Posted on November 19, 2020, by & filed under News, NSPCC / JCB Campaign.


Write to JCB and your MP following the UN’s release of the list of companies that work in Israel’s illegal settlements.

We welcome this long-awaited report which identifies 112 companies that are involved in business activities in settlements in the Occupied Palestine Territory which violate Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  To see the statement which includes a link naming the companies click here.

JCB bulldozers and pneumatic drills have been used to demolish Palestinian homes to clear land for the construction of settlements, actions in gross violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. For guidance, here follows two short sample letters. If you have visited the Occupied Palestine Territory you might like to include that information.

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Sample letter to send to JCB

 

Lord Bamford
Chairman
JC Bamford Ltd
Rocester
Staffordshire
ST14 5JP

Dear Lord Bamford,

United Nations Database of companies involved in illegal Israeli home demolitions and settlements

I am very disturbed to see that JCB is listed by the United Nations in their recent report as one of the international companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestine Territory (OPT). JCB equipment is also involved in the illegal demolition of Palestinian homes. Your company is therefore complicit in systematic injustice, and violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights law, in other words complicit in activities which amount to war crimes under international law. It is shocking and shaming that a respected British multinational company is in this position.

I call on you to cease to be involved in violations of international law, by ensuring that in future your equipment is not sold either directly to Israel or indirectly to other companies involved in illegal activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Sample letter to send to your MP – contact details found here

 

 

Dear

Involvement of British companies in illegal Israeli demolitions and settlements in occupied Palestinian territory

On 12 February 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report which listed companies with substantial business activities in the Occupied Palestine Territory (OPT). Three of the companies listed were British, of which the most well-known is JCB.

JCB products are used by the Israelis to demolish Palestinian homes, and to help build settlements in occupied territory. Both the demolitions (hundreds a year, affecting thousands of people) and the settlement building are illegal under international human rights and humanitarian law; they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention. JCB is therefore complicit in potential war crimes, and the British government is complicit by not acting positively to discourage the involvement of British companies, and for example by allowing products from the illegal settlements to be sold in the UK.

Please convey my views to the Foreign Secretary and I await a response. I hope you will also feel able to be involved in Parliament, for example by sponsoring an Early Day Motion calling for Israel to stop its illegal demolition of Palestinian homes.

Yours sincerely

 

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An example of how the UN statement has been reported in British media, see this article from The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/weather/2020/feb/12/un-publishes-list-of-companies-with-ties-to-israeli-settlements


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