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Palestinians taking BP to court over pipeline supplying Israel

December 23, 2024 at 2:53 pm

Oil fields in Baku, Azerbaijan. [Photo by Wojtek Laski/Getty Images]

Palestinians in Britain have sent BP plc a formal “letter before claim”, accusing the oil giant of facilitating the supply of fuel used by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in its war in the Gaza Strip, Britain’s Guardian newspaper has reported. According to the Palestinians involved, the company has thus “breached its own commitments to human rights under international law.”

The oil in question is supplied by Azerbaijan, but “BP owns and operates the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, from where the oil is then transported by ship” to the occupation state. Oil from Azerbaijan amounts to just under a third of all oil sent to Israel.

“Oil supplies are critical for Israel’s military operation,” said the Guardian, “and it has been reported that oil from this pipeline is being sent to a refinery that produces jet fuel for military planes which are dropping munitions on Gaza.”

“Israel relies heavily on crude oil and refined petroleum imports to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles and operations, as well as the bulldozers implicated in clearing Palestinian homes and olive groves to make way for unlawful Israeli settlements,” said the signatories in their letter to BP. “Some fuel from refineries goes directly to the armed forces, while much of the rest appears to go to ordinary gas stations where military personnel can refuel their vehicles under a government contract.”

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The Guardian pointed out that a UN commission has found that Israel has committed war crimes during the war in Gaza. Moreover, the UN General Assembly has again demanded an immediate ceasefire, a demand which has been ignored by Israel. According to the claimants, said the newspaper, BP has “violated the UN guiding principles on business and human rights, as well as the prohibition of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity under customary international law and obligations under its own policies, which require BP to avoid contributing to human rights abuses.”

“This legal action marks a new phase in accountability for those that are complicit in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The evidence against BP demonstrates a clear failure to adhere to its own human rights policies and international law,” said Tayab Ali, head of international law at Bindmans law firm and director at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP). Both are working with the claimants. “By facilitating the transport of oil that fuels military operations in Gaza, BP has contributed to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the region. Our clients seek justice for the profound suffering and loss they have endured and call on BP to act responsibly by immediately halting its involvement.”

The lead claimants are people of Palestinian origin who have lost family members in what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has called the “plausible genocide” in occupied Palestine. The letter sent to BP calls on the company to cease the “supply and facilitation of oil supply to Israel through the pipeline” and to provide “full disclosure of relevant documents, including policies, contracts and risk assessments relating to BP’s operations in connection with oil supplied to Israel.”

The occupation state has killed at least 45,300 Palestinians in Gaza since October last year, and wounded 107,700 others. An estimated 11,000 are missing, presumed dead, under the rubble of their homes and other civilian infrastructure destroyed by the occupation state. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of the coastal enclave is in ruins.

BP did not respond to requests for a comment, said the Guardian.

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