Pushing governments beyond words to real action to end Israel's crimes against Palestinians

Photo by Afitab:

Lisbeth Latham

On July 21 Senator Penny Wong, issued a joint statement with 27 other foreign ministers, which stated that “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.” This release has been followed by a series of statements by ALP ministers condemning the current actions of the State of Israel in Gaza. Given the extent to which these states have defended and facilitated the crimes of the State of Israel 20 October 2023, these statements have been met with significant public cynicism and anger. While this response is understandable, it misses the political moment that the joint statement represents, a moment where it may be possible to force action to end the crimes currently being committed against Palestinians in Gaza. To understand this moment, we must know why it has occurred, which has to do with shifts in international politics combined with broad popular opinion, rather than the pressure from the Palestinian solidarity movement.

The July 21 Statement is a response to two developments. The most important is the shift in global popular opinion against the State of Israel. This shift has been demonstrated repeatedly in opinion polls around the world, and is a core driver, along with the indefensible character of the IDF's actions in Gaza, of the increasingly desperate efforts to equate any criticism, or honest reporting, of the State of Israel’s actions as antisemitism. 

Adding to this pressure is that the Hague Group of countries, which was formed in January 2025, is calling for more concrete international action in solidarity with Palestine. Most notably, the Emergency Conference of States in Columbia in mid-July. This meeting, which 30 governments attended, resulted in a July 16 statement calling for states to:

• Prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel;
• Prevent the transit, docking, and servicing of vessels at any port in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel;
• Prevent the carriage of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel on vessels bearing our flag and ensure full accountability, including de-flagging, for non-compliance with this prohibition;
• Commence an urgent review of all public contracts, to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory and entrenching its unlawful presence;
• Comply with obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law, through robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes;
• Support universal jurisdiction mandates, as and where applicable in national legal frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for victims of international crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

With 12 nations, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa — committed to implementing the six measures immediately through their domestic legal and administrative systems to break the ties of complicity with Israel’s campaign of devastation in Palestine — and set a date of 20th September, to coincide with the 80th UN General Assembly, for additional states to join them.

These practical steps have created pressure for states such as Australia to follow suit, and so the purpose of the 21 July statement, which is devoid of commitments to concrete actions, should be seen primarily as a mechanism to distract from and reduce pressure to take concrete steps. As such, our response to the statement in general, or hand wringing statements by ministers that “the situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears.The position of the Australian Government is clear: every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian”, should not be to complain that the statements weren’t made earlier, that they don’t go far enough, or that they empty words. Instead, we have to demand that those making the statements work to ensure that Israel is no longer able to starve, kill, or collectively punish Palestinians in any way. 

Adopting the actions called for July 16 would be an important start, however, while they bring pressure and will reduce the IDF’s ongoing capacity to terrorise the Palestinian population, they are not sufficient to address the pressing issue of concrete steps for the delivery and distribution of aid. Aid which is needed to halt the mass famine that has been created as a consequence of the Israel’s blocking and restricting of aid. This requires an ending of the limitations on the movement of aid, whether this interference is by the IDF, Israeli settlers, or other armed non-state actors. The last 22-months have definitely demonstrate that this cannot rely on the State of Israel to do the “right-thing”, but must be enforced by an UN-mandated protective force in Gaza. 

Such a force would require a mandate from the UN Security Council. As the US holds a veto on the Security Council that it has repeatedly used to stop or inhibit real action to support the Palestinians. Australia must pressure the US to not veto any action in support of Palestinians.

Action of this type will attract screams of outrage from numerous apologists for the crimes of the State of Israel - aimed at pressuring a return to normal acquiescence to these crimes. As such it is necessary at every step, while pointing out that more action is needed, for the movement to support each step in the right direction towards ending crimes against Palestinians.

This is an important opportunity to end the State of Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza. If the solidarity movement does not find ways to bring sufficient pressure to bear to achieve this, then we will have failed the Palestinian people in their most desperate hour of need.

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The anti-Israel boycott is "illegal" in France

Below is my rough translation of the recent article in the French left-wing paper Libération on the decision by France's Court of Cassation to uphold conviction against activists involved in the French Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the Israeli occupation Palestine.

