Adalah-NY says the United Nations’ children fund is no longer taking money from Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev because of his role in building settlements in West Bank.
The group, which seemingly has been fixated on Leviev in recent months and apparently pushed UNICEF on the matter, has been circulating an email with a link to the following Reuters story about the UNICEF decision. The Reuters story says:
“UNICEF decided to review its relationship with Leviev after a campaign by Adalah-NY and found ‘at least a reasonable grounds for suspecting’ that Leviev companies were building settlements in occupied territory, a UNICEF official said.”
‘I can confirm that UNICEF has advised Adalah in New York that it will not be entering into any partnerships or accepting financial contributions from Lev Leviev or his corporate people,’ Chris de Bono, a senior adviser to the executive director of UNICEF, told Reuters.”
Islamonline.net reports that “Anti-settlement activists said the UNICEF’s decision was the first step to punish financers of the Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian lands.”
Adalah-NY was founded to combat Israeli “aggression” against Palestinians and Lebanese and calls for “an end to all policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing” by Israel.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Its not about punishment, its about ensuring Lev Leviev doesn’t continue to try to use “charity” as a cover for his settlement construction and human rights abuse.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Dear Jacob,
You write that Adalah-NY “seemingly has been fixated on Leviev in recent months.” Actually, people are “fixated” on supporting communities like Bil’in and Jayyous that have been waging nonviolent campaigns for years to try to save their communities from settlement construction by Leviev’s companies.
It so happens that two of the bigger West Bank landgrabs are in those two villages, that Leviev’s companies are involved in both places, and that the path of the wall was specifically designed to facilitate the expansion of settlements built by Leviev’s companies ( See “Under the Guise of Security” by B’Tselem and BIMKOM).
The people of Jayyous began their non-violent campaign, with support from Palestinian and Israeli activists, to save their land from the wall and settlements in the fall of 2002. The people of Bil’in began their campaign in early 2005, and have protested every Friday since then, suffering hundreds of injuries and tens of arrests.
The good people of both villages have developed deep friendships and ties with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Israeli activists and international activists from around the world. Both villages are suffering terribly from Leviev’s settlements and are literally threatened with destruction:
http://adalahny.org/index.php/.....iev-unicef
http://adalahny.org/index.php/.....iev-unicef
Yes, the people of Bil’in and Jayyous are “fixated” with saving their villages. For both villages, Leviev is a major villain. And Leviev has a major presence in New York City through real estate and a new jewelry store. There is no reason to seem surprised that people in New York City and around the world want to help Jayyous and Bil’in by stopping Leviev.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Jacob, have a look at this letter from high school students of English in Jayyous, in order to better understand the campaign against Mr. Leviev:
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=27156
We, high school students of English in the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Jayyous , declare our complete opposition to the Israeli businessman Mr. Lev Leviev who is destroying our olive groves that have sustained our village for centuries. Many of our families are not allowed permits by the Israeli occupying forces to work our own lands that Israel`s Wall is stealing for Mr. Leviev so he may expand his settlement `Zufim` onto our village`s farmlands.
We hear that the government of the United Arab Emirates has stopped Mr. Leviev from opening his diamond stores in Dubai Emirate. We ask the government and the people of Dubai to prevent the sale to customers in Dubai of `Leviev`s rocks of apartheid,` which will be used by Mr. Leviev to build more settlements on Jayyous` lands.
How do we describe to the world what our life is like in occupied Jayyous in Palestine? The sadness in the eyes of our neighbors, whose only farmlands have been confiscated to build a settlement financed by Mr. Lev Leviev; the exhaustion that results when every daily action requires an extraordinary effort and when despair fights for a place on our people`s faces, as they carry their bags and babies through checkpoints, passing soldiers and tanks.
On rainy days the water swells around our feet while we are going to our schools in Jayyous and Qalqilia. On the other hand, Israeli soldiers stand in shelters and never seem to get wet under their helmets and uniforms. They pull us out of our cars and line us up facing the wall. They sometimes make us sit in the dirt or in the rain, or under the hot sun while they chat on their mobile phones, joke with their friends, eat, smoke, and insult us with their words and their actions.
How do we explain how it feels when the wind blows and fill our noses with dust, and with the smell of sewage and garbage? Everyday, we feel more insecure, as curfews prevent pregnant women from giving birth in hospitals, and stop ambulances in their tracks, forcing some families to live with the decaying corpses of their family members for days.
What has increased our feeling of insecurity as students is the growing number of school days missed, the invasion and closure of the schools by Israeli forces, the number of teachers who cannot get to work, and the number of Palestinian prisoners who are without adequate food, water, sanitation, trials and family visits. These provocative practices that we grew up with in Jayyous have created many psychological problems for us. We think often of our fellow students who cannot afford to go to universities, students made poor because their families can no longer work on their farms because those lands are now isolated behind the `separation wall` where Mr. Leviev`s bulldozers destroy our grandfathers` trees.
We think about the flood of indignities at the checkpoints. All our dreams for the future have been negatively affected and it`s becoming too challenging to fulfill them. As students we always dream of preparing for the future, but unfortunately many obstacles, such as curfews, Walls, closures, and unpredictable checkpoints are preventing their realization.
We hope for all students to live in peace, justice, freedom and love. Every Leviev diamond bought in Dubai pays for our oppression and dispossession. Give our proud village the chance to feed itself and grow again — boycott Mr. Lev Leviev, in Dubai and all over the world.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Leviev’s donations to UNICEF are marred by human rights violations in Angola, Palestine, New York and most recently Namibia. He used these donations to whitewash his crimes. In an article last November in National Jeweler, Leviev sent a statement claiming that those who protest against him “are not aware of the extensive humanitarian work of the group, including building schools, orphanages and fostering economic development in communities around the world. The LLG Companies are committed to—and have been recognized for—philanthropic work in communities in which they operate.” (www.nationaljewelernetwork.com.....0?inp=true)
In January 2008, Leviev again used his so-called philanthropy to obfuscate his crimes. In a response to Business & Human Rights Resource Center regarding protests against him in NY, , Lev Leviev Group of Companies claimed that “His generosity to numerous groups and organizations is motivated by the wish to do good things for others. Despite the negative characterization of his philanthropy by some political groups, Lev Leviev continues to use his philanthropy solely toward that goal.” (• http://www.reports-and-materia.....n-2008.doc)
Not once did Leviev respond to the issues raised by human rights groups regarding his profiteering from occupation and violating international law. His answer has been consistent: he’s a “philanthropist”!
June 24th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Jacob, you put the reference to Israeli aggression in quotes. Oh, you are a sly one! Perhaps you thought you could seem impartial, journalistic, while cleverly implying that this aggression wasn’t really so. But you can’t wish away one drop of blood shed by this Israeli aggression against the Palestinians. You can’t put that blood in quotes. And you must know better. If you have a third eye, use it well. Looks to me as if you’ve blindfolded it.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:44 am
All right–thinking Jews will support Jewish construction everywhere in Israel, AND shun UNICEF and every organization connected with the UN which has only one aim, to destroy America and Israel.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:36 am
[...] UNICEF shuns Leviev money (tags: leviev blooddiamonds angola namibia palestine) [...]