Accused of war crimes for their involvement with Israeli settlement expansion, two Quebec-registered companies are being sued in Canada by the occupied West Bank Palestinian village of Bi’lin.

Toronto lawyer Mark Arnold filed a claim in Quebec Superior Court on
behalf of the village against Green Park and Green Mount International three weeks ago. The case is part of a combined Palestinian, Canadian and Israeli effort to halt expansion of the Modi’in Illit settlement.

The sister construction companies are being charged with violating
both Canadian and international law, while also acting as agents of the Israeli state due to their construction of residences in Mattityahu
East, a hilltop adjacent Modi’in Illit’s main settlement block. Calling
the case unprecedented, Arnold cites the Fourth Geneva Convention and Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.

“They are Canadian companies and subject to Canadian and
international law,” he says, contending Green Park International and
Green Mount International are aiding the transfer of settlers to an
occupied territory, resulting in a war crime and violating both these
acts and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court...

According to a spokesperson from Green Park and Green Mount’s business partners Danya Cebus construction company, the two companies are owned by wealthy American businessman Shaya Boymelgreen. Danya Cebus received a subcontract for the Mattityahu East project in 2004 and the
spokesperson says the two companies are part of Boymelgreen’s business
conglomerate.