The anti-Israel boycott is "illegal" in France
Alexandre Hervaud
Originally published in Libération
October 28, 2015

The Supreme Court last week upheld the conviction of a dozen activists from the BDS campaign. There are voices in protest against "an attack on freedom of expression."

The anti-Israel boycott is "illegal" in France
Last week, the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the French judiciary, upheld the conviction of twelve activists from Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) who participated in 2009 and 2010 in actions calling for a boycott of Israeli products. The militants had twice invited customers of an Alsatian supermarket not to buy Israeli products under BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).

As Libération recalled this summer, the initiative launched in 2004 intends to convince people not to use Israeli products and funding as Israel does not easily change its "colonial policy". The controversial campaign, fueled by the operation "Tel Aviv on the Seine", had subsequently led to an exchange in our pages by tribunes interposed between Laurent Joffrin [editor of Libération] and [Omar Barghouti] co-founder of the BDS movement.

The newspaper Alsace recalls that involved activists were acquitted by the high court of Mulhouse in December 2011 and sentenced by the Court of Appeal of Colmar end of 2013 for  "incitement to discrimination, national, racial and religious". With, the key, the payment of 32,000 euro fine, damages and legal costs. In a statement,the militants,  "stunned", wrote: "After the conviction, it would become impossible today to boycott South Africa to fight against apartheid? Yet in the years 70-80, the boycott of South Africa conducted against this racist state was a key factor that led to the abolition of apartheid, victory of human progress. "

Restriction of freedom of expression
"Let it be said once and for all: the boycott of Israeli products is illegal!" enthused the lawyer Pascal Markowicz, member of the steering committee of CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France). For him, "the highest court of our judiciary [confirm] so that freedom of expression may be subject to restrictions or penalties which are necessary in a democratic society for the prevention of disorder and the protection of rights of others ". This notion of freedom of expression with variable geometry has been criticised by American journalist Glenn Greenwald, to whom we owe the revelations about the massive surveillance NSA documents leaked via by Edward Snowden.

On his website The Intercept, Greenwald, who has denounced for months the "fraud" of the mobilisations on January 11 in France as not so Charlie, writes: "Where are all the new found free speech activists who insisted after the Charlie Hebdo murders that a defense of free expression was so vital to all that is good and just in the Western world? Why isn’t the #JeSuisBDS hashtag trending in defense of these activists who have been persecuted — prosecuted — by France for their political views? The answer is clear: Many who reveled in wrapping themselves in the “free speech” banner earlier this year — beginning with France itself and extending throughout the West — have no genuine belief in that right. That’s why these countries not only stand silent in the face of such a fundamental assault on free speech, but aggressively perpetrate those abuses."


Echoing the rostrum massively relayed Greenwald, the American NGO Freedom House has released its annual report on the degree of digital freedom 65 countries (available here in PDF). Telerama reports that if France is still considered "free" in digital expression, it is however the Western country in which freedom has deteriorated the most in the last year. Globally, only Libya is worse. According to the report, "the situation in France has declined mainly due to problematic measures adopted in the wake of the attacks of Charlie Hebdo, just like the prohibition of content that can be described as advocating terrorism, prosecution of online and the significant increase in surveillance ".

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Solidaires - Against repression, solidarity with the Palestinian people

Trade Union Solidaires
Originally published July 30 2014
The Trade Union Solidaires wishes to provide full support to NPA (Nouveau parti anticapitaliste - New Anti-capitalist Party) militant Alain Pojolat threatened today with repression for filing and negotiating with the Paris prefecture, in the name of all those who wanted to demonstrate, requests for demonstrations in Paris in support of the Palestinian people, demonstrations which were finally banned.
 
The authorities accused him of bringing individually what is required from a collective. 

Following complicit statements by the government, it bans protest, the government will not tolerate its inability to prevent the expression of the solidarity of thousands of protestors. After trying to create an amalgam between solidarity and anti-Semitism, an amalgam clearly denied by the solidarity movement, the government now uses repression.

