PALESTINE

“Fear for their Lives”: G4S on the West Bank

Israeli security firm Hashmira, which is majority-owned by G4S, has come under fire for interfering in the everyday life of Palestinians in the West Bank.  The British newspaper The Guardian wrote in 2002 that Hashmira security officers in the West Bank “routinely prevent Palestinian villagers from cultivating their own fields, traveling to schools, hospitals, and shops in nearby towns, and receiving emergency medical assistance. Intimidation and harassment are common,” the article continued, “causing many villagers to fear for their lives.”  

Reports in the newspaper Politiken caused a stir in Denmark, then the home country of Group 4 Falck, which subsequently merged with Securicor to become G4S. “This isn’t even a matter of high or low morals. In this case, G4S has absolutely no morals. They are making money off people’s misery and are complicit in the maintenance of settlements which the UN has with absolute clarity deemed illegal,” commented Danish MP Soren Sondergaard.

“We believed we had investigated Hashmira thoroughly before we bought in to the company, but apparently we didn't do thoroughly enough,” said then- CEO Lars Nørby Johansen, according to The Copenhagen Post.

In late 2002, following this negative publicity, G4S agreed to gradually withdraw from the West Bank. Its continued violations of its own workers’ basic legal rights, however, have continued to draw criticism from the media, the courts, and the Israeli parliament.

See also >> G4S in Israel