Presentation by Dan Judelson of Jews for Justice for Palestinians and a Labour Party member to
Brent Executive 14 October 2013. The Executive voted to give the 9 year multi-million Public Realm contract to Veolia.
Collecting waste is one of the most
basic, fundamental responsibilities of a council. Ask someone what
they want in terms of local services and chances are high that they
will begin any such list with “empty my bins.”
Over the last three and a half decades,
there has been an enormous change in the delivery of these services
and a particular upshot of that is that a waste collection contract
may now be part of a lucrative business.
So it is entirely understandable that
Brent residents should ask questions about where council money is
being spent. One of the bidders – the remaining bidder – for this
public realm contract is part of a company that derives income
directly form illegal activity.
I do not want to rehash in detail all
of the arguments about how this happens; I know councillors and
executive members will already be aware of much of this thanks to the
debate over the past few months. Yet it is worth reminding ourselves
of the basics of what happens at the Tovlan landfill site, operated
by Veolia, in the Jordan Valley.
It handles waste from illegal Israeli
settlements on land that would form part of the putative Palestinian
state. Not a pennyworth of licence fee is paid by Veolia to the
Palestinian authority for this privilege. In the meantime, Israeli
institutions from the government to the Army to local settlers are
actively trying to take over and control the Jordan Valley.
The government of Israel financially
promotes illegal settlement in the Jordan Valley. According to the
Israeli NGO B’tselem ,”the average grant per capita to Israeli
settlers in the West bank [has been] approximately 57% higher than
the average expenditure per capita for Israeli citizens inside
Israel.”
Furthermore, the head of the Jordan
Valleys settlers group has stated explicitly that “Approving the
programme [of expansion] will change the face of the Jordan Valley
beyond recognition – beyond recognition – and attract
returning sons and families from outside to come to the region.
Although a political cloud – an interesting euphemism –
hangs over the region, this is the way to attract residents.
(Italics mark my emphasis.)
So it is crucial to recognise that we
are not talking about some abstract or vague connection with illegal
activity. Operation of the Tovlan site contributes directly to
sustaining illegal settlements and their expansion in the Jordan
Valley, something that has been acknowledged as illegal by
governments around the world – including that of Israel – since
at least 1968.
These are issues that have been raised
during the campaign but I raise them now because they leave a number
of questions unanswered.
- We have heard that Brent Council Procurement and Legal Services have been determined to exclude such political factors from the bidding process on the basis of a legal opinion but we have heard also that this advice has been embargoed. Brent Council has to explain, why the exclusion, why the embargo?
- We have heard, too, about the potential for legal action from Veolia should they be excluded from the bidding process. Yet they have been excluded or have not been awarded contracts in the West Midlands, in Ealing, Richmond and East Sussex. They have been denied business in Dublin. Utrecht and The Hague – not to mention, far closer to home, the North and the West London Waste Authorities. I would like to know if Brent Council consulted with any of these bodies to try ad establish the ground on which these contracts were not awarded or the bidder excluded from the tendering process.
- Current EU guidelines state that the EU will not enter into any contract or relationship with a company or organisation that operates in the illegally occupied West Bank. This is sure to affect EU law across the 27 states over the duration of the public realm contract being discussed here tonight. Has this factor been considered by the council executive?
- Given what we know about Veolia’s operations in the West Bank, what consideration has been given to attaching conditions or riders to this very long contract, offering Veolia an opportunity to divest itself of the illegal operations we have heard about tonight.
Councillors, there are members of the
Green Party, the Labour Party, of Stop the War, of Brent PSC and I
myself am a signatory of Jews for Justice for Palestinians. But we
are here tonight to decide the best course of action for Brent
residents no matter what their political allegiance of campaign
affiliation.
Hello. My name is Dan Judelson. I have
lived in Algernon Road, Kilburn for the past 15 years and as a Brent
resident and council-tax payer, I object most strenuously to my taxes
going to fill the coffers of a war profiteer like Veolia. It’s as
simple as that.