The Trade Union Solidaires believes that the incidents that followed the massive, peaceful demonstration at Barbès on July 19 are the responsibility of those who decided the ban. It assumes its presence in the two Parisian demonstrations banned 19 and 26 July and the public call she made to join them.
 
Solidaires demands an end to any suit against Alain Pojolat and respect the right of expression and demonstration.
 
Solidaires asked the French government to work for:

• ending the bombing;
• lifting the blockade of Gaza;
• the release of Palestinian prisoners;
• the implementation of sanctions against the Israeli state to force compliance with international law.

Solidaires calls for new protests to be held in the coming days.

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Solidaires - Lets be many in expressing our solidarity with Palestine

SUD PTT / Trade Union Solidaires
Issued 29 July 2014
Three weeks after the start of the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, there have been over a thousand casualties, including more than 75% are civilians. Added to these grim statistics, the wounded and the destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, wells and the main power plant.

Nothing can justify such a massacre, which is part of the Israeli government’s effort to put pressure on the population and keep it in a state of submission to an order which Israel imposes, regardless of international decisions.

Nothing can justify the complicity of either the French government or Western leaders:
Nothing is done to enforce international law, particularly the UN resolutions adopted since years
Nothing is done to stop the blockade of Gaza, which locks people into a permanent prison.

And in support of the idea that we should not import the war onto the French territory, the expressions of solidarity with Palestine are labelled anti-Semitism and the protestors are stigmatized.

Demonstrations were banned, causing incidents.

The Trade Union Solidarity has long participated in demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinian people. It has enrolled in several trips solidarity missions, struggled against the blockade and more recently participated in the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), which is the most peaceful way to apply pressure of each and every one on the Israeli government.

For a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis, Solidarity with other organizations of the National Collective require:
The immediate cessation of the Israeli intervention,
Respect for international law and end the blockade,
The release of Palestinian prisoners
Sanctions against the State of Israel to impose a policy change.

Solidaires is an integral part in the many manifestations of solidarity planned in cities.

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Victorian Trades Hall Council statement on Gaza

25 July 2014
Originally Published by Australian Unionists Supporting Palestine

The Victorian Trades Hall Council Executive meeting on Friday 25 July unanimously passed this resolution, proposed by Kevin Bracken (Maritime Union of Australia, Victoria Branch).

That this meeting of the Victorian Trades Hall Executive:

• Condemns Israel’s latest horrific assault on the people of Palestine, which has resulted in over 600 deaths in the past three weeks – the overwhelming majority of the dead being civilians, and many of them children. 
• We reiterate previous policy supporting a strategy of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against the state of Israel, similar to actions designed to isolate the former Apartheid regime of South Africa. 
• We support the peaceful community protests called in solidarity with the people of Palestine, to be held on Saturday 26 July at 1pm, and Friday 1 August at 5pm, outside the State Library in Swanston St, Melbourne. 
• We urge affiliates to support these protests through attendance, publicity, and other means.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Background to this statement: On 7 July 2014, following a severe escalation in hostilities involving intense Israeli aerial and navy bombardment and Palestinian rocket firing, the Israeli Government launched a full-scale military offensive against the Gaza Strip, titled Operation ‘Protective Edge’.

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Queensland Teachers Union statement on Gaza

Queensland Teachers’ Union State Council
Originally published 19 July, 2014

“THAT QTU State Council expresses dismay at the tragic loss of lives in the current conflict in Gaza and other Occupied Palestinian Territory and that 77% of those killed are civilians including many woman and children.

In light of the deaths of at least 58 children, and hundreds of other innocent civilians, and the wounding of 2200 others as a direct consequence of this conflict, the QTU State Council calls on the parties concerned to immediately cease hostilities, as well for the immediate lifting of the seven year blockade of Gaza, and an end to the military occupation and the illegal settlements.

THAT the QTU State Council calls on the AEU and Education International to make public statements in support of the United Nations Security Council call for a ceasefire and calls for the resolution of the conflict based on United Nation Security Council resolutions, and international humanitarian law, as a means to lead to a peaceful outcome for all.

