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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">New Report Charges Major Corporations as Complicit in Israel's Water Apartheid</h1>
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<h5><a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/jessica-buxbaum/">Jessica Buxbaum</a> - January 16, 2023</h5></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><img src="cid:ii_ld1tkwis0" alt="image.png" width="392" height="220"><br><p>In December, the Palestinian human rights organization, Al-Haq, released a <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/2022/12/12/al-haq-report-2-1670826325.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> accusing major corporations of maintaining Israel’s water apartheid on Palestinians living in the occupied territories.</p>
<p>According to Al-Haq, businesses are instrumental in helping Israel
restrict water access to Palestinians and destroy Palestinian water
infrastructure. Additionally, foreign companies profit from Israel’s
system of water discrimination.</p>
<p>Al-Haq’s paper named both Israeli and international companies as:</p>
<blockquote><p><i>Complicit in the violation of the Palestinian right to
self-determination and permanent sovereignty over natural resources, as
well as the war crime of pillage and inhumane acts of expropriation of
natural resources amounting to the crime of apartheid.”</i></p></blockquote>
<p>The report detailed the actions of Israeli water companies Mekorot
and Hagihon but also included outside firms TAHAL Group International
B.V., Hyundai, Caterpillar Inc., JC Bamford Excavators Ltd. (JCB), and
Volvo Car Group.</p>
<h2>International companies complicit in apartheid</h2>
<p>Generally, international companies’ involvement in Israel’s water
apartheid is through demolitions of water infrastructure such as
cisterns, pipelines, and wells. According to Al-Haq’s research, from
2017-August 2021, Hyundai carried out 24 demolitions of Palestinian
water equipment, JCB is responsible for 16, Volvo demolished 14
structures, and Caterpillar executed seven demolitions.</p>
<p><a href="https://whoprofits.org/company/hyundai-heavy-industries/" target="_blank">Hyundai</a>
is a South Korean multinational manufacturer. Its excavators are often
used in home demolitions in addition to razing water equipment. <a href="https://whoprofits.org/company/caterpillar/" target="_blank">Caterpillar</a>
is an American manufacturer heavily involved in Israel’s occupation
through demolitions, military agreements, and construction of the
settlements and the apartheid wall. The company’s major shareholders
include BlackRock, an investment company criticized for fueling climate
change, State Farm’s investment group, and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation Trust.</p>
<p><a href="https://whoprofits.org/company/volvo-group-ab-volvo/" target="_blank">Volvo</a>
is a Swedish multinational company with major shareholders also,
including BlackRock and Norges Bank Investment Management, which is
owned by the state of Norway. JCB is a British construction equipment
manufacturer which <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/boris-johnson-funder-jcb-aiding-israels-crimes" target="_blank">helped finance</a> ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s campaign. In return, Johnson promoted the company’s products on the campaign trail.</p>
<img src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screenshot-21_edited.jpg" alt="Israel water theft" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="126">Machinery
used for water infrastructure demolitions documented by Al-Haq field
workers between January 2017-August 2021. Source | <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/2022/12/12/al-haq-report-2-1670826325.pdf" target="_blank">Al-Haq</a>
<p>Other companies involved in the destruction of water infrastructure
include Turkish company Hidromek, Japanese engineering firm Daio, and
Chinese construction company LiuGong.</p>
<p>Kardan N.V. is a Dutch company specializing in real estate and water
infrastructure. It owns more than 98% of Tahal International Group,
which has been involved in water development projects in Israeli
settlements, over-extraction efforts limiting the availability of water
to Palestinians, and has helped enforce the permit system for the
development of wells on Palestinian communities.</p>
<p>Al-Haq reached out to these companies but did not receive a response. Daio was the only company that responded to <i>MintPress News’ </i>requests
for comment, stating, ”We have not been able to confirm the facts as
you have inquired about our group company, Daio Engineering Co., Ltd.”</p>
<p>Al-Haq noted that most of these demolitions are done because the structures lack permits or are located on Israeli <a href="https://peacenow.org.il/en/what-is-a-declaration-of-state-land" target="_blank">state land</a>,
meaning Palestinian land confiscated by Israel for allegedly not being
cultivated after a number of years. Most Palestinian buildings in Area C
of the occupied West Bank, which is under the full control of the
Israeli military, often lack the proper licenses because Israeli
