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Belgian campaign forces financial group to cancel settlement loans

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Belgian campaign forces financial group to cancel settlement loans
Worldwide Activism, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, June 16th, 2009

colony
Above: Expansion is ongoing in the Gilo settlement, just north of Bethlehem.

The Belgian-French financial group Dexia has announced it will no longer finance settlements in the West Bank through its Israeli branch, Dexia Israel. This is the result of a months-long campaign in Belgium, supported by non-governmental organizations, political parties, local authorities, trade unions and other organizations. Dexia’s management has stated that financing settlements is indeed against the bank’s code of ethics.

In October 2008, several Belgian solidarity groups discovered that Dexia Israel was granting loans to settlements in the Palestinian territories. The director of Dexia Israel, David Kapah, confirmed that the bank had indeed granted credits to seven settlements and three regional authorities in the West Bank between 2003 and 2007.

This "smoking gun" evidence entailed the start of a fast-growing campaign in Belgium. United under the slogan "Israel colonizes, Dexia finances," the campaign achieved its first successes. In the following months, petitions were being launched, MPs were questioned and local actions were started up. Significant was the support of local Belgian authorities such as municipalities and provinces, as they hold a vast amount of shares in Dexia Group.

Today, the action platform consists of 61 Belgian organizations and has gathered more than 4,000 signatures and got 29 local authorities to sign a resolution demanding that Dexia break off its relations with the settlements and immediately stop financing the occupation.

For several months the Belgian government and Dexia management didn’t respond to the demands of the action platform. However, as the campaign started to receive more media coverage and the pressure started to rise, something changed. On 13 May, campaign activists were able to voice demands at the annual shareholders meeting of Dexia Group in Brussels.

In response, Jean-Luc Dehaene, chairman of the board of Dexia and former Belgian prime minister, declared that no new loans will be granted to the settlements. He added that the credits and loans to the settlements that were granted before are in runoff and will no longer be prolonged; neither will they be replaced by similar loans.

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Urgent press alert

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PRESS CONFERENCE: Mon, 29th April 2010 – 4pm, Cii Offices
Addressed by Muhammed Ali Harath, CEO Islam Channel (UK)

The Media Review Network (MRN) is pleased to announce that the CEO of Islam Channel (UK), Muhammed Ali Harath appeared  in the  Kempton Park Magistrates Court this morning  (29th March 2010)   and has been discharged.

The withdrawal of all charges against Mr. Harath vindicates the MRN’s position that he has been innocent of so-called “terror charges”.

M.A.Harath, who hails from Tunisia and is resident in the UK where he heads this important media platform is a respected and well known Muslim personality. On January 24th 2010, on a flight from the UK, he was detained at the O. R. Tambo International Airport, in what appears to now be under mysterious circumstances.

Having spent two days in detention, his legal team secured his release, which required him to make a routine appearance in court. This was done this morning (29.3.10) with a successful acquittal of all charges.

The questions that arise from the strange circumstances of his arrest must be addressed by the relevant authorities in South Africa. We therefore call upon them to establish the role of foreign agents interfering in the security obligations of a sovereign country.

Iqbal Jassat                                   
Chairman,                                     
Media Review Network
Cell: 083 594 3749
E-mail: mrn_ij@telkomsa.net

Channel Islam International (Cii)
53 Crownwood Road
Crownwood  Centre, Ormonde
Johannesburg,South Africa
011 494 7000
info@ciinetwork.net

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Britain should approach hamas

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Britain ‘should approach Hamas’

(source: BBC NEWS)

The UK government has come under rising pressure from MPs to start making contact with Palestinian group Hamas.                                  

A Foreign Affairs Committee report also said it was "regrettable" UK-supplied military items were "almost certainly" used by Israel in the Gaza conflict. The cross-party group, which monitors foreign policy, called on the EU to make relations with Israel conditional on its peace-making efforts. Hamas was also criticised for its use of rockets on Israeli civilian targets.

‘Ineffective strategy’

But committee chairman Michael Gapes said the committee saw "few signs that the current policy of non-engagement with Hamas" was effective. He added that the government "should urgently consider engaging with moderate elements within Hamas" as it had with the political wing of Hezbollah in Lebanon earlier this year. The wide-ranging report condemns Israel for the continuing growth of settlements and for its blockades around the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.

It was unacceptable, said Mr Gapes, to deny unrestricted access for humanitarian assistance. And the report also called for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to declare whether it considered war crimes had been committed during the December 2008 to January 2009 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel.

Hamas came into criticism for its rocket attacks, but MPs concluded that Israel’s military action in Gaza was "disproportionate".

Mr Gapes said: "Rocket fire from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups on civilian targets in Israel is unacceptable. "It generates the risk of a renewed escalation in violence, and constitutes a central obstacle in the way of Israeli willingness to move forward towards a two-state settlement."

The report welcomed the endorsement by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a two-state solution to the conflict.The committee added that the split between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank was a central obstacle to creating a united and democratic Palestinian state, and called for elections that could be accepted by all parties.

Former prime minister Tony Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, was commended for "making an important contribution to Palestinian economic and institutional development". But movement, access and administrative restrictions on the West Bank continued to represent a "major obstacle to further Palestinian economic development," it added.

Hamas takes its name from the Arabic initials for the Islamic Resistance Movement. Designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU, it is seen by its supporters as a legitimate fighting force defending Palestinians from a brutal military occupation.

 

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The nyt the flotilla inquiry

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By Alison Weir

(source: Counterpunch)

The New York Times, whose regional bureau chief has a son in the Israeli military, reports that Israel has just appointed a panel charged with investigating its attack on an aid flotilla that killed nine aid volunteers, including a 19-year-old American.

Isabel Kershner, who is an Israeli citizen and has refused to answer questions about her possible family ties to the Israeli military, writes the report.

Kershner reports that the White House hailed the announcement of the panel as an “important step forward,” stating that “the structure and terms of reference of Israel’s proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation.”

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