THAT QTU State Council reaffirms its commitment to boycotts divestments and sanctions against Israel until such time as it complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights and calls on the AEU to initiate a broad discussion on an appropriate BDS commitment at a national level.”

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ITUC - Israel/Palestine: UN Ceasefire Call Must Be Respected

International Trade Union Confederation
Originally published 14 July, 2014

The ITUC has called for urgent implementation of the UN Security Council’s call for a ceasefire as the death toll in Gaza continues to mount. The Security Council has called for a “de-escalation of the situation, restoration of calm, reinstitution of the November 2012 ceasefire and respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”

Around 170 Palestinians in Gaza, three-quarters of them civilians according to the UN, have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in the past week by more than 1,200 Israeli airstrikes. No fatalities in Israel have been reported from the 900 rockets fired from within Gaza.

“An immediate ceasefire and urgent humanitarian assistance to Gaza must be followed by renewed international pressure to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and find a negotiated settlement to respect the 1967 borders between Israel and a Palestinian state. The world cannot allow the injustice to continue, nor can it accept the prospect of yet more violence causing the deaths of innocent civilians,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

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Palestine - WFTU denounces the Zionist Israel

World Federation of Trade Unions
Originally published 10 July, 2014

The World Federation of Trade Unions true to its internationalist solidarity to the Palestinian people which is being expressed with moral and practical means in a day to day basis denounces the murderous policy of the Israeli Government, the attacks, the kidnappings and the expansion of the settlements in the Palestinian territories.

There is no law or argument that can make these bloody attacks acceptable. The blood of the innocent and the injustice over the Palestinian people is not only in the hands of the Zionist Israel but also those who support it like the USA and the European Union and those who do not do anything to put an end in their torment.

We express our solidarity, support and brotherhood to the WFTU affiliate the GUPW [General Union of Palestinian Workers], to the Palestinian workers and the Palestinian people for a free, independent and sovereign Palestine.

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IndustriALL Global Union: Violence, Blood and Tears Must Stop in Gaza

IndustriALL Global Union
Originally published 14 July, 2014

In just over a week, at least 225 Palestinians and 1 Israeli were killed of whom 80% were civilians and 20% children. According to the news provided, 1,400 are wounded while 1,255 homes are destroyed and 529 arrested.

IndustriALL strongly proclaims that the military action must be halted immediately. There must be an urgent implementation of the UN Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

“The United Nations Security Council’s call for a ceasefire must be implemented without any delay,” said General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “The Council has urged de-escalation of the situation, restoration of calm, reinstitution of the November 2012 ceasefire and respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians”.

IndustriALL shares the call of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in demanding that an immediate ceasefire and urgent humanitarian assistance to Gaza be followed by renewed international pressure to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and find a negotiated settlement to respect the 1967 borders between Israel and a Palestinian state.

In her statement ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow commented: “The world cannot allow the injustice to continue, nor can it accept the prospect of yet more violence causing the deaths of innocent civilians”.

“Mostly working people are the victims of the current unacceptable situation” said Jyrki Raina.    “The international community must take all the initiatives to avoid further deterioration which could only bring more poverty, chaos and unsafe living and working conditions”.

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International Transport Workers' Federation Condemns Gaza Airstrikes and Launches Appeal to Aid Victims

International Transport Workers' Federation
Originally published 14 July 2014

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) has condemned the growing number of deaths resulting from Israeli military strikes against Gaza in the last few days and launched an appeal to assist those affected. The air strikes have been in response to the launch of missiles into Israel by Hamas, but the Israeli response is widely seen as vastly disproportionate and with a near total disregard for civilian lives.

ITF president Paddy Crumlin stated: “We strongly condemn the strikes by the Israeli military which are being launched into one of the most densely populated areas in the world. This is done in the full knowledge that there will be horrendous civilian casualties. We call for the urgent implementation of the UN Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire.”

The ITF’s call joins that of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in demanding that an immediate ceasefire be followed by renewed international pressure to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and find a negotiated settlement to respect the 1967 borders between Israel and a Palestinian state.

More than 170 civilians have been killed in Gaza in six days of continuous air strikes including many children; more than 1,000 have been injured. Thousands of families have had to flee their homes. To date there have been no Israeli casualties from Hamas missiles.

