Due to the alleged involvement of the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Norway’s largest wealth fund, the largest in the world, has divested from Caterpillar, a US construction equipment company.
The Norwegian central bank announced on Monday that it had made the decision to omit Caterpillar from the fund, which it manages, “due to the unacceptable risk that the businesses’ actions lead to serious violations of the rights of people in times of war and conflict.”
On the advice of its ethics council, the fund also announced that it had dissolved five Israeli banks.
The ethics council stated in a statement that “Israeli authorities are using Caterpillar bulldozers to carry out widespread, unlawful destruction of Palestinian property.”
There is no denying that Caterpillar’s products violate international humanitarian law in a significant way, according to the council.
Caterpillar “has not taken any steps to prevent such use” by Israeli authorities, it was further stated.
According to fund data, the fund had a 1.17 percent stake in Caterpillar that was valued at $2.1 billion prior to its divestment.
Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, First International Bank of Israel, and FIBI Holdings were the five banks listed in the statement.
The banks were not included in the ethics council’s analysis because they “provided financial services that are a necessary prerequisite for construction activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” contributing to the maintenance of Israeli settlements.
The council stated that “the settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their continued existence constitutes an ongoing violation of international law.”
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled just last year that Israeli settlements built on Palestinian territory that were seized in 1967 should be “as quickly as possible” because they “have been established and are continuing in violation of international law.”
21 nations released a joint statement last week opposing Israel’s plans to erect an illegal settlement on a 12 km (4.6 km) of east Jerusalem known as “East 1” or “E1” in a joint statement.
The occupied West Bank is virtually deserted from occupied East Jerusalem as a result of the massive construction, which includes 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, praised the plan, claiming that the settlement’s size and its expansion into Palestinian territory “would leave the possibility of a future Palestinian state” because “there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognize.”
According to fund data, the Norwegian fund’s stakes in the five Israeli banks totaled $661 million.
The Reuters news agency emailed a request for comment from Caterpillar, Hapoalim, First International Bank of Israel, and Bank Leumi, but they did not respond right away.
The fund had previously stated on August 18 that it would stop funding six businesses as part of an ongoing ethics review into the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank’s occupied West Bank, but it had not at the time indicated any organizations until its stakes in the businesses were sold.
Source: Aljazeera
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