An Irish peace activist will today begin a two-week, water-only hunger strike outside the Dublin headquarters of Cement Roadstone Holdings over its role in the Middle East.
Ms Caoimhe Butterly said her action was in protest at CRH's involvement in the construction of a massive wall that bisects Israel, isolating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Ms Butterly said the wall, which is eight metres high in some places, violates International Law and contributes to human rights violations of the Palestinian people.
Israel maintains the wall is designed to prevent terrorist attacks by Palestinian militants, but opponents describe it as a land grab intended to isolate Palestinians and cut them off from agricultural land.
CRH owns a 25 per cent stake in the Mashav Group, an Israeli holding company for Nesher Cement, who is the sole provider of cement in Israel.
Amnesty International recently stated that "CRH, through its subsidiaries Mashav and Nesher is likely to be providing the raw material of the fence/wall . . . if so, it would contravene the UN norms on the responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights(2003)."
Ms Butterly said it was "shameful" that an Irish company should profit from anything that is as "immoral, unjust, and destructive" as the wall.
"This fast is being initiated as an attempt to pressure CRH to divest from these companies," she said. "It is the only moral option."