The ITF’s member union the Gaza Bus Drivers’ Union has reported that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached crisis point. All normal transport operations are stopped and fishing boats have become victims of military strikes.

The ITF is launching an immediate relief effort coordinated by its office in Amman, Jordan. See here for details of how trade unions can help send food and medical supplies to the people of Gaza.

“We are already preparing the means to send medical supplies and equipment to Gaza as soon as this becomes practically possible. I am making an urgent call to all ITF-affiliated unions to provide financial support for a trade union humanitarian relief effort for Gaza,” Crumlin concluded.

In 2009 a similar ITF programme delivered ambulances, food and medicine during the attacks at that time here.

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Israeli raids on Gaza - CGT urges the French government to intervene

Confédération générale du travail
July 16, 2014

CGT wishes to express its profound indignation and condemn strongly the wave of fire that has fallen on Gaza for several days.

It reiterates its opposition to all forms of violence, wherever they come from, and againt collective punishment of civilian populations.

No military action will solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has now lasted more than 47 years. Only dialogue, respect for human rights and the implementation of international conventions and the multiple United Nations resolutions are likely to bring peace to this region.

The CGT call for the immediate cessation of bombing in Palestine and urge the French government, the European Union and the wider international community to take fullfil thier full responsibility in categorically opposing the war logic.

Signatory to the two call by national collectives for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians (11 and 15 July 2014), the CGT members of the national collective's delegation which was received at 3 pm on July 11 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to denounce the government's inaction and call for concrete actions to be undertaken by France toward the Israeli government and within the UN Security Council.

The CGT, whose Confederal Exectutive attended the rally this Wednesday, July 16, at 18:30, at the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris, demanding the implementation of economic and legal sanctions against the Israeli government which does not respect the international law and the lifting of the Gaza blockade, negotiations on the dismantling of settlements and the resumption of the peace process.

Montreuil, 

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COSATU Statement on Israel bombings of Gaza - Do unto apartheid Israel what you did to apartheid South Africa

Congress of South African Trade Union
10 July 2014

On the night of the 8th July, 2014, Gaza woke up to the tremors of earth-shaking bombings by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). It is said since then more than 27 Palestinians, including more than 6 children amongst them, were killed and more than 200 have been injured as a result of the airstrikes by Israel. Dozens of homes have been demolished and several families lost relatives.

The Israeli cabinet has further authorised the reactivation of 40 000 army reservists in anticipation or signalling a possible ground offensive, to top up those already deployed in and around Gaza. How do we explain 60 airstrikes in one day?

The intensification of the mass arrests against Palestinians in various parts of the occupied territories, such as in West Bank where about 500 Palestinians have been arrested in a space of 3 weeks. Mohammed Abu Khdier a Palestinian child was kidnapped, tortured and burnt alive in Jerusalem. Mohammed is amongst millions of Palestinian children who have for years been murdered by the state of Israel in the name of self-protection against “terrorists”.

We firmly support the ANC statement that, “In line with our 2012 policy resolutions, that called on "all South Africans to support the programmes and campaigns of the Palestinian civil society which seek to put pressure on Israel", branches and structures of the ANC across the country will be joining the Palestine solidarity and boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in organizing protests and pickets calling for the immediate end of Israeli violence against the Palestinian people. We call on all South Africans, Black, White, Jewish, Muslim, Christian and all others to join us in expressing our solidarity. Solidarity will bring us together as different South Africans just as how the international anti-apartheid movement brought people together”.

It is only those who have lost their humanity who cant feel or share in the pain felt by the suffering people of Palestine from the barbaric and savage attacks by what has become the most acceptable, deliberate and legalised murder and deliberate violation of international law by a country.

Israel is only able to commit all these ruthless atrocities because of the licence from the US, EU and allies. The UN must be ashamed of itself for failing humanity and the people of Palestine, always pleading for restraint from the victim, equally. We cannot equate an aggressor to a victim or coloniser to a colonised. Nelson Mandela was also called a terrorist for fighting for freedom, hence the natural task of oppressed people to wage a liberation struggle and our natural responsibility is to support them.

