This is from the Ma'an news agency out of Palestine. And it underlines Trita Parsi's point, and As'ad AbuKhalil's too, that the powers of the Middle East have been playing realist footsie for a long time, notwithstanding the rhetoric. In Parsi's book, he reported that at the same time Iran was calling Israel a tumor and holding the American hostages in 1980, Israel was secretly pushing the U.S. to come to terms with Iran, because it served Israel's interest then… From Ma'an:
Bethlehem: Palestinian civil society groups called on Tehran to cut ties with two French companies profiting from work in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
A day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took center stage as a critic of Israel at a UN conference in Geneva, the Palestinian Campaign for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) criticized Iran for business ties with Veolia Environment and Alstrom.
According to the Tehran Times, the Tehran Municipality is involved in negotiations with Veolia Environment for the development of the city's urban transport system.
Alstom has a headquarters in Tehran and received a number of large contracts, including a 192 million euro contract with Iran's state railways in 1999 and a larger 375 million euro contract to supply 50 turbo compressors to Iran in 2002.
The two firms are the investors behind the Citypass consortium that won a 2002 tender issued by Israeli authorities for a light rail line that connects Jerusalem to settlements in the occupied West Bank. The consortium is responsible for construction, operation and maintenance of the system for a 30-year period.
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) called on Tehran to "take the necessary steps to ban Veolia and Alstom and their subsidiaries from any contracts and operations in the country."
