Add your protest: Gush Shalom demands that MasterCard immediatelystops its involvement with extreme-right Elad settlers
Here is something you can do, wherever you are
The holders of an Isracard and/or Mastercard credit cards in Israel have received in the past weeks an offer for a "City of David tour" with "attractions for the entire family" - an innocuous sounding offer, making no mention of the fact that this tour is to be conducted by the Elad settlers - the ones who are, for more than a decade, making life for Palestinians in Silwan into hell.
Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, has written to the Directors of the MasterCard Company
(A similar letter in Hebrew was sent to the Israeli provider of Mastercard "Isracard".)
You are requested to send your own protest, using our letter or making your own.
You could also phone to the Mastercard company. Contact data is provided in the end, as well as links to background material about the activity of the Elad settlers in Silwan.
The letter.
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Dear Sir or
Madam
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the
Isracard Company, entrusted with issuing MasterCard credit cards in
Israel, is at present involved in supporting extreme-right
Israeli settlers who are actively dispossessing the Palestinian
inhabitants of East Jerusalem's Silwan Neighbourhood. Moreover,
Isracard has been using the MasterCard name and logo in this campaign
of support for the settlers.
Two weeks ago, Isracard sent to
its customers a gift coupon providing a large reduction in entry fees
to the so-called "City of David National Park", managed by
the highly controversial Elad settler association. The reduction is
dependant upon the customer paying with a MasterCardPlus card.
In
providing such coupons to its customers, Isracard has taken a clear
position in support of the extreme right in Israeli politics –
and has implicated MasterCard in the same. "The City of David
National Park" is administered by the settler association "Elad"
whose members have established themselves since 1991 in East
Jerusalem's Silwan Neighbourhood, since which time they are
constantly extending their foothold by means of entering Palestinian
homes and expelling their inhabitants. The proclaimed aim of the Elad
settlers is to "Judaise" the village of Silwan, which they
call "The City of David" and where they assert the Biblical
King David had his palace 3000 years ago (a claim strongly disputed
among historians and archaeologists). The tens of thousands of
Palestinians who live for generations in this location are for the
Elad settlers no more than "a nuisance" to be expelled.
Among other things, it was the Elad settlers who initiated –
and got the Jerusalem Municipality to adopt – the plan of
demolishing 88 Palestinian homes in Silwan in order to establish in
their place "The King's Garden", where according to the
settlers King David had his garden. As you may recall, this plan was
strongly condemned by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on her visit
to Jerusalem in March this year.
Visitors to the "City
of David National Park" are not only directly contributing to
the Elad setters' coffers, but are also exposed to an intensive dose
of extreme-right nationalistic propaganda and a highly biased and
one-sided description of Jerusalem's history, almost completely
ignoring the part of non-Jews – especially, the part of Arabs
and Muslims – in the city's history. Such a distorted depiction
of history also appears on the settler website to which the Isracard
coupon, emblazoned with the MasterCard logo, refers the company's
customers: http://www.cityofdavid.org.il
Isracard's issuing this coupon and promoting the Elad settlers clearly cannot be considered a legitimate commercial activity. Rather, it is a political act with far-reaching implications. As the MasterCard name and logo were directly used, implicating your company with its world-wide business network, I feel it is incumbent upon your company to take up the matter with your "Isracard" business partners and firmly ask them to sever immediately and completely all connections with the Elad settlers.
As you have taken care to make widely known, your company has taken the initiative to create "The MasterCard Foundation" whose proclaimed aim is to help and empower poor, isolated and disadvantaged people in such countries as Tajikistan and Rwanda, and whose leadership includes such distinguished people as Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, known for her great devotion to the promotion of Human Rights . Obviously, this is the polar opposite of what the Elad settlers are doing in the Palestinian parts of Jerusalem, and I am sure you will take quick steps to remedy this discrepancy.
Gush Shalom spokesperson