authorities <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/most-palestinian-plans-build-area-c-not-approved" target="_blank">deny</a> Palestinians permits on the grounds these areas have not been zoned for construction. Yet <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-201838/" target="_blank">zoning plans in Area C</a> are also often rejected by Israeli officials.</p>
<p>“This is part of a broader strategy of harassment against Palestinian
farmers to stop their agricultural activities,” Al-Haq wrote,
describing these demolitions’ effect on Palestinian farming and their
overall economy. Without the proper equipment, Palestinian farmers
cannot irrigate their land and, thereby are unable to grow produce.</p>
<p>“The World Bank has estimated that out of a total of [about 175,000
acres] of irrigable land in the West Bank and Gaza, only [about 61,000
acres] are irrigated, costing the Palestinian economy as much as $410.70
million…in irrigated agriculture opportunities and 96,000 agricultural
jobs,” Al-Haq wrote.</p>
<p>Al-Haq argues that several Israeli and transnational companies are in violation of international law. The authors wrote:</p>
<blockquote><p>Since the unlimited water supply to Israeli settlements
contributes to their expansion (and prolonged occupation), corporate
actors, such as Mekorot, Gihon and Tahal Group International, Middle
East Tubes Company (B Gaon Holdings), Mehadrin, Minrav Projects, David
Ackerstein Ltd., Einav Ahets are complicit in the transfer of Israel’s
civilian population into the OPT and East Jerusalem thus acting in
blatant violation of Article 43 and 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”</p></blockquote>
<img src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AP22332629346351_edited.jpg" alt="Palestine water" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="289">A
girl fills a bottle from a tap delivering drinking water to the Khan
Yunis refugee camp in Gaza, November 28, 2022. Majdi Fathi | NurPhoto
via AP
<p>It also accused corporations Mekorot, Volvo, Caterpillar Inc, Daio,
JCB, LiuGong, Hyundai, and Hidromek of carrying out a war crime for
assisting in the destruction and confiscation of Palestinian water
infrastructure.</p>
<p>Many of the international companies involved in Israel’s water apartheid have human rights policies on their website, including <a href="https://www.volvogroup.com/en/sustainability/social-responsibility/business-ethics/human-rights.html" target="_blank">Volvo</a>, <a href="https://www.caterpillar.com/en/company/governance/political-engagement/human-rights.html" target="_blank">Caterpillar</a>, <a href="https://www.daio-paper.co.jp/en/csr/integrated/" target="_blank">Daio</a>, and <a href="https://www.hyundai.com/content/dam/hyundai/ww/en/images/company/sustainability/about-sustainability/policy/hyundai-human-rights-policy-eng-2021.pdf" target="_blank">Hyundai</a>.</p>
<p>Kathryn Ravey, a business and human rights legal researcher for Al-Haq and one of the report’s authors told <i>MintPress News</i>
that Al-Haq highlighted how these companies are going against their
human rights guidelines in their letters to the corporations.</p>
<p>“A lot of them even have it in their core principles that they’re
going to do due diligence, not be contributing to unequal situations or
situations in which human rights are at fault or liable of being
violated,” Ravey said. “And they basically ignore them and act against
them. And this is the frustrating aspect of business and human rights.”</p>
<h2>A climate change issue</h2>
<p>Despite Israel touting itself as environmentally conscious, the water
apartheid it imposes on Palestinians is actually contributing to
climate change.</p>
<p>“The thing with water is it’s linked to so many other things, like the environment and the economy,” Ravey said. Israel <a href="https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/between-rising-tide-and-apartheid?v=large" target="_blank">controls</a> 85% of water resources in the West Bank. As previously reported by <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/israels-occupation-palestine-intensifies-climate-change/279595/"><em>MintPress</em> <em>News</em></a>,
Israel dominating the West Bank’s water sector diminishes Palestinians’
capability to adapt to climate change. Damage to water infrastructure
in Gaza and the West Bank — whether through war or direct demolition —
reduces its ability to handle heavy rainfall or prepare for droughts and
heat waves.</p>
<p>Ravey explained that the diversity of the ecosystem also becomes
disrupted when Palestinians are prevented from harvesting various fruits
and vegetables because of the lack of water. And soil erosion problems
occur when Palestinians are denied permits to fix leaky water pipelines.</p>
<p>Ultimately, these issues lead to a land uncultivated and without the
necessary resources for communities to thrive. And with that, it strips
Palestinians of their sovereignty.</p>
<p>“A lot of Palestinian communities aren’t able to grow the agriculture
that they used to grow. And that also prevents them from profiting off
of a lot of agricultural pursuits that they used to live off of,” Ravey
said. “And not just profit, but also use from their own land.”</p>
<p>Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News</p>
<p><em><strong> Jessica Buxbaum</strong> is a Jerusalem-based journalist
for MintPress News covering Palestine, Israel, and Syria. Her work has
been featured in Middle East Eye, The New Arab and Gulf News.</em></p>
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