La Plata MEKOROT deal suspended
The agreement with MEKOROT in La Plata has been suspended! Now we continue, in the rest of Argentina…
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign | March 7, 2014
CTA, ATE, Federación de Entidades Argentino-Palestinas (Federation of Argentinian-Palestinian Entities) and Stop the Wall announced the suspension of the shady business with Mekorot, a water treatment plant that would have fuelled Israeli apartheid in Palestine and sought to export it to La Plata in Argentina.
On January 11 2011, the governor of Buenos Aires province, Daniel Scioli, announced, after visiting Israel, that they would tender the building of a regional water treatment plant in La Plata. The contract worth US$170 million was awarded to a consortium of business conformed by the Israeli Water Company MEKOROT, ASHTROM BV (Spanish-Israeli firm) and the Argentinian “5 de Septiembre SA”, a company in which members of the Sindicato de Obras Sanitarias de Buenos Aires (SOSBA), which owns the 10% of the national and provincial Aguas de Buenos Aires (ABSA), participate.
Since 2011, Palestinian organizations, ATE-CTA unions, other civil society organizations and MPs mobilized against this contact. During more than 3 years, they informed the public about Mekorot’s criminal actions in Palestine and investigated the consequences that Mekorot would cause in Argentina.
In a joint effort, they denounced that public Argentinian money would benefit Mekorot and, through this, finance Israeli apartheid in Palestine. The accusations that Mekorot implements apartheid in Palestine are based on reports by Palestinian organizations, the United Nations, and Amnesty International.
Mekorot has been responsible for water right violations and discrimination since the 1950s, when the national water carrier was built which is diverting the Jordan river from the West Bank and Jordan to serve Israeli communities. At the same time, Mekorot deprives the Palestinian communities from access to water. The average consumption in the occupied Palestinian territories is about 70 liters per capita per day – well below the 100 liters per capita per day recommended by the World Health Organization -, while the Israeli consumption per capita per day is around 300 liters. Mekorot has refused to supply water to Palestinian communities inside Israel, despite a decision by the Supreme Court of Israel recognized their right to water. Mekorot is a proud partner of the Jewish National Fund “Blueprint Negev” plan, which will expel 40,000 Bedouin Palestinian citizens of Israel uprooting them from their homes and forcibly moving them to reserves while their lands will be used for Jewish-only settlements in the Naqab/Negev.
Mekorot’s support for illegal settlements is vital and has continued since 1967 when the company took monopoly control over all water sources in the occupied Palestinian territories and caters to the Jewish settlements to the detriment of Palestinian communities. Mekorot participates in the international crime of pillage of natural resources operating about 42 wells in the West Bank, which mostly cater to Israeli settlements. Mekorot also works closely with the Israeli army in the confiscation of irrigation pipes from Palestinian farmers and destruction of sources of water supply for Palestinian communities.
Beyond the street protests and work in the media, the more than 1000 pages of research and technical details compiled by ATE-CTA, served to substantiate questions in the provincial parliament and allow interventions in front of federal human rights organizations. In late 2012, the construction of Mekorot water plant was suspended.
The organizations insisted that Mekorot intended to export its model of discrimination, squandering of water and illegitimate profits developed in Palestine, now to the detriment of the population of Buenos Aires.
To start with, the entire bid was based on a work plan that had previously been designed by Mekorot, which expectably proposed the lowest price.
The expenditure of public money for water treatment plant and the consequent debt of the city with multinationals is unnecessary as the province of Buenos Aires has excellent aquifers. Puelches Aquifer is saturated and to stop drinking its water – as the Mekorot project envisaged – would have produced the elevation of the water table, bacterial contamination, basement flooding and damage to housing foundations. Reports from the ABSA state that the main problem of drinking water lies in the distribution network for which Mekorot wouldn’t have provided a solution.
For the installation in the region, Mekorot required an increase in water tariffs, until almost tripling the costs. The construction of the plant, also implied a further increase of service that would have exceeded 30% and would be paid by all the users in the region.
In terms of water quality, it would have been below the standards determined by the Argentine Food Code. Only part of the population would have had access to safe drinking water while poorer people would have received only tap water posing a risk to their health.
CTA, ATE, Federación de las Entidades Argentina-Palestinos and Stop the Wall thank to all social and political organizations, experts and individuals who contributed to the campaign ‘Mekorot Out of Argentina’. Together we won an important victory for justice in Palestine and the right to water! We continue to fight for our sovereignty over water, against the violence of multinationals and in solidarity with the Palestinian people for freedom, justice and the return of refugees to their homes.
We ask everyone to continue supporting the global movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and to fight and prevent other Mekorot contracts in Argentina.
We ask everyone to join the International Week against Mekorot – from 22 to 30 March: “No to water apartheid, Yes for water justice!”
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Argentina to Nationalize Cargo and Passenger Trains
By Sabrina Hummel | The Argentina Independent | June 4, 2013
Minister of the Interior and Transport, Florencio Randazzo, is set to announce changes in the railway sector – most importantly the nationalisation of passenger and cargo trains.
The Brazilian company América Latina Logística (A.L.L) will see its concession revoked and the historic Tren de la Costa will return to state hands. A.L.L had already received a warning from the Auditor General’s Office for anomalies in its provision of services.
