to set alarm bells ringing, and not just in Israel. In 2004, the singer, educator and philanthropist was barred from visiting the U.S. He was suspected of being an Islamic militant, but it's not as though he was plotting to meet anybody subversive, just that most wholesome of American icons: country singer Dolly Parton, who had recorded several of Stevens’ songs. Half Swedish and half Cypriot, Stevens was your typical, hard-partying young pop star of the 1970s when a near-drowning sent him on a spiritual quest, often explored through his songs, that ended with his embrace of Islam in 1977. He jettisoned his pop idol career, and dedicated himself to Islamic religious study. Using royalties from his 60 million record sales, he set up Islamic charities helping famine victims and orphans around the world. 

Israeli officials say that this mishap over Stevens’ invite could easily have been avoided if the organizers of Peres’ party had checked first with the foreign ministry. The law says that anyone declared non grata and expelled, as Stevens was in 2000, cannot be allowed back into Israel for at least 10 years. 

And as for Stevens now being a “Man of Peace”, as he is often described, “his actions speak louder than his music”, says Government Press Spokesman Daniel Seaman. “A man of peace doesn’t give money to terrorist organizations that killed Israelis and those Palestinians who disagreed with them.” 

Nevertheless, denying Israeli entry to Stevens, a musician who advocates co-existence between Israel and the Palestinians, and who is a respected figure throughout the Islamic world, undercuts the message of peace that Pres. Peres is trying to convey to his wary Arab neighbors. Happy anniversary, Mr President. 

By Tim McGirk/Jerusalem 

http://time-blog.com/middle_east/2008/10/cat_stevens_denied_entry_to_is.html?xid=rss-blogs

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[ePalestine] FORBES: Lock maker Assa Abloy to move West Bank plant / Thank Them

Associated Press 

Lock maker Assa Abloy to move West Bank plant 

Associated Press 10.21.08, 10:51 AM ET 

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -  Sweden's Assa Abloy AB, the world's largest lock maker, said Tuesday it would move a production plant from an Israeli settlement in the West Bank after being criticized by human rights groups. 

The announcement followed a critical report by the Church of Sweden, aid group Diakonia and SwedWatch, a nonprofit group that monitors the conduct of Swedish businesses. The report said Assa Abloy disrespects international humanitarian law by conducting business in occupied territory. 

The plant is located in the West Bank settlement of Barkan and has 100 employees, Assa Abloy said. It's operated by Mul-T-Lock, an Israeli subsidiary that the Swedish lock maker acquired in 2000. 

"Assa Abloy can only in this context regret that the inappropriateness has not been noted internally, during the eight years of ownership, of having a production unit on the West Bank," the company said in a statement. 

It said an internal investigation had been started to plan the move "in an orderly way." 

Stockholm-based Assa Abloy is a world-leading maker of mechanical, electromagnetic and electronic locks. 

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed 

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/21/ap5584231.html

---

Please write/call this firm today and thank them for taking this move:

ASSA ABLOY AB

P.O. Box 70340

SE-107 23 Stockholm

Sweden

Tel: +46 8-506 485 00

E-mail: info@assaabloy.com

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[ePalestine] Guide to [Israeli] Settlement Wines...what NOT to drink

Dear friends,

Ask you local restaurants and wine sellers to remove these products from
their shelves.

Drinking wine from stolen land is a crime,
Sam
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[ePalestine] Heineken & Palestine

Open letter to the Royal Dutch Embassy, Israel, The Dutch Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority and Heineken Nederlands to praise the decision of Barkan Wineries to divest from illegal Israeli settlements in Barkan. 

