500 signatures reached
To: Nelson City Council
Stop Nelson City Council supporting companies doing business in illegal Israeli settlements.
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We, the undersigned residents of the Whakatū/Nelson region, call upon our elected officials in the Nelson City Council to add the following wording to its procurement policies:
The Nelson City Council will comply with United Nations resolution 2334 (1) and will not contract with the list of companies identified by the United Nations Human Rights Council as being involved in the building or maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements.
Why is this important?
All people should have the right to freedom, safety and self-determination. Whether we live in Nelson or Palestine, feeling at peace and safe in our homes is essential to living happy lives. To know that the gardens and orchards our families have tended over generations will still be here to nourish our children.
We all deserve these rights yet right now families in Palestine live in constant threat of being targeted by the Israeli military, pushed out of their homes and persecuted for being Palestinian. Since 1967 many Palestinian homes, gardens and orchards have been bulldozed or cleared for Israeli settlers.
We all deserve these rights yet right now families in Palestine live in constant threat of being targeted by the Israeli military, pushed out of their homes and persecuted for being Palestinian. Since 1967 many Palestinian homes, gardens and orchards have been bulldozed or cleared for Israeli settlers.
We seek that the Nelson City Council align their procurement policy with United Nations Resolution 2334, and the obligations placed on member states by that resolution.
Israel is currently in breach of many international laws. Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territory (2, 3). UN resolution 2334 refers to the territory held by Palestine in 1967 and the illegal occupation of that territory by Israel.
As an occupier state, Israel has legal obligations to protect Palestinians who live in their territory. Israel is in breach of these obligations by directly targeting and harming Palestinian civilians.
As an occupier state, Israel has legal obligations to protect Palestinians who live in their territory. Israel is in breach of these obligations by directly targeting and harming Palestinian civilians.
UN resolution 2334 requests that Israel cease all settlement activities in the occupied territory. In support of this, Clause 5 of the resolution calls upon all states to distinguish between the territory of the state of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967 in all dealings with the region.
The Resolution was put forward by and voted in favour of by the New Zealand government under the leadership of the National Party in 2016 (4).
Subsequently, in February 2020 the United Nations published a database of over 100 companies it considered were doing business in the Israeli settlements. On 1 July 2023, the United Nations reviewed the list and removed 15 companies from the list due to them having halted activity in the Israeli settlements.
United Nations Resolution 2334 declared that all member states should not deal with organisations doing business in the illegally occupied Palestinian Territories, this includes Aotearoa/New Zealand.
We call on our local government to align its procurement policy with UN resolution 2334.
References:
- https://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/SRES2334-2016.pdf
- https://www.icj-cij.org/node/204176
- https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/experts-hail-icj-declaration-illegality-israels-presence-occupied
- https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/media-and-resources/un-security-council-adopts-historic-resolution-on-israeli-settlements