Click here to return to previous page.
Good afternoon, my name is Sherna Berger Gluck. I'm a retired faculty member from CSULB, a former vice-president of the California Faculty Association, and a member of the California Israel Divestment Campaign.
We're here today on behalf of the 5,321 Californians – including 837 PERS and 545 STRS members – who are calling on you “to honor your own policies prescribing socially responsible investing and respect for human rights and to begin your own defined process of engagement. . .” You might recall that over 14,000 registered California voters had signed an earlier ballot Initiative petition.
Specifically, we’re here today to urge PERS to begin an immediate investigation into at least five of the companies that are complicit in violating Palestinian human rights and international law: Caterpillar, Veolia, Bank Hapalim, Bank Leumi and Elbit.
We are calling on PERS to honor its commitment to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment, of which it was one of the earliest signers, and especially its own Corporate Responsibiity Policy, Section 5.1 (or new number 6.1) that expects corporations “to adopt maximum progressive practices toward the elimination of human rights violations in all countries or environments in which the company operates. . . ”
As we researched PERS’ investments, we were mindful of the obligation of fiduciary responsibility. Because of its financial repercussions, we focused primarily on the companies targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign (BDS) - modeled on the earlier South African anti-apartheid one. This current international campaign focusing on Israeli violations of human rights has already led to contract cancellations with one of the companies named here, Veolia, and divestments from another, Elbit, while major groups and institutions like the Presbyterian Church, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Israeli “Boycott Within” all oppose investment in the other three as well. In other words, these five companies are already or might become risky investments.
Let me quickly recap the information on the five companies that is contained in the fully documented report we submitted to you, including the market value of PERS investments (according to the latest 2010 posted information):
Caterpillar– almost $96 million
Its equipment is used to clear land for the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention (Article 3, Part 49); and for the construction of the “Separation” Wall, which has been deemed in breech of international law by the International Court of Justice. The systematic demolition of Palestinian homes and farmlands by Caterpillar equipment is in further violation of the Geneva Convention 33 and 53 respectively.
It should be noted that since 2004 the Presbyterian Church USA engaged with Caterpillar, to no avail.
Veolia $31.5 million
This multi-national French company operates apartheid-like transportation services for Israeli settlers and, even more egregiously, the Tovla landfill in the occupied Jordan Valley. Using captured Palestinian land and natural resources for the needs of Israeli citizens is also a violation of international law. In his presentation, IDC member Mikos Fabersunne will discuss some of the financial repercussions of Veolia’s continued activities in the OPT.
Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi $10.3 and $5.6 million respectively.
These banks are directly culpable in the Israeli violation of the 4th Geneva Convention by providing loans for the continued construction of housing projects in the illegal Israeli settlements, as well as loans to homebuyers and financing of commercial activity and production there. In other words, the settlements thrive as a result of their direct financing.
Elbit $3.3 million
This Israeli military contractor is one of two main providers of the electronic detection fence and Wall project in the occupied West Bank. The 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) deemed the Wall in breach of international law due to its large deviations from the Green Line (pre-1967 border).
Pursuant to that decision, the public pension funds of three Scandinavian countries either de-listed Elbit or divested from it, and the Danish financial watchdog, Danwatch, placed it on its ethical blacklist.
I turn now to fellow Israel Divestment Campaign coordinators, Emily Alma and Mikos Fabersunne. They’ll be describing how the complicit activities of these corporations play out in people’s lives on the ground. Following them, I will be making a brief closing statement.
Click here to return to previous page.
Click here to return to previous page.
Greetings. My name is Emily Alma. I am not a PERS member, but have been a California resident and taxpayer for the last 40 years. I recently retired from a position as executive director of a small nonprofit agency in Chico. In my retirement I became active with the Israel Divestment Campaign, helping to gather signatures. My experience with signature gathering was mixed, but most people were eager to do something positive to change the course of politics in Israel. I had people grab the pen out of my hand in enthusiasm to sign the petition. Many of those people were PERS members who felt strongly that their retirement funds should not support Israel’s oppressive measures.
I recently traveled in the West Bank and Israel along with Mikos and others, with the Olive Harvest Tour, and was shocked at the arbitrary nature of oppressive measures, affecting all Palestinians, yet the people we met were good, gentle people who put their shoulder to the wheel every day to create loving lives despite hardships imposed by the occupation.
Much of the oppression is directly related to practices supported by companies that PERS invests in. An olive farmer we picked with had his orchard divided by a newly built Israeli-only highway, likely funded by the two banks noted here. The highway, built on Palestinian agricultural land, makes it impossible for the farmer to access about 1½ acres of his orchard on the “wrong” side of the road. The Israeli military also bulldozed about 120 mature olive trees on the side of his orchard he is still able to access, because they were within 50 metres of the highway, ostensibly creating a security risk. That’s Caterpiller’s work.
