Minister of National Economy Khaled Osaily today called on the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Hector Jose Hernandez, to take urgent measures against the Spanish companies CAF and GMV, which are involved in the construction and expansion of the light rail project in occupied Jerusalem with the Israeli company Shapir. In a letter addressed to his Spanish counterpart, Osaily demanded that the two companies withdraw and immediately stop their work on this illegal project, which is a flagrant violation of international law and United Nations resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolution No. 2334 (2016), because the project is to expand the train lines and link the settlements in East Jerusalem with the western part of the city. Osaily stated that East Jerusalem falls within the Palestinian legal jurisdiction according to international law and that the two companies violate the law not only because they are doing business in illegal settlements, but also because they contribute to the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians and severing ties between their communities. He warned that continuing to engage in these illegal activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories would have serious legal consequences for the two companies. Amnesty International called at the end of 2020 on Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) to stop work on the project immediately. It also, jointly with 30 human rights organizations, requested the inclusion of the company in the United Nations database of companies that have activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, which is regularly updated by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in compliance with Human Rights Council Resolution 36/31. In its letter to the company, Amnesty International stated that acts of settlement construction constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It pointed out that inclusion in this database means that companies have, directly and indirectly, allowed, facilitated and benefited from the construction and growth of settlements. For this reason, these companies benefit from and contribute to the systematic violations of the rights of the Palestinian population, which is equivalent to war crimes classified in international criminal law.
Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA