Find A Company

The Hewlett Packard Company (HP) has become notorious for its direct involvement in the Israeli occupation, providing the Israeli regime with technologies of surveillance and control used in the occupied Palestinian territory. In 2015, the company underwent major restructuring, involving a split and subsequent mergers and spinoffs, making it difficult for global civil society to determine the current state of its complicity.

In this update, Who Profits traces the occupation-related activities of HP in its new corporate structure. Our findings reveal that several of HP's key involvements continue through the newly formed, publicly traded companies DXC Technology and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (hereinafter: HPE) and their Israeli subsidiaries. This update also contains information about a new involvement in the area of home demolitions and population control.

In November 2015, HP split into two independent companies: Hewlett Packard Inc. (hereinafter: HPI) and HPE. Following the split, HPE spun off its enterprise services business and merged it with Computer Sciences Corporation (hereinafter: CSC) to establish DXC Technology, a new global IT services provider. In addition, the company sold its software business to UK tech firm Micro Focus. As this update shows, HP, though formally defunct, remains heavily involved in the settlement enterprise and the economy of the occupation as a whole through DXC and HPE. Although both DXC Technology and HPE claim to uphold and respect human rights as articulated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the companies contribute directly to mechanisms and practices that violate human rights and international law.

NEW ACTORS, OLD COMPLICITY 

Israeli Population Registry

Through its Israeli subsidiary EntServ Israel, DXC Technology operates and maintains the Arbel Project of the Aviv System, the computerization system of Israel's Population and Immigration Authority, formerly operated by HP. The Aviv system includes the "Yesha database," which contains information on the Israeli citizens in the settlements.

In 2008, HP signed a contract with the Israeli Ministry of Interior for the production and manufacturing of biometric ID cards for Israel's citizens, including Palestinian citizens  of Israel and residents of occupied East Jerusalem. The Arbel unit of the Population and Immigration Authority handles the transition to biometric IDs. In 2013, state employees of the project were replaced by HP employees as part of the broader process of privatization of  Israel's population control apparatus. HP has been operating the Aviv System since 1997 without a tender. On 10 May 2017, Entserv Israel took over the contract.

DXC Technology is contracted to provide maintenance for biometric stations until 31 December 2017 for the amount of 938,056 NIS. In January 2017, the Tenders Committee approved the purchase of an additional 50 biometric stations by the Population and Immigration Authority for the amount of 544,550 NIS, with maintenance for a year. On 26 July 2017, the Tenders Committee approved a request to purchase another 50 biometric stations for 544,550 NIS without maintenance. The company also provides biometric scanners for the Population and Immigration Authority.

EntServ Israel also took over HP's contract for the manufacturing of biometric IDs (Smart IDs), signed in 2008. The company is contracted until 30 June 2020, with specific sections of the agreement extending until 30 June 2025.

HPE, which specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of storage and server hardware, continues to provide the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority with itanium servers for the operation of the Aviv System through its principal Israeli subsidiary, Hewlett Packard (Israel) Ltd. HPE is contracted by the Population and Immigration Authority until 8 July 2020 to provide and maintain the servers for the total amount of 212,318 USD. The company is the sole manufacturer of itanium servers, the only servers that can support the operating system of the Aviv System.

HPE is also contracted until 30 June 2018 to maintain VC systems for the Israeli police for the amount of 366,000 NIS.

Services to Settlements

According to visual evidence obtained by Who Profits, DXC Technology operates a Research and Development (R&D) Center in the Beitar Illit settlement.

The center was operated by EDS Israel in 2006-2008, and by HP from 2008 to 2017. Until January 2012, the center was located in a facility of the Beitar Illit municipality. It was then expanded using a three-year grant awarded to HP by the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Employment.

Facilitating Home Demolitions

DXC Technology is establishing a computerization system to assist the Civil Administration in tracking "unauthorized" Palestinian construction in the West Bank (Israel's occupying power makes building permits for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank extremely difficult to obtain). The project will be based in the Civil Administration Headquarters in the Beit El military base, located in Area C of the occupied West Bank. The project involves working with the 'Rolling Stone' system, the central system for managing the Palestinian population registry and permit system, installed in checkpoints in the oPt.

The Basel System

In 2000, EDS Israel, an HP company now under DXC Technology, was contracted by the Israeli Ministry of Defense (hereinafter: MoD) and the Israeli Police to develop, execute and maintain the Basel system, a biometric identification system installed in checkpoints in the West Bank and in Gaza. The system, designed to control the entry of Palestinians from the oPt to Israel, involved the issuance of magnetic cards with extensive biometric information (fingerprints, retinal and facial data). Since 2005, biometric cards became mandatory for every Palestinian from the oPt who requests a permit to enter Israel.

In July 2017, Who Profits has been informed by the MoD, in response to a Freedom of Information request, that the Basel System has been terminated at the end of 2016 and there are no active contracts with HP for its maintenance.

Who Profits will continue to follow up on biometric control systems through Freedom of Information requests and other channels.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

On its website, DXC Technology states that it is "committed to the protection and advancement of human rights" and has developed its Human Rights Statement based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, by operating an R&D Center in a settlement, developing programs that facilitate Israel's brutal home demolitions policy in the oPt, and crowd controlling the  Palestinian population through operating the Israeli population registry, the company directly contributes to human rights abuses against the occupied Palestinian population, in contravention of international principles and its own stated policy.

HPE likewise claims to uphold human rights as reflected in "the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which further clarify government responsibility to protect human rights against third party abuses, business responsibility to respect human rights, and a joint responsibility to remedy if rights are not upheld." However, by colluding with the Israeli government, profiting from its population control apparatus, and strengthening the Israeli settlement enterprise, HPE is abetting and enabling severe violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.

CORPORATE INFORMATION

DXC Technology

Publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DXC.

Chairman, President and CEO: Mike Lawrie

Top shareholders: Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) (5.22%), Blackrock Inc. (4.59%), Boston Partners (3.42%), Glenview Capital Management, LLC (2.92%) and FMR, LLC (2.19%).

DXC Technology's Board of Directors is split 50/50 between CSC and HPE. Computer Sciences Corporation is DXC Technology's legal predecessor.

The company has hundreds of subsidiaries worldwide. Its Israeli subsidiaries are: Entserv Israel and EntServ OMS Israel.

DXC's main strategic partners include: Amazon Web Services, AT&T, HPE, HPI, IBM, Oracle, Micro Focus and Microsoft.

Head Office: 1775 Tysons Boulevard, Tysons, VA 22102, USA
Tel: +1-703-876-1000
Website: www.dxc.technology

Israeli Office: 9 Dafna St., Ra'anana 4366223, Israel
Tel: +972-9-762309

HPE

Traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HPE.

CEO: Meg Whitman

President: Antonio Neri

Major shareholders include: Dodge & Cox (14.48%), Vanguard Group Inc. (8.45%), Blackrock Inc. (7.65%), State Street Corp (5.47%) and Primecap Management CO/CA/ (4.18%).

Hundreds of subsidiaries worldwide. Israeli subsidiary: Hewlett Packard (Israel) Ltd.

Key partners include: HP Inc., Microsoft, Citrix and GE Digital.

Head Office: 3000 Hanover St., Palo Alto, CA 94304-1112, USA
Tel: +1-650-687-5817
Website: www.hpe.com

Israeli Office: 9 Dafna St., Ra'anana 4366223, Israel
Tel: +972-9-7623532