Gun Machines and Light Rails

Summary of latest event - Search of the house of Miras' family in
the middle of the night, Aida Camp.
by Nidal al-Azza
Friday, 15 December 2006


In the night of Thursday to Friday on 15 December, between 3:30 to
3:40am, more than 50 Israeli soldiers surrounded Al-Azza family in
Aida camp. They knocked the door strongly and shouted loudly "open
the door quickly …"

Nidal and his brother Said woke up. Nidal reached the door first and
opened it. Immediately, they asked him: "Whats your name?" He
replied "Nidal Al- Azza." One of the soldiers took him by the neck
and pulled him outside. Nidal pushed the soldier's hands and
shouted "What is going here?" The Israeli commander interfered and
told the soldier to leave him and asked: "Who is living on the third
floor?" "My brother and I" Nidal answered. The commander said, "Call
your brother." Said, Nidal's brother, was standing at the entrance
of the house and said: "I am here, what do you want?" The commander
replied: "Get everybody out of the house, bring them here
quickly." Said replied "they are just children and that they are in
deep sleep." The commander replied: "I said now." Said went up to
his apartment. Twenty soldiers entered the house, one group of
soldiers followed Said and another entered Nidal's apartment, while
the others were watching and surrounding the house. The commander
was connected directly to someone in Rachel Tomb. The one in Rachel
Tomb's directed them to the floor, to the balcony and to the doors
and windows shot last Friday, 8 December and during which Nidal's
son, Miras, was shot and injured.

The soldiers searched Said's apartment and turned it upside down.
Said asked "What are you looking for?" The commander replied: "We
need the gun machine!" Said told him that there was no gun machine.
The commander said to Said "Come with me" and went with Said to the
balcony where Miras got shot last Friday, 8 December. Meanwhile,
soldiers noticed a closed wooden door and started breaking it,
Suheir, Said's wife, told them "I will bring you the key," but
before she had time to finish her sentence, the door was broken.
This door connects the two rooms in Nidal's apartment to Said's
apartment.

The commander pointed to the bullets holes and asked Said: "Where do
these holes come from?" Said: "You are a soldier and can determine
the direction…you shot them." The commander replied: "OK, and why
did we shot them ?" Said: "Do not ask me ..ask yourself." He
repeated the question and Said told him to ask the soldier who shot
the kids while they were playing. The commander ordered Said to
raise his clothes. They wanted to check if Said had been shot…and
then asked the family to keep quiet inside their apartment.

The commander then went to Nidal's apartment, which was also turned
upside down by the soldiers. He called Nidal to go up to the two
bedrooms on the third floor and asked: "Where do these holes come
from?" Nidal replied: "You shot the kids while they were playing on
the balcony and inside their bedrooms." He said "No" then he
said "Well, why?" Nidal responded: "Ask yourself or the soldier who
shot them" and continued, "Are you the one who was on the tower and
shot the kids that day?" The commander was surprised and shocked,
and immediately replied: "NO..NO I was not there!" Nidal continued :
"What are you looking for?" The commander: "The gun." Nidal: "Why
did you not bring your well trained dogs to determine where the gun
is?" The commander looked to Nidal for a while, and said, "We do not
need them…next time we will bring them!"

The commander went down, and moved through the house, then asked
Nidal: "Do you have a camera?" Nidal replied: "Yes, and I took
photos of the bullets holes, and I will take photos of what you did
tonight." The commander asked:
"For what purpose?" Nidal: "I am going to sue you, you will see the
photos in court."

The commander and two other soldiers saw Miras laying on his bed, he
was awake and his mother, Afaf was sitting next to him. Afaf moved
his bed in the living room because friends came to visit Miras, and
also because she discovered that it is the only place from which he
can only be seen by one military tower, making it relatively safer.
The commander and the two soldiers stood in front of Miras' bed for
two minutes, watching him, speechless. They left at 4.50 a.m.



===
For more information, go to the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign at:
http://stopthewall.org/factsheets/1047.shtml

Connex / Veolia and Alstom are the international investors in the
Citypass consortium that will build and run a light rail project in
Jerusalem that incorporates a number of Jewish settlements around
East Jerusalem, built on stolen Palestinian land. It ensures the
contiguity of these colonies with the central areas of the city and
plays a key role in sustaining the settlements and ensuring they
become a permanent fixture upon Palestinian land.

Veolia's involvement in the tramline makes the company complicit in
Israel's violations of international law reaping significant profits
over a 30 year period, money stained with the blood and misery of
Palestinians under Occupation and currently being expelled from
Jerusalem.

Veolia has rejected to heed the calls from Palestine and
international organizations.

Thus international pressure is mounting on the corporation to stop
their involvement in the Judaization of Jerusalem.

* Connex shuttles have been blockaded in Geneva.

* Following protests by trade unions and IPSC in August 2006, Veolia
Transport Ireland had called off plans to train Israeli personnel to
operate the tramline in Jerusalem.

* In November the Dutch ASN Bank decided to divest from Veolia until
the company respects the relevant UN resolutions.

Support us in putting further pressure on Veolia!

