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Orange Telecom and Occupied Territories
(Washington Post) Eugene Kontorovich - The CEO of Orange telecom, Stephane Richard, just arrived in Israel for a two-day visit, apologizing for his apparent suggestion that his company would boycott the Jewish state due to its local affiliate's activities in "occupied territory." Now researchers at the Kohelet Policy Forum have discovered that Orange provides cell phone service in Nagorno-Karabakh, an area of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia in a bloody 1992-94 war. Orange even supports fundraising for Armenian settlements in Karabakh. Unlike its Israel service, which is operated by a local company that merely licenses the trademark, Orange Armenia is directly run by the French-based company, and headed by a French executive, Francis Gelibter. There is absolutely no law, rule, or general practice against doing business in occupied territories. Europe wants Israel to believe that the friction between them is due to "the occupation." But the participation of European companies in "occupation" elsewhere (Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh) undermines the force of their argument. The writer is a professor at Northwestern University School of Law.