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Saorsa
13th February 2009, 01:49
Useful compilation of Who Profits interviews:

http://www.btlonline.org/

Corporate Economic Interests Fuel Occupation of Palestinian Land

RealAudio MP3

Interview with Dalit Baum,
project coordinator of Who Profits from the Occupation,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

As more people around the world have become aware of Israel's abuse of the
rights of Palestinians -- both with its recent attack on Gaza and its
violent, restrictive and humiliating occupation of the West Bank -- there
is growing interest in targeting the economic underpinnings of Israel's
power and control.

A longstanding Israeli political organization, the Coalition of Women for
Peace, has spent the past two years researching three issues related to
the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land: industries located within the
illegal settlements of the West Bank, the economic exploitation of
Palestinians, and the companies that help Israel enforce its brand of
apartheid. The group has recently launched a website called "Who Profits
from the Occupation," detailing the activities of some 200 Israeli and
international companies.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Dalit Baum, who teaches
feminist theory at Haifa University and is project coordinator for Who
Profits from the Occupation. She explains how members of her group became
involved and what their research revealed. Baum expresses hope that the
website will serve as an informational clearinghouse for individuals and
groups, inside and outside Israel, working for corporate accountability,
social justice and labor rights.

For more information on the group's research on business interests in
Israel and the West Bank, call the Coalition of Women for Peace's Tel Aviv
office at 972-50-857-5728 or visit their website www.whoprofits.org

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Dalit Baum [University of Haifa, Women's Studies]

and Merav Amir [The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of
Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University]

Who Profits of the Occupation

Israeli and international corporations are directly involved in the
occupation: in the construction of Israeli colonies and infrastructure in
the occupied territories, in the settlements¹ economy, in building walls
and checkpoints, in the supply of specific equipment used in the control
and repression of the civilian population under occupation.

http://www.whoprofits.org/Company%20Info.php?id=655

Press Release: A New Online Directory
General Info Updated: 01-02-2009
More Info: Project Staff: Dalit Baum and Merav Amir, Tel: 050-8575730

from The Coalition of Women for Peace

The Coalition of Women for Peace in Israel has launched a groundbreaking
new database of companies directly involved in the Israeli occupation.
This online database reflects an on-going grassroots investigation effort
by the Coalition of Women for Peace, a leading Israeli feminist peace
organization dedicated to ending the occupation and reaching a just peace
in Israel/ Palestine. Rigorous research, including site visits and cross
references of documents, have resulted in a database of several hundred
international and Israeli companies directly involved in the Israeli
occupation. During 2009 we intend to upload hundreds more of companies
which are under investigation.

The Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights is
fueled by corporate interests. Israeli companies and multinational
corporations deal in real estate; develop the Israeli infrastructure and
settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories and the Golan Heights;
contribute to the construction and operation of an ethnic separation
system, including checkpoints, walls and roads; design and supply
equipment and tools used in the control and repression of the civilian
population under occupation.

While governments are calling on Israel to stop settlement expansion,
multinational corporations continue to participate in the Israeli colonial
enterprises in the oPt and the Golan Heights in their investments and
operations. Consumer markets around the world also continue to accept
settlement products, and thus tacitly support the effective economic
annexation of occupied resources including land and labor into Israel (See
our on-line section about the settlements¹ industry).

While the Separation Wall and the checkpoints devastate the Palestinian
economy (as attested to by the World Bank), fragment Palestinian society
and prevent the establishment of a viable Palestinian political entity,
dozens of companies see these barriers as a new business opportunity. They
build the infrastructure, develop the technologies for control of the
occupied Palestinian population, and some operate the repressive measures
as subcontractors for the Israeli state. This ³counterterrorism² expertise
and accompanying homeland security technologies are later marketed
globally. (see our on-line section about the control of population).

In this database, we provide information and draw attention to the various
sorts of corporate interests that help maintain the Israeli occupation,
through specific examples. We wish to stimulate a candid public debate
about the costs and benefits of the occupation to different parts of
Israeli society and how these interests influence political
decision-making in Israel and globally.

We do not call for any one specific form of action towards any of the
companies on our database, since different methods and strategies are
appropriate for different conditions and locations. As an information
center, we plan to support and encourage diverse methods to influence
corporations to stop their involvement in the occupation.

Dalit Baum, project coordinator, explains: "Many companies attempt to
mislead customers - they hide the reality of their operations in the
settlements by marketing their products from within Israel. Through site
visits, we have been able to map some of these companies and to identify
them on our website. Large construction firms also try and downplay their
involvement in Israeli real estate deals on Palestinian land and we want
them to answer for it. For the first time, we are shining a light on
corporate practices that sustain the settlements or benefit from the
unequal setting of the occupation; these cannot be condoned as regular
business activities².

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http://www.beyondthepale.org/segment/2009/01/18/who-profits

Who Profits

Topic:

Israel/Palestine
Occupation

Broadcast Date:
Jan 18 2009

http://www.archive.org/download/BeyondThePale01182009A/dalit_baum.mp3

Guests:
Dalit Baum of the Coalition of Women for Peace is responsible for the
project, Who Profits?

Hosts:
Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

Description:

Activists have set up a new database, Who Profits?, which tracks Israeli
and international corporations that are directly involved in the
construction of Israeli infrastructure in the occupied territories, in
building walls and checkpoints, and in the supply of specific equipment
used in the control and repression of the civilian population under
occupation.

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Yehuda Stern
13th February 2009, 13:21
By the way, one of the groups that profits from the occupation - and not just politically, as all factions of the PLO do - is the Fatah bourgeoisie. Ahmed Qurei owns a company which supplies Israel with cement for the wall, for example.

Saorsa
14th February 2009, 03:58
Yikes, that's despicable. Do you have a source for that?

Yehuda Stern
14th February 2009, 11:22
Just one?

israelinsider (http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/3295.htm) - an Israeli English website
Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1454114/Palestinian-PMs-firm-helps-build-Israeli-wall.html) - a British newspaper
Jewish Conscience (http://www.jewishconscience.org/17.html) - a liberal Zionist website
Green Left (http://www.greenleft.org.au/2006/655/7473) - everyone here probably knows this one.

Pawn Power
14th February 2009, 18:33
Here is another website that documents the profiteering of the occupation of Gaza which I posted this a few weeks ago: Who Profits? Exposing the Israeli Occupation (http://www.revleft.com/vb/profitsi-exposing-israeli-t100533/index.html).