There are over 500,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and settlements stretch everywhere along the tops of hills, eating up the landscape, drinking up the water (again – funded by the 2 banks.) Several olive farmers we met were not allowed to irrigate their orchards, or even to capture rainwater. As a result, their olives were tiny and shriveled. Yet the settlers have no restrictions on water use.
The separation wall, where Elbit’s monitoring equipment is installed, cuts off large areas of Palestinian land. Land taken for settlements, the wall and Israeli-only highways result in Palestinian families being crowded into their homes with little space to build new ones. Israel has made it illegal to expand or build new homes without a permit, and it is extremely difficult to get a permit, so, as families grow and need more space, they build without permits, hoping to not get caught. Some do not get caught, but when they do, bulldozers come and demolish their homes, sometimes with only a 15 minute warning (Caterpillar again). To add to the insult, the families are billed for the cost of the demolition.
These are just a few examples of the oppression caused by Israeli policies, which could not happen without support of multinational corporations. Everywhere we traveled we met Palestinians and Israelis who repeatedly stated that BDS is the most promising strategy to achieve justice. By choosing to divest from these companies, PERS could provide a significant contribution toward promoting justice in Palestine/Israel.
Click here to return to previous page.
Click here to return to previous page.
Veolia operates the Jerusalem Light Rail Transit line, which was designed to serve the settlements near Jerusalem. In addition, Veolia operates several segregated bus lines that serve only Jewish settlers. And, as Sherna mentioned, Veolia's has an operating interest in a landfill located near the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank. The Tovlan landfill receives waste from 5 illegal settlements in the West Bank as well as from Israel. This is in violation of international law.
When I was in Jerusalem I rode the Light Rail system from end to end to see the locations the system serves. On November 15, while I was in the country, and fifty years after the Freedom Rides in Alabama and Mississippi in the Civil Rights era, six (6) Palestinians participated in the Palestine Freedom Rides, where, in acts of civil disobedience, they boarded the segregated buses near the settlements destined for Jerusalem. They were removed and arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces before they reached Jerusalem. Shouted one Freedom Rider when she was being arrested, "All I want to do is go to Jerusalem". That was her crime—simply to travel to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, I was stationed in a media center in Ramallah near the starting point of the rides and along with other internationalists there, reporting on the activities all during the day.
I also want to speak about the financial risk to CalPERS from the continuation of its investment in Veolia.
Finally I want to bring your attention to the DVD that is in your agenda packet, titled the Iron Wall. The video illustrates how the settlements and the Wall are being used to systematically dispossess Palestinians of their land.
Click here to return to previous page.
Click here to return to previous page.
What we are asking is not extraordinary. During the South African apartheid regime, the State of California divested from South Africa; and today, CalPERS is investigating its investments in relation to Darfur and Sudan.
We're simply calling on PERS to follow its own policy and to demonstrate the kind of "leadership in ethics" that PERS Corporate Governance staff Anne Simpson referenced in her recent comments about News Corp.
It's time for PERS to investigate why Scandinavian pension funds have divested from Elbit; why many European agencies have canceled Veolia contracts; why the Presbyterian Church and Jewish Voice for Peace advocate divesting from Caterpillar; and why Israeli peace activists are concerned about the role played by the two banks, Leumi and Hapoalim.
What better way to commemorate the 63rd anniversary (two days ago, on December 10th) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights than for PERS to honor its commitment to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and start investigating these five companies that are complicit in the violations of Palestinian human rights and international law: Caterpillar, Veolia, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi and Elbit?
We thank you for your attention and ask you to initiate the engagement process by recommending that the staff begin their investigation of Caterpilla, Veolia, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi and Elbit.
Click here to return to previous page.
Click here to return to previous page.
I am David Mandel, a public interest attorney and member of the Sacramento chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, an American Jewish organization that strives to change U.S. policy to support a just and secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on human rights and international law.
JVP is engaged in a similar campaign, engaging with TIAA-CREF, another large pension investment company. We have delivered to it tens of thousands of signatures of TIAA-CREF members and others in an effort to persuade it to divest from five companies that profit significantly from the Israeli occupation and its egregious human rights violations. Three of them are among the five also mentioned with regard to the CalPERS portfolio: Caterpillar, Veolia and Elbit. For more information about our work in general, please visit http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org, and about the divestment campaign specifically, http://wedivest.org.
Speaking for myself, as a resident of Calfornia for 26 years and before that, a longtime resident of Israel, a citizen, in fact, who has been involved the whole time in movements for Israel-Palestine justice and peace, I urge you to take this important first step, to engage with the five corporations mentioned and if necessary, to divest from them. This would be a concrete, meaningful step consistent with CalPERS' stated values and a way to promote peace, justice and human rights.
Click here to return to previous page.