This afternoon (Fri, 18 August), John Flannery, the trade union official [for SIPTU] who represents the drivers on the Dublin tram system, confirmed to me that the Dublin drivers will not allow the Dublin system to be used to train drivers for the new tram system in the illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. “It’s not going to happen”, he said, adding that he was happy to be quoted on this.

The French company, Connex, through its Irish subsidiary, Veolia Transport Ireland, operates the Dublin tram system (which is called the Luas) on behalf of the Railway Procurement Agency, the Irish authority responsible for the procurement of railway infrastructure. Connex has also won a contract to operate a new tram system which is being built to service the illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and proposes to use the Dublin system to train the drivers for the East Jerusalem system.

No official announcement has been made. The drivers were given only unoffical news of the plan to train the Jerusalem drivers in Dublin and Mr. Flannery told me that the trade union officials had also only given an unofficial reaction to the company management. However, he was quite adamant that the Dublin drivers will not allow the Israeli drivers to be trained in Dublin.

The chief executive of Veolia Transport Ireland is currently on holiday, so it is probable that Connex will not make any attempt to further their plans until he returns.

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has already successfully convinced several cultural event organizers to reject and return Israeli government sponsorship, will be supporting this excellent stance from the Dublin tram drivers.

Prof. James Bowen
Computer Science
UCC, Cork
Ireland

Defeat for Connex: Irish tramline forced to cancel deal with its illegal Israeli counterpart

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is delighted to announce a small but significant victory in the international struggle against Connex and the illegal Israeli tramline being built by them on occupied Palestinian territory.

Connex (who in Ireland now operate under the name Veolia) also run the “Luas”, Dublin’s light-rail system. The Luas has only been running for a few years and it is likely that the tramline currently being built by Connex in occupied East Jerusalem is a near identical system. For this reason, representatives from Israel had been in negotiations with Veolia Ireland to have Israeli engineers and drivers trained on the Dublin Luas, with a view to then operating the illegal tramline in Jerusalem. The training was due to begin next month, and a contract was being finalised.

But in recent days, Veolia has been forced to cancel the proposed deal with its Israeli counterpart following pressure from Irish trade union representatives, in turn responding to overtures from the IPSC.

An IPSC spokesperson stated: “This is a small but significant victory for the Palestinian right to self-determination. This tramline, like the Apartheid Wall, is an integral component of Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem. You would expect a tramline to be fairly innocuous, but the lesson is no: when you do business with Israel, you invariably do business with the Occupation. Veolia clearly understand that there is a growing awareness of this within Irish society. People are realising that diplomacy has utterly failed to curb Israeli crimes. We must cut ties with Israel in order to force it to end its Occupation”

The spokesperson further stated, “Veolia’s position, however, is extraordinary. In cancelling this contract, Veolia acknowledge that the Israeli line is illegal and unsupportable. Yet it is they who are building it! The hypocrisy is inexcusable, and their attempts to deny that they bowed to pressure are laughable. Since the Minister for Transport and the Railway Procurement Agency have ultimate control over who runs the Luas, the IPSC now calls on Martin Cullen and the RPA to cancel Veolia’s contract unless they cease building this illegal tramline on occupied Palestinian territory.”

The tramline being built by Connex/Veolia will run between Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. The settlements, which have been built on annexed Palestinian land, are illegal under the 4th Geneva Convention, and are recognised as such by the Irish government. If completed, the Israeli tramline will permanently link Jewish-only settlements such as Pisgat Ze’ev, French Hill, Neve Ya’akov and Gilo, to Israeli West Jerusalem, thereby cementing Israel’s hold on occupied East Jerusalem, and ensuring that there can never be a Palestinian state.

The IPSC had initially learned that a delegation from Israel was in Dublin last month to inspect the Luas. Subsequently, it has emeged that Veolia have hosted three Israeli visits to Dublin in the last eighteen months. The IPSC will ensure that there will be no further cooperation between the Dublin Luas and the Jerusalem tram, and indeed we will step up our campaign for the Irish government to cancel Veolia’s contract. However, the IPSC would also stress that we were completely unaware of the previous two visits from Israel. We thus urge solidarity campaigns, in countries where Connex operates, to contact the relevant unions and determine whether any support or assistance is being given to the Israeli tramline. Clearly, the Israeli drivers and engineers must get training from somewhere, and soon, if they are to operate this line in occupied East Jerusalem. This campaign thus has great potential. If human rights groups and Palestinian solidarity campaigns can ensure that no country will train Israeli engineers and drivers, then perhaps we can help to “derail” this criminal project entirely.

IPSC

Some information on Israel’s illegal tramline and Connex’s role in building it:

War on Want report (see pages 10 and 11) :
www.waronwant.org/download.php?id=443

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Group report (see pages 42 and 43) :
click here

Contact the IPSC at supportpalestine@ireland.com

or see
www.ipsc.ie

Dispute over Israeli link to Luas

Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

IRELAND:

Dublin’s Luas light rail system became embroiled in the Middle East conflict yesterday with claim and counter-claim about contacts between the operating company, Veolia (formerly known as Connex) and its Israeli counterpart.

A spokesman for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) claimed that Veolia Transport Ireland had called off plans to train Israeli personnel to operate a similar system in East Jerusalem, the disputed Palestinian sector of the city, following trade union protests inspired by the IPSC.

A Veolia Transport Ireland spokeswoman confirmed there had been three visits to Dublin in the last 18 months by delegations of Israeli engineers and consultants involved in setting up the Jerusalem light rail system.

She added that these contacts had been halted “for operational reasons” and not as a result of any trade union objections.

The Luas depot at the Red Cow roundabout is currently being extended and maintenance personnel are to be trained to drive the vehicles in the depot area. “Therefore we are not in a position to facilitate another visit for the foreseeable future,” the spokeswoman said. This was “nothing to do with Siptu objections”, although she confirmed that the union, which represents Luas drivers, had been in contact with Veolia’s senior management on the issue.

The Israelis had “put in a request for systems knowledge and driver training” but this was not possible under present circumstances. There was no contract between the two sides.

The IPSC spokesman gave a different version of events. He said: “The IPSC had learned that a delegation from Israel was in Dublin last month to inspect the Luas. An arrangement was proposed, whereby Israeli engineers were due to train on the Luas system next month, with a view to then operating the illegal tramline [ in East Jerusalem]. A contract for this deal was being finalised.

”The IPSC informed Siptu and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) of what they termed ‘unconscionable direct Irish assistance to Israel’s illegal occupation’. The unions responded promptly, since, just last month, Ictu passed a motion with a call that ‘economic sanctions be imposed on Israel until all IDF forces and illegal settlements are removed from the occupied territories’. After being contacted by union representatives, Veolia’s senior management quickly cancelled the proposed training.”

The IPSC spokesman added: “This is a small but significant victory for the Palestinian right to self-determination.”

Another branch of the Veolia group is part of the consortium setting up the Jerusalem light rail system which will link the controversial Israeli settlements with the Israeli side of the city.

The IPSC called on Minister for Transport Martin Cullen to cancel Veolia’s contract “unless they cease building this illegal tramline on occupied Palestinian territory”.