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French transportation company Veolia Transdev has sold off its bus lines in Israel
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After a campaign beginning more than six years ago, activists with the
global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement have declared a major
victory this week, when the French transportation company Veolia
Transdev (partially owned by environmental services company Veolia Inc.)
sold off its bus lines which operate in the Israeli-occupied
Palestinian Territories.
Veolia remains a target of the boycott and divestment campaigners, however, as the main owner/operator of the Tovlan Landfill, and the provider of wastewater services to the illegal Israeli settlement Modi’in Ilit. The activists began targeting the company when Israeli supporters of the movement researched the owners of the segregated bus lines that run from Israel into the settlement colonies constructed throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem in contravention of international law. These buses are 'Jewish-only', and Palestinians who attempt to ride on them are arrested. Although no reason was given for the sale, activists with the BDS movement say that they believe it was the years-long international pressure campaign that pushed the company to divest. |