We call on the international trade union movement, various civil society organisations, international religious bodies and even business to speak out against savagery and barbarism against fellow human beings. We support the call to recall South African ambassador to Israel, kick out the Israeli ambassador from South Africa and move with speed to decisively isolate Israel and all who sympathise with racism and Zionist occupation all over the world.

Now is the time for the world to stop words of pity and lamentation, but take action by doing what it did to apartheid South Africa when its policies were declared a crime against humanity. Indeed, apartheid remains a crime against humanity wherever it happens. If apartheid cant outrage us, our humanity is called into question and our morality is hollow.

Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Streets
Braamfontein
2017

P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa

Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Fax: +27 11 339-6940
Mobile: +27 82 821 7456
E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za

- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za

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May Day Statement by Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

In commemoration of the International Workers’ Day, the Palestinian trade union movement holds its first BDS conference and announces the formation of the:

Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS)*

Statement of Principles & Call for International Trade Union Support for BDS

Occupied Palestine, 4 May 2011 – In commemoration of the first of May - a day of workers struggle and international solidarity – the first Palestinian trade union conference for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS) was held in Ramallah on 30 April 2011, organized by almost the entirety of the Palestinian trade union movement, including federations, professional unions, and trade union blocks representing the entire spectrum of Palestinian political parties. The conference marked a historic event: the formation of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) as the largest coalition of the Palestinian trade union movement. PTUC-BDS will provide the most representative Palestinian reference for international trade unions, promoting their support for and endorsement of the BDS Call, launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005, guided by the guidelines and principles adopted by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), of which PTUC-BDS has become a key component.


The global trade union movement has always played a key and inspiring role in its courageous commitment to human rights and adoption of concrete, ground-breaking, labor-led sanctions against oppressive regimes in a show of solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world. The trade union boycott of apartheid South Africa stands out as a bright example of this tradition of effective solidarity. Trade unions today are taking the lead in defending the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, justice, freedom, equality and the right of return of our refugees as stipulated in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194. Many of them have heeded the call from Palestinian civil society, and its labor movement in particular, to adopt BDS as the most effective form of solidarity with the Palestinians in our struggle to end Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Ending Israel’s multi-tiered system of oppression against the Palestinian people -- comprising occupation, colonialism and apartheid -- has become a test for humanity. For decades, Israel has enjoyed impunity while continuing its gradual ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, particularly in occupied East Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and the Naqab (Negev) desert; its 44-year-old occupation; its theft of land and natural resources; its colonization and construction of illegal colonial settlements and walls, its siege of Gaza; its relentless denial of refugee rights; its endless wars of aggressions and incarceration of political prisoners; and its wanton killings of civilians and demolition of infrastructure. Israel’s systematic destruction of the Palestinian economy, expropriation of the most fertile agricultural land, as well as humiliation of and racist discrimination against Palestinian workers have all become part of its apartheid reality that should never be tolerated by the world today.

Given the complete failure and unwillingness of hegemonic powers to hold Israel accountable to international law, it is up to people of conscience and international civil society, especially the trade union movement, to take concrete action to end international collusion with decades of violations of international law and human rights by Israel, its institutions and international corporations.

The support of the entirety of the Palestinian trade union movement for a full boycott of Israel,[1] as the most effective form of solidarity with the Palestinian people, was the overarching message of this historic gathering.

The Conference was honored to welcome Joâo Felicio, International Relations Secretary of CUT, the Brazilian trade union representing more than 20 million workers, who expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights, and reiterated CUT’s endorsement of BDS. The conference received numerous messages of solidarity from a large number of trade union federations, including the International Federation of Arab Trade Unions, COSATU (South Africa), ICTU (Ireland), and a large number of individual trade unions in Canada, Scotland, Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Australia, USA and other countries. All major Palestinian political parties also enthusiastically supported the conference and the formation of PTUC-BDS.