From 1990 up to 2012, the company amassed a debt of over $237m to the government, 866% in excess of its contract compliance. Payments over the last six months have stalled, allowing the government to rescind its concession.
Tren de la Costa, built at the end of the 20th century, served as a vital link between the neighbourhood of Belgrano and the port of Tigre. Following various changes in ownership, it converted to electric power in 1931.
It covers 15.5km and runs alongside the scenic Río de la Plata serving four provincial municipalities. It has a total of 11 stations with a standard fare of just $16m or $10 for those with a DNI.
A.L.L meanwhile operates two of the most important freight railway networks in all of the country: A.L.L Central (line San Martín) and A.L.L Mesopotámica (line Urquiza). A.L.L Central runs through the centre of Argentina, beginning in the province of Cuyo and passes through San Luis, Córdoba, Rosario, Santa Fe, and finally Buenos Aires. A.L.L Mesopotámica in turn runs through the provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, and Entre Ríos, linking them to Paraguay, Uruguay, and its own network in Brazil.
A.L.L is the largest operator of rail logistics in Latin America. A.L.L Argentina is the biggest rail operator in the country, spanning 8000km. It is also the second largest in terms of cargo volume, transporting more than 5m tonnes each year.
Randazzo was recently quoted saying, “in terms of policy and management decisions, the State is more competitive than the private sector”.
Israel must not meddle in AMIA affair: Argentina’s FM
Press TV – February 6, 2013
Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman says the Israeli regime has no right to interfere in the proceedings of the AMIA issue underway between Argentina and Iran.
Israel recently called for an explanation about an agreement between Iran and Argentina to set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the 1994 deadly bombing at a Jewish center in Buenos Aires.
“Israel has no right to demand explanations; we’re a sovereign state,” Timerman told Israel’s ambassador to Buenos Aires Dorit Shavit.
“Israel doesn’t speak in the name of the Jewish people and doesn’t represent it,” Timerman added.
Those who live in Argentina are Argentinean citizens and Israel’s involvement in the issue will only give ammunition to anti-Semites, the Argentinean foreign minister stated.
On January 27, 2013, Iran and Argentina signed a memorandum of understanding for the two countries to shed light on the 1994 bombing on the AMIA building in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and wounded 300 others.
The Israeli foreign ministry issued a statement on January 28, 2013, saying they were “astonished and disappointed” at the deal.
Israel summoned Argentina’s envoy Atilio Norberto Molteni the following day in protest against the deal. The Tel Aviv regime also asked Shavit to demand a meeting with Timerman to “seek clarifications.”
Under intense political pressure imposed by the United States and Israel, Argentina formally accused Iran of having carried out the 1994 bombing attack on the AMIA. The Islamic Republic has vehemently and consistently denied any involvement in the bombing.
Related article
- Iran-Argentina AMIA agreement shocks “Israel” (realisticbird.wordpress.com)
British vessels prohibited from docking in Buenos Aires province
Press TV – August 4, 2012
Argentina has prohibited all ships sailing under the British flag from docking at any of the ports in the Buenos Aires province, Press TV reports.
The measure was adopted on Friday in a bill passed by the legislature of the province of Buenos Aires, the country’s largest province.
“We can’t have a colonial enclave affecting the region with NATO’s presence in our Malvinas Islands. We have to actively protest against those who explore and exploit our natural resources and violate our sovereignty,” said Remo Carlotto, an MP from the ruling party.
The bill prohibits vessels involved in “natural resources exploration and exploitation activities” in waters surrounding the Malvinas Islands, banning them from “mooring, loading or developing logistical operations” in the area”.
The move comes after months of political dialogue over the disputed archipelago between Argentina and Britain has failed to bear fruit.
“We have to keep moving forward using all the tools we have to defend our country’s sovereignty in the [Malvinas] islands. Argentina has taken significant steps. It has stood up and recovered its political and economic sovereignty,” said Martin Sabbatella, another lawmaker from the ruling party.
Earlier this year, Argentina took legal action against five British oil companies.
Argentina and Britain fought a 74-day war in 1982 over the islands.
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- OAS backs Argentina on Falklands (morningstaronline.co.uk)
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The lies about the 1967 war are still more powerful than the truth
By Alan Hart | June 4, 2012
In retrospect it can be seen that the 1967 war, the Six Days War, was the turning point in the relationship between the Zionist state of Israel and the Jews of the world (the majority of Jews who prefer to live not in Israel but as citizens of many other nations). Until the 1967 war, and with the exception of a minority of who were politically active, most non-Israeli Jews did not have – how can I put it? – a great empathy with Zionism’s child. Israel was there and, in the sub-consciousness, a refuge of last resort; but the Jewish nationalism it represented had not generated the overtly enthusiastic support of the Jews of the world. The Jews of Israel were in their chosen place and the Jews of the world were in their chosen places. There was not, so to speak, a great feeling of togetherness. At a point David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father and first prime minister, was so disillusioned by the indifference of world Jewry that he went public with his criticism – not enough Jews were coming to live in Israel.
So how and why did the 1967 war transform the relationship between the Jews of the world and Israel? … continue
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