By Ali Abunimah
"A board member of the Washington, DC-based American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is a major investor in an aerospace company that does millions of dollars of business with an Israeli military defense contractor that has close ties to the Israel Defense Forces and whose headquarters occupy the land of a Palestinian village ethnically-cleansed in 1948.
"A board member of the Washington, DC-based American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is a major investor in an aerospace company that does millions of dollars of business with an Israeli military defense contractor that has close ties to the Israel Defense Forces and whose headquarters occupy the land of a Palestinian village ethnically-cleansed in 1948.
The board member, Marwan M. Atalla, is described on ATFP's website as "President of NEST U.S.A., Inc. a privately held investment company with investments in real estate, aviation, technology and energy. NEST U.S.A., Inc. is part of the Near East Group, a multi-national investment group with offices in Amman, London and Houston."
On its website, NEST lists the eight firms in its investment portfolio, including "Cirrus Design – Manufacturer of 4-seat advanced technology aircraft." One of the aircraft the company manufactures is called the SF 50.....On 24 May this year, an Israeli company called TAT Technologies Ltd. issued a press release announcing that Cirrus Aircraft Inc. had selected TAT as the preferred supplier for $10 million worth of heat exchangers for the SF 50......
This is not the first collaboration between Cirrus and Israeli companies. A Cirrus Aircraft Ltd. press release from August 2009 speaks of "a joint Cirrus/Israeli design team" dating back years.....
TAT's headquarters is in fact located on the lands of the Palestinian village of Yasur which was ethnically cleansed on 10-11 June 1948. According to Walid Khalidi's authoritative book All That Remains, "the village [Yasur] is a closed, fenced-in military zone. At the village entrance there is a sign: 'TAT Aircraft Parts Industrial Firm'" (p.139)......
The willingness of ATFP board member Atalla and his NEST investment firm to profit from relationships with the Israeli military and its suppliers shows a callous disregard and shocking contempt for the Palestinian people and their rights as well as constituting a gross violation of the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).
This revelation comes on top of the fact, reported by the JTA, that ATFP -- which masquerades as a pro-Palestinian group -- has been working to facilitate meetings and relationships between the collaborationist Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad and virulent anti-Palestinian organizations including AIPAC and The Israel Project."
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