Women in Black, Italy support the international campaign against the building of a high speed train that will link Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, in which the Italian firm , Pizzarotti, is involved.
A report produced by the Israeli coalition of women for peace, as part of their research projectt Who profits?, shows that the train's route passes through the occupied territory and involves further losses of land for the Palestinian communities - who won't even be able to use the train. The construction in which Pizzarotti is taking part is illegal since international law prohibits the use of resources from an occupied territory by the occupying power for the benefit of its own citizens.
The choice of building in the occupied territory wasn't even necessary to the project. According to Dalit Baum, researcher with the Coalition of Women for Peace:
it is significant, even though not surprising to discover that Israeli planners found it easier to take land from the Palestinians and run the risk of being prosecuted for violations of international law rather than face the possible complaints of Israeli citizens who might object to the building of the train line close to their houses and the consequent devaluation of their real estate or the worsening of the air quality and the view from their windows. It seems that the internationally recognised borders of Israel are totally insignificant in the eyes of Israeli engineers and that they can cross them whenever it is more convenient or easier for their projects.
