Zufim: Tens of Families Have Built Homes they Cannot Sell Globes May 29, 2014 Shlomit Tzur http://m.globes.co.il/news/m/article.aspx?did=1000942426 Translated from Hebrew for Adalah-NY by Ofer Neiman and Udi Pladott (… represent parts of the article that were not translated)
Families residing in [the settlement of] Zufim in Samaria, near Kohav Yair, have recently discovered a surprising fact: the plots they had purchased and on which they had built their homes have had a lien against them since the 1990s, with the state being the claimant.
In a lawsuit for damages in the sum of 2.5 million NIS, filed by 10 of these families against the Leader Company, which had sold them the plots, they state that they were astonished to learn of this fact, since the lien had not appeared in the certificate of rights issued to them by the company - and that this was done deliberately and in bad faith. According to these families, they are unable to sell their homes and the threat of the State exercising its rights to the plots, thereby claiming its rightfully due debt, hovers over their heads every single day.
October 27, 2014 – The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported today (article in English) that representatives from Africa Israel (AI) and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus, targets of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, say they will stop building Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including in Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. Yedioth Ahronoth reported that protests against settlement construction beyond the Green Line were among the main reasons for AI’s decision. The Israeli newspaper cited Africa Israel’s past construction the settlements of Har Homa, Gilo, Ma'aleh Adumim, Ariel, and Mattityahu East. However, Adalah-NY believes that this announcement - undoubtedly the result of seven years of pressure generated by Adalah-NY and allied groups worldwide and a sign of the growing strength of the BDS movement - should be greeted with vigilance because Africa Israel has in the past made similar statements that proved to be untrue.
In fact, according to the Israeli watchdog group Who Profits, “In October 2010, in an official letter to Who Profits, Africa-Israel stated: ‘Neither the company nor any of its subsidiaries and/or other companies controlled by the company are presently involved in or has any plans for future involvement in development, construction or building of real estate in settlements in the West Bank.’ However, the company soon after received a 78 million shekel contract to construct the C-Jerusalem project in the settlement neighborhood of Gilo in East Jerusalem.”
New York, NY, February 19, 2014 – Adalah-NY announced today that contrary to 2012 media reports touting Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev’s support for the New York City anti-hunger nonprofit City Harvest, the organization received no support of any kind from Leviev during that period. In November 2012, after media reported on Leviev’s support for City Harvest fundraisers, Adalah-NY mobilized letters from organizations and from over 600 individuals calling on the award-winning organization to reject funds from and publicly disavow Leviev due to his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements in violation of international law, and unethical business practices in the diamond industry in Southern Africa.
City Harvest’s just-issued 2013 annual report, and their 2012 annual report both show no support from Leviev. City Harvest spokesperson Cara Taback confirmed in a February 18 phone call with Adalah-NY that the annual reports provide a full and accurate list of all the organization’s donors, and that Leviev indeed had not been a City Harvest donor during the July 2011 – June 2013 period covered by the two reports.
January 30, 2014, New York, NY - Adalah-NY thanks the Norwegian Government for doing the right thing, and reinstating today the ban on investing Norway’s Pension Fund Global in Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel and its subsidiary Danya Cebus “due to contribution to serious violations of individual rights in war or conflict through the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem.”
New York, NY, December 14, 2013 – As snow fell on the New York area Saturday afternoon, 40 human rights advocates gathered on Manhattan’s upscale Madison Avenue in front of the Leviev Diamond store and sang parody holiday carols protesting diamond magnate Lev Leviev’s construction of Israeli settlements. Many holiday shoppers, bundled against the cold, paused to listen to the carolers and appeared surprised but pleased by their human rights message.
The protest came days after popular mobilizations against an Israeli government plan to displace tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel contributed to the plan’s cancellation, and amidst growing global recognition of the efficacy of the international boycott movement.
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