Africa Israel, a major real estate holding company, held an event yesterday to announce that it would no longer participate in building projects in East Jerusalem or the West Bank. According to the CEO, Oren Hod, “We are not building beyond the Green Line.”
This news comes as a surprise to many, because Africa Israel, and its daughter company, Danya Cebus– a major construction company, built many of the major settlements that ring Jerusalem and the lower part of the West Bank: Har Homa, Gilo, Ma’aleh Adumim, Adam, and Ariel. Now, construction in several of these settlement blocs continue, but without Africa Israel.
The Israeli Hebrew-language daily, Yedioth Ahronoth reports that this decision is the result of the prolonged political and financial pressure exerted by the boycott/divest/sanction movement, which has blacklisted Africa Israel and its owner, Lev Leviev, for years. This would represent a victory for the BDS movement.
“It is estimated that the main reasons the decision of the management of Africa Israel are political developments and security in Jerusalem in recent years and the protests against the world because of construction beyond the Green Line . According to sources in Africa, another reason is the lack of economically viable to build in these areas.
Since 2008, Africa Israel boycott suffered because its activity beyond the Green Line.”(sic)
(Above text is from translated version of original Hebrew article.)
Full article, in Hebrew, is here. If you search in Google, it will translate into English for you.