A private Israeli company specializing in measuring and engineering instruments and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) measuring solutions. The company is the exclusive representative of the Swiss company LEICA Geosystems.
Bnei Eli Etkes established a private statewide network of GPS base stations for RTK (Real Time Kinematic) measurements, based on LEICA Geosystems technology. The network, SPIDERNET, is the largest of its kind in Israel. It has 52 active stations, including in settlements in the occupied West Bank (Tomer, Karnei Shomron) and the occupied Syrian Golan (Avnei Eitan) and in Palestinian West Bank towns and cities (Ramallah, Jenin, Jericho, Burin, Sinjil, Dura) and in the Syrian Druze town Buq'ata in the occupied Golan.
On 6 February 2017, Bnei Eli Etkes equipment was documented at the construction site of the Nabi Elias Bypass Road, a settler road being built in the occupied West Bank near the Palestinian village of Nabi Elias.
The bypass road will involve the expropriation of 25 acres of Palestinian land - including a total 700 olive trees - belonging to the Palestinian villages of Izbat Tabib, Azzun, and Nabi Elias, just east of Ramallah. Attempts by Palestinian landowners to petition the Israeli High Court against the plan have been rejected. According to the head of Nabi Elias' village council, Raed Khalif, those who will be able to prove ownership over the land will receive nominal compensation for their stolen property, property on which their livelihood depends.
The company also has a joint project with Noble Energy, a US oil and gas exploration and production corporation, for monitoring production platforms. Noble Energy operates several oil production platforms in the Eastern Mediterranean, including the Tamar and Mari-B fields. According to a 2017 report by SOMO - Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, Noble Energy's operations are directly linked to severe human rights impact, including naval attacks on Palestinian fishermen (incl. with live bullets) unlawful arrest and arbitrary detention, and the denial of right to livelihood, through the company's relationship to the Israeli navy, which enforces an illegal naval blockade around Noble Energy's platforms.