The Conference decisively condemned the Histadrut and called on international trade unions to sever all links with it due to its historic and current complicity in Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights. The Histadrut has always played a key role in perpetuating Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of racial discrimination by:

1. Publicly supporting Israel’s violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and other tenets of international law
2. Maintaining active commercial interests in Israel's illegal settlement enterprise[2]
3. Allowing Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to join the organization[3]
4. Supporting Israel’s war of aggression on besieged Gaza in 2008/9;[4] it has later justified Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010[5]
5. Illegally withholding over NIS 8.3 billion (approximately $2.43bn) over decades of occupation from wages earned by Palestinian workers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory,[6] deducted for ‘social and other trade union benefits’ that Palestinian laborers from the OPT have never received.
Recalling the trade union maxim “an injury to one is an injury to all”, and given the global trade union movement’s historic role in effective international solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world, PTUC-BDS:
• Cordially salutes all global trade unions for their solidarity with the Palestinian people, especially those that have endorsed BDS against Israel,
• Calls on trade unions around the world to actively show solidarity with the Palestinian people by implementing creative and context-sensitive BDS campaigns as the most effective way to end Israeli impunity. For example by:
o boycotting Israeli and international companies (such as Elbit, Agrexco, Veolia, Alstom, Caterpillar, Northrop Grumman, etc.) and institutions that are complicit with Israel’s occupation and violations of international law,
o reviewing pension fund investments with the purpose of divesting from Israel Bonds and all Israeli and international companies and institutions complicit in Israel’s occupation, colonization and apartheid,
o pressuring governments to suspend Free Trade Agreements, end arms trade and military relations with Israel with the intention of eventually cutting all diplomatic ties with it,
• Calls on port workers around the world to boycott loading/offloading Israeli ships, similar to the heroic step taken by port workers around the world in suspending maritime trade with South Africa in protest against the apartheid regime, and
• Calls on trade unions around the world to review and sever all ties with the Histadrut.
Such non-violent measures of accountability must continue until Israel fulfils its obligations under international law in acknowledging the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination, and fully complies with international law by:
• Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied since 1967 (including East Jerusalem), as well as dismantling of the illegal wall and colonies,
• Recognizing the fundamental right of the Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equity, as well as ending the system of racial discrimination against them, and
• Respecting, protecting and supporting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UNGA Resolution 194.

* The Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) is the broadest and most representative body of the Palestinian trade union movement and includes the following organisations: General Union of Palestinian Workers, Federation of Independent Trade Unions (IFU), General Union of Palestinian Women, Union of Palestinian Professional Associations (comprising the professional syndicates of Engineers, Physicians, Pharmacists, Agricultural Engineers, Lawyers, Dentists and Veterinarians), General Union of Palestinian Teachers, General Union of Palestinian Peasants and Co-ops, General Union of Palestinian Writers, Union of Palestinian Farmers, Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE), Union of Public Employees in Palestine-Civil Sector; and all of the trade union blocks that make up the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU): Central Office for the Workers Movement, Progressive Labor Union Front, Workers Unity block, Progressive Workers Block, Workers solidarity organization, Workers Struggle Block, workers resistance block, Workers Liberation Front, Union of Palestinian Workers Struggle Committees, National Initiative (al-Mubadara) Block.

- Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS)
ptuc-bds@bdsmovement.net
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/ptuc-bds-formed-6912


________________________________________
[1] Despite rumors to the contrary, PGFTU’s recently issued statement explicitly calls for a full boycott of Israel and of all its institutions that are complicit in the occupation: http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/pgftu-clarrification-6559
[2]http://www.whoprofits.org/Company%20Info.php?id=889
[3]http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10379.shtml
[4] http://www.labourstart.org/israel/Histadrut_on_Gaza.pdf
[5] http://www.histadrut.org.il/index.php?page_id=1801
[6] http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/2422-israel-owes-over-nis-83-billion-to-palestinian-workers-from-the-occupied-palestinian-territories

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Palestinian Trade Union Movement Calls on International Dockworkers Unions to Block Loading/Offloading Israeli Ships Until Israel Complies Fully with

http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/712

June 7, 2010- The Palestinian trade union movement, as a key constituent member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on dockworkers' unions worldwide to block Israeli maritime trade in response to Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla, until Israel complies with international law and ends its illegal blockade of Gaza. Drunk with power and impunity, Israel has ignored recent appeals by the UN Secretary General as well as a near consensus among world governments to end its siege, putting the onus on international civil society to shoulder the moral responsibility of holding Israel accountable to international law and ending its criminal impunity. Dockworkers around the world have historically contributed to the struggle against injustice, most notably against the apartheid regime in South Africa, when port workers unions refused to load/offload cargo on/from South African ships as a most effective way of protesting the apartheid regime.