Address the advisors of the Institut Veolia Environnement, the
group's prestige institute aiming to "propose a forum for dialogue
and interchange with academia, institutions and the different actors
in society."

Ask the intellectuals associated with the institute to re-consider
their support of Veolia as long as Veolia supports violations of
Palestinian rights!

To:
Foresight committee Institut Veolia Environnement:
Amartya Sen: ree23@cam.ac.uk (cc weiner@fas.harvard.edu )
Philippe Kourilsky: caput@pasteur.fr
Pierre Marc Johnson: pjohnson@heenan.ca
Harvey Fineberg: fineberg@nas.edu
Mamphela Ramphele: aesmar@bremner.uct.ac.za
Helene Ahrweiler: (no email available)

cc: Georges Valentis: georges.valentis@institut.veolia.org
(Managing Director of Institut Veolia Environnement)

From : Name/Organization:
____________________
____________________

Date: ____________

Open letter to the Foresight Committee members of the Institut Veolia
Environnement

Dear Foresight Committee members,

We are addressing you in your capacity as experts supporting the
efforts of Institut Veolia Environnement.

We know that all of you have dedicated a great part of your life and
expertise to the promotion of human rights and social, economic,
cultural and political rights of people all over the world. We
appreciate your commitment and are writing you now to urge you to
continue your support for human rights for all.

We would like to inform you about the implications of your
association with the Institut Veolia in terms of its' violations of
international law, UN resolutions, and Palestinian human rights and
cultural heritage.

As you may know, Veolia, together with Alstom, are the international
investors in the Citypass consortium that won a 2002 tender put out
by Israeli authorities for a light rail transportation project in
Jerusalem amounting to around 500 million euros. Citypass will be
responsible for operation and maintenance of the system for the next
thirty years.*

The path of the light rail incorporates a number of Jewish
settlements around East Jerusalem, built on stolen Palestinian land. It ensures
the contiguity of these colonies with the central areas of the city and
provides them with a vital transport link. The project boasts that
the "Ammunition Hill" station of the network will operate as the feeder
station for settler traffic from Ma'aleh Adumim, a large Israeli
settlement in the West Bank, and from settlements in the West Bank's
Jordan Valley. The light rail project plays a key role in sustaining
the settlements and ensuring they become a permanent fixture upon
Palestinian land.

In August 2005, the project got the go ahead from War Criminal Ariel
Sharon who stated at a signing ceremony: "I believe that this should
be done, and in any event, anything that can be done to strengthen
Jerusalem, construct it, expand it and sustain it for eternity as the
capital of the Jewish people and the united capital of the State of
Israel, should be done." The Occupation's Mayor Uri Lupolianski
described the light rail to be "the fulfillment of Psalm 122." The
tramline is clearly part of a larger plan to substitute Jerusalem's
historical and unique social fabric and its cultural heritage with a
new brand of a "Judaized" version of Jerusalem.

According to international law, an occupying power is not allowed to
annex or drastically change the infrastructure in the territories it
occupies. The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice
in July 2004 confirmed that Israel is an occupying power and that
building the Wall and Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territories
is illegal. However, the tramline project runs through the occupied
Palestinian territories. Veolia's involvement in the tramline will
make the company complicit in Israel's violations of international
law.

The project, a private-public partnership (PPP) between the Israeli
Occupation government and the consortium, is hinged upon the
willingness of international business groupings to provide a huge
injection of capital. In turn Veolia and Alstom will reap significant
profits and dividends over a thirty-year period, money stained with
the
blood and misery of Palestinians under Occupation and currently being
expelled from Jerusalem.

Veolia has received a lot of criticism since it first announced its
intentions to become involved in the illegal project. Stop the Wall
and
other Palestinian civil society organizations have launched appeals
against its participation in the tramway. President of the
Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and French President Jacques
Chirac already discussed Veolia's partnership in the tramline
project in the summer of 2005. Amnesty International France
highlighted the unlawfulness of the construction of the tramline in
East Jerusalem in a public statement on 1 March 2006.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) revealed in August
2006 that Veolia Transport Ireland had called off plans to train
Israeli personnel to operate a similar tramline in East Jerusalem,
following trade union protests inspired by the IPSC.

Then in November the Dutch ASN Bank ended its relationship with
Veolia and wrote to Veolia:

"....We believe that Veolia's involvement in the light rail project
is not in line with the UN's demand to stop all support for
Israel's settlement activities, and is therefore not in line with ASN
Banks' social criteria. Due to the direct nature of Veolia's
involvement (through a 5% stake in the consortium and as future
operator), we are of the opinion that Veolia's activities in
Jerusalem are in conflict with UN Resolutions. Therefore, on this
current information Veolia will be removed from our investment
universe."

In the light of the above, we urge you to take a stand for justice
and international law and to join the international efforts to
convince the Veolia group to consider the role human rights should
play in investments.

We ask you to re-consider your support of Veolia as long as Veolia
supports violations of our rights and international legality.

As Veolia has not heeded the calls from Palestine and various
international organizations, ending your relationship with
Veolia-just as the ASN Bank did-will allow you to truly
"participate in defining the overall direction and contribute to the
discussions led by the Institut Veolia Environnement."

Regards,

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