Lawyers for a Palestinian village have begun a rare legal case against two Canadian construction companies working in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, accusing them of breaching war crimes laws and demanding an injunction to halt their work as well as damages worth around US$1.98 billion.
The case, brought to the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal, alleges that the two Canadian firms are breaching international law by building and selling homes in part of the settlement of Modi’in Illit on land originally belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil’in.
“In so doing, the defendants are aiding, abetting, assisting and conspiring with the State of Israel in carrying out an illegal purpose,” according to the writ of claim filed to the court.
It said their conduct amounted to a “fundamental violation of the human rights of the villagers” and “denies them freedom of movement.”
The village accuses the firms of breaching international law, including the Fourth Geneva convention, as well as Canada’s own crimes against humanity and war crimes act. All settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law, although Israel has for years defended its right to build there.
The writ names the two firms as Green Park International and Green Mount International, both registered in Montreal. The lawyers said the case did not involve the similar sounding firm Greenpark International, which is based in Vaughan, Ontario, and which advertises itself as “Canada’s largest homebuilder.”
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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