Major Israeli construction company pulls out of settlement industry

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://972mag.com/major-israeli-construction-company-pulls-out-of-settlement-industry/98089/

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday morning that Africa Israel Investments, an international holding and investment company based in Israel, will no longer build homes in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. This, after years that Africa Israel’s daughter company, Danya Cebus, has consistently built homes in settlements, contrary to international law.

There is no mistaking this decision. Lev Leviev, one of the most prominent tycoons in Israel, did not wake up one morning and understand, by chance, that the occupation is a terrible injustice toward millions of subjects who lack basic rights and who have been under our military rule for nearly 50 years. No. It took years. Years in which Leviev discovered that he could not continue building in the settlements while enjoying legitimacy in the international business world.

The opposition took the form of protests, pressure on the British government to cut business ties with Leviev, and divestment from his company. Between the profit he could make off the occupation and the profit he could lose in the rest of the world, Leviev chose the world.

BDS

[Jefferson23]

1. Recommend. n/t

[Israeli]

2. Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday....

...the link on 972 to Yedioth Ahronoth is in Hebrew .....it is in English now ...here :

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4584876,00.html

This change in policy does not apply only to the company's entrepreneurial arm, Hod's domain, which hasn't been significantly active in such areas in any event, but to its executive arm, too, including the Danya Cebus construction firm, which also built for other companies. The decision means that Africa Israel will not participate in new tenders in Pisgat Ze'ev, Har Homa, Gilo and parts of Ramot.

The main reasons behind the Africa Israel decision are believed to be the political and security developments in Jerusalem in recent years, coupled with protests around the world against the company due to construction beyond the Green Line. According to Africa Israel sources, another reason for the decision is that construction in those areas is not economically viable.

Last January, the Norway's Finance Ministry announced a boycott of the company and its removal from the investment portfolio of its Government Pension Fund Global after the Norwegian Council of Ethics found that Africa Israel is active in East Jerusalem. The pension fund is managed by the Norwegian central bank and is designed to ensure more efficient and equitable utilization of the Norwegian oil money.

"The decision to exclude Africa Israel and Danya Cebus from the fund stems from their contribution to significant violations of human rights in the framework of a war or conflict by means of building settlements in East Jerusalem," read the Norwegian announcement.

Quote Haggai Matar from your 972 page .....

" This is another huge victory for the boycott movement and the activists who choose to fight against the occupation nonviolently. This is a victory for those who want to tell Israelis that even if the occupation is currently profitable, things can easily change. Africa Israel’s decision won’t stop the settlement enterprise, and its impact will likely be marginal. However, the message continues to permeate. "

[azurnoir]

3. I guess Mr Leviev decided diamonds were his best friend

Angolan diamonds

As De Beers came under fire during the blood diamonds furor, Leviev increasingly came to dominate the legal Angola diamond market. Leviev says he presented Angola with a plan to reduce smuggling and increase revenue by funneling diamonds through only one source, while others claim the deal was clinched through Leviev’s connections with obscure Russian businessmen. Leviev focuses on the benefits his company brings Angola, arguing that before his involvement in 1998, Angola’s tax revenue from diamonds was under $10 million but rose to $49 million by 2001: “The government of Angola has obviously profited from this venture.” When critics query how his company benefits not just the government but the people of Angola, he answers that the Leviev Group's heavy investments in Angolan diamonds "will change the informal way of doing business into a more formalized, educated system that helps individual families... We want to help people who work with their hands. We want Angolans to develop many different new skills.” New York Magazine reported in 2007 that a security company hired by Leviev had been accused by a local human rights group that year "of participating in practices of 'humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.' Leviev did not directly respond to the charges, but noted his charitable activities in Angola.

Alaska Diamonds

The surge in diamond price in 2011 has caused diamond rushes in lesser known areas. It gave Leviev the chance to finally break into the US diamond market, giving birth to new towns all over Alaska. Leviev was recently quoted as saying: “This stampede for diamonds is now making one of the loneliest regions a bit noisier, and a whole lot wealthier.” In the Northwest Territories, companies are extracting the equivalent of a coffee can full of diamonds each day. The gems within that can are collectively worth $1.4 million. Leviev sees this new rush in the Alaska region as a new great addition to his already successful diamond empire. The mine which Leviev has procured has a 10 year mining license and has already been successful for the past 5 years. Some investors also claim that the takeover of this mine was due to Levievs strong government connections and an unknown Texan company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Leviev

[4now]

4. End Israeli apartheid

Drip, drip, drip. Soon it will be a flood.
Bibi the chickensh*t better have his waders on.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement is getting bigger everyday.
Boycott, Divest, Sanction.
http://www.bdsmovement.net/