AL-HAQ INTERVENTION 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

REF: 29.2008E 

4 October 2008 

The Royal Dutch Embassy 

Beit Oz 

14 Abba Hillel Street 

Ramat Gan 

52506 

Israel 

The Royal Netherlands Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority 

12 Hollanda Street 

Al-Bireh 

P.O. BOX 1899 

Ramallah 

Occupied Palestinian Territory 

Heineken Nederland 

P.O. Box 28 

1000 AA Amsterdam 

The Netherlands 

Dear Ambassador Michiel den Hond, Mr. PRJ Dumore, Mr. Jean-François van Boxmer, 

As a Palestinian human rights organisation committed to the promotion and protection of human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq welcomes the decision by Barkan Wineries, an Israeli subsidiary of Tempo Beer Industry Ltd. Drinks, to remove its activities from the industrial zone of the illegal settlement of Barkan, in the northern West Bank, and transfer them into Israel. This divestment conclusion is a result of positive developments in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), including the excellent commitment demonstrated by the Dutch consumers; Heineken N.V. (who have a 40% share in Tempo Beer Industry Ltd.); and the Dutch government. 

CSR is a process whereby a company assumes responsibility, across its entire supply chain and within its operational “sphere of influence” to ensure it is not complicit in, amongst other things, human rights abuses. The primary normative basis for the responsibility of corporate entities to comply with human rights law is found in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "every individual and every organ of society… shall strive…to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance.” 

In the OPT, not only are the human rights of the Palestinians systematically violated for the express benefit of the settler population but additionally under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an Occupying Power is prohibited, in the first place, from transferring part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. Such transfer of settlers into occupied territory is a war crime under customary international humanitarian law. Therefore, any company which operates within the illegal settlement system is complicit with violations of international humanitarian law. 

The weakness of international enforcement mechanisms means that corporate compliance with international law, including human rights law., despite being obligatory under international law, remains within the realm of self-regulated voluntarism. It is in this light that Al-Haq extends its praise to the Dutch and the strength and effectiveness of the triumvirate relationship between consumer, corporation and government in rectifying the unlawful gains made through profiteering from illegal settlements. 

In a globalised international market, the influence of many companies does not remain limited to their country of origin but extends internationally. Companies can therefore affect the enjoyment of human rights, both negatively and positively. In the 

OPT, international economic activities serve as a financial main-stay for illegal Israeli settlements, such as Barkan, helping to sustain their illegal presence. 

In this specific example, Barkan Wineries acknowledged the very direct impact that consumers have in compelling businesses to adopt a legal and ethical approach to where they invest. A Barkan Wineries company directors’ report to their stockholders stated that “in the past, the location of the company’s winery at the Barkan area caused a negative image and made difficult the exporting of the Barkan brand. The company is acting to change this image…” Consumer objection to the location of the Barkan brand within an illegal settlement has had the direct casual effect of compelling the brand to relocate. 

Heineken, as a corporate entity, has a praiseworthy track record of adhering to corporate social responsibility policies. Heineken is one of 38 Dutch member companies of the UN Global Compact, who have promised to “support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights”, and to “make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.” It is essential that the legitimacy of corporations be based on a social contract expressed in international agreements and through negotiations between relevant stakeholders groups, including consumers, that corporations adhere to human rights law. 

Lastly, the Dutch government has taken a proactive relationship approach to corporate social responsibility. This is very significant because the government indirectly assists companies operating abroad, including through foreign embassy services, and is itself an active participant in the market. When direct and indirect governmental support is given to Dutch companies that are active in foreign markets therefore there is a certain implied co- responsibility of the government in those activities. Having implemented the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development  Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Dutch government expects multi-nationals registered within its jurisdiction to adhere to the Guidelines when operating abroad. 

The success in achieving divestment from one of the illegal settlements located within the OPT, namely Barkan, illustrates the necessity for civil society, corporations and government to coordinate their activities in partnership, with the common aim of ensuring that international law, including human rights, are upheld at all times.  In the OPT, CSR  is not a “luxury” ideal to be achieved but a legal and ethical obligation to ensure that every aspect of society meets its obligations under international law. 

Sincerely, 

Shawan Jabarin 

General Director 

Al-Haq 

-END-

http://www.alhaq.org/etemplate.php?id=393#

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