<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1255"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">From the Financial Times:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Palestinians sue Israeli cellphone groups<BR>By Avi Machlis in Jerusalem<BR>Published: November 12 2001 20:15 | Last Updated: November 12 2001 22:57<BR> </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <BR>Jawwal, the Palestinian mobile phone operator, on Monday filed a landmark lawsuit in a Palestinian district court, seeking damages of Shk1.8bn ($425m) from two Israeli mobile companies for operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip without a licence. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">The civil lawsuit marks the first time a Palestinian company has invoked the Oslo accords in a commercial court case, and attempted to claim jurisdiction over an Israeli company in a Palestinian court. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">The two Israeli companies, Pelephone Communications and Cellcom, are the biggest cellular operators in Israel, together controlling 74 per cent of the market of 5.05m subscribers. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Jawwal executives on Monday rejected suggestions by Israeli businessmen that the complaint was politically motivated and said they only took legal action after months of talks aimed at reaching a compromise. "It has absolutely nothing to do with politics," said Hakam Kanafani, managing director of Jawwal, which is controlled by PalTel, the Palestinian telecommunications group. "This is about dollars and cents." </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">According to the plaintiffs, Pelephone and Cellcom operate illegally in the Palestinian territories. "This is the only market in the world where you have mobile telephone operators soliciting, covering and collecting without paying for a licence," said Mr Kanafani. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Executives from the Israeli groups said they were studying the case but would not comment otherwise. Bezeq, the Israeli domestic telecommunications monopoly which owns 50 per cent of Pele-phone, suggested in a note to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that the district court of Ramallah may not have the authority to try the case. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">An Israeli official, however, admitted that the Israeli-Palestinian interim accords of 1995 did envisage disputes between Israel and Palestinian groups being settled in Palestinian courts. "In principle the possibility exists, but there are different circumstances which must be looked at closely before determining jurisdiction," said the official. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Mr Kanafani said Jawwal, which has an exclusive Palestinian licence until 2004, did not seek to sue Israeli companies indiscriminately, and had not included Partner Communications, the third Israeli cellular group, in its lawsuit. Jawwal has a roaming agreement with Partner. Jawwal is seeking Shk1.157bn from Cellcom and Shk676m from Bezeq in damages and lost potential revenues over several years. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Even if the Palestinian court awards damages to Jawwal, the violent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians makes it unlikely that damages will be paid.<BR> </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">--------------------</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">From Ha'aretz:</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Palestinian Telecom suing Israel's leading cellular companies <BR> <BR>By Ori Nir, Ha'aretz Correspondent <BR> <BR> <BR>The Palestinian Telecommunications Company (Paltel) and its daughter company Jawwal have announced they are suing Israel's top two cellular phone companies, Cellcom and Pelephone, for NIS 1.76 billion. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Paltel alleges that the two Israeli firms are operating without a license in Palestinian-ruled territories and are infringing on Paltel's exclusive rights to supply cell phone services within the Palestinian Authority. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">The lawsuit, filed in the West Bank city of Ramallah, marks the first time a Palestinian company has sued an Israeli counterpart on grounds of breaking trade agreements laid down in Oslo. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Speaking at a press conference Monday in East Jerusalem, directors of the Palestinian companies and their attorneys stressed that the lawsuit is not political, but is solely an attempt by the companies to defend their lawful rights. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Paltel and Jawwal attorneys claim that the Israeli companies have been operating within Palestinian territories without a license, and collecting revenues without paying Palestinian taxes. The two Israeli cellular companies have relay stations in Jewish settlements. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Before the Palestinian company was formed, Palestinians used Israeli cell phones. In 1999, with the foundation of Jawwal, many subscribers switched to the Palestinian service, but Jawwal officials charge that the two Israeli firms continue to solicit customers in their areas in violation of the agreement. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Hakam Kanafani, managing director of Jawwal, told reporters that his company has been trying to reach an understanding with the Israeli companies outside the courts for months, but to no avail. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">The companies' attorneys said that they decided to turn to the Ramallah District Court because the alleged offense was committed in the area under the Ramallah court's jurisdiction. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Representatives of the Palestinian companies reported that Jawwal currently serves 181,000 out of a total of 380,000 cell phone subscribers in Palestinian territories. Pelephone and Cellcom account for the rest. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Pelephone and Cellcom said they believe the lawsuit to be purely political. A Pelephone spokesman said that the company is not yet able to assess the lawsuit's chances of success. Cellcom responded that it is checking the Ramallah District Court's authority to rule on the suit.<BR> <BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Bryan Atinsky<BR>IMC-Israel <BR>English Editorial Coordinator<BR><A href="http://www.indymedia.org.il">http://www.indymedia.org.il</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>