NZ’s third largest city punishes Israel for illegal Palestinian settlements

Asia Pacific Report

Christchurch, New Zealand’s third largest city, today became the country’s first local government to sanction Israel by voting to stop doing business with organizations involved in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It passed a resolution to amend its procurement policy to exclude companies that build and maintain illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

It was a largely symbolic gesture, as Christchurch (pop. 408,000) currently has no commercial dealings with any of the companies the United Nations says are active in the illegal settlements.

However, the vote also rules out any future business by the city council with these companies.

The sanctions vote came after impassioned pleas to the council by John Minto, president of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA), and University of Canterbury postcolonial studies professor Dr Josephine Varghese.

“We are delighted that the council has taken a stand against Israel’s continued theft of Palestinian land,” Minto said in a statement welcoming the vote.

He had urged the council to take a stand against companies identified by the UN Human Rights Council as complicit in the construction and maintenance of illegal settlements.

“Failure of Western Governments”
“It has been the failure of Western governments to hold Israel to account, which means Israel has a 76-year history of brutal oppression and abuse of Palestinians.

“Today Israel is causing unrest throughout the Middle East because it has never been held accountable for 76 years of flagrant violations of international law,” Minto said.

“Motion passed today by Christchurch City helps end Israel’s impunity for war crimes.” (Building settlements on occupied land belonging to others is a war crime under international law)

“The motion is a small but important step to sanction Israel. Many more steps must be followed.”

The council’s vote to support the UN policy was met with cheers from a packed public gallery. Before the vote, gallery members displayed a “Stop the Genocide” banner.

Minto described the decision as an important step toward alignment with international law and support for Palestinian rights.

“In relation to the council’s adoption of a policy aligned with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, this resolution was co-sponsored by the New Zealand government in 2016,” Minto said, referring to the resolution of the UN that the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories “had no legal validity and constituted a flagrant violation according to international law”.

“Red herrings and obfuscations”
In his statement, Minto said: “We are particularly pleased that the council rejected the red tape and obfuscations from New Zealand Jewish Council spokesman Ben Kepes, who urged councilors to reject the motion.”

“Mr. Kepes’ presentation was a repetition of the tired old arguments used by white South Africans to avoid responsibility for their apartheid policies in the last century, policies that are reflected in Israel today.”

Varghese said more than 42,000 Palestinians, at least 15,000 of them children, had died in Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Boycotting products and services that support and benefit from colonization and apartheid is the long-standing means of peaceful protest adopted by freedom fighters worldwide, not just by black South Africans against apartheid, but also in India’s independent struggle With the lights of Gandhi, ”he said.

“This is a rare opportunity for us to follow in the footsteps of these greats and make a historic move, not only for Christchurch City, but for Aotearoa New Zealand.

“On March 15, 2019 (the date of the New Zealand mosque massacre that killed 51 people), we made headlines for all the wrong reasons, and today could be an opportunity to make global headlines for the right reasons” , Varghese said.