Today, we ask you to join the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), who resolved [1] not to offload Israeli ships in Durban in February 2009 in protest of Israel’s war of aggression on Gaza, and the Swedish Dockworkers Union [2] who resolved to blockade all Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel in protest of Israel's attack against the Freedom Flotilla and the ongoing deadly Israeli siege of the occupied Gaza Strip.

Israel’s ongoing blockade of essential food, health, educational and construction supplies is not only immoral; it is a severe form of collective punishment, a war crime that is strictly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, that is inducing mass poverty, water contamination, environmental collapse, chronic diseases, economic devastation and hundreds of deaths. This three-year old medieval siege against 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, has been squarely condemned by leading legal experts, including UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Prof. Richard Falk, who described it as constituting "slow genocide."

Israel's deplorable attacks on the unarmed ships are a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes." Under article 3 of the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988, it is an international crime for any person to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, and also a crime to injure or kill any person in the process. As prominent international law scholars have recently confirmed, there is absolutely no legal justification for Israel's act of aggression against international civilian ships carrying humanitarian and developmental aid to civilians suffering under occupation and a patently illegal blockade, which has created a man-made and deliberately sustained humanitarian catastrophe. Our response must be commensurate with this crisis.

Gaza today has become the test of our universal morality and our common humanity. During the South African anti-apartheid struggle, the world was inspired by the brave and principled actions of dockworkers unions who refused to handle South African cargo, contributing significantly to the ultimate fall of apartheid. Today, we call on you, dockworkers unions of the world, to do the same against Israel's occupation and apartheid. This is the most effective form of solidarity to end injustice and uphold universal human rights.

Signed:

- Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)

- General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW)

- Federation of Independent Trade Unions (IFU)

- Palestinian Professionals Association **

- Youth Workers Movement (Fatah)

- Central Office for the Workers Movement (Fatah)

- Progressive Workers Block

- Workers Unity Block

- Workers Struggle Block

- Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) –part of IFU

- Workers Liberation Front

- Labor Front Block

- Workers Solidarity Organization

- Workers Struggle Organization




** Includes the national syndicates of engineers, agricultural engineers, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, lawyers and veterinarians.

----------------

[1] http://groups.google.com/group/cosatu-press/msg/a2ff0baff48201c4?pli=1
[2] http://ibnkafkasobiterdicta.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/the-swedish-dockers...

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Canadian Union of Postal Workers' letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper regarding Israeli attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla

Canadian Union of Postal Workers' letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper regarding Israeli attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla

May 31, 2010 - 11:00

Human Rights / Letter


By email and mail

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

I am writing to you on behalf of the 54,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. You will be aware that the Israeli navy, in an act of piracy in international waters, has hijacked the international flotilla of ships which was attempting to deliver essential humanitarian aid to Gaza. The aid includes construction materials which would enable the people of Gaza to rebuild the homes destroyed by Israel in Operation Cast Lead in 2009.

There are nearly 700 people on board the boats, all of whom are civilians from around the world, including Members of Parliament from a number of nations, eminent writers and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. They have undertaken this mission out of concern for the people of Gaza, who are now entering their fourth year under siege, without access to basic necessities. They pose no threat to Israel, and are completely unarmed.

Despite this, the Israeli navy has attacked the flotilla outside of international waters this morning resulting in fatalities estimated by the Israeli military itself as 10 and by news sources at possibly in excess of 20 with another large number injured. Israeli news sources say that hospitals around Ashdod have been told to prepare for many injured people arriving.

I urge you to act swiftly to condemn this attack on the peace flotilla, which was breaking no international laws, and, that you demand to know the fate of those on board the vessels and to ensure that Israel releases the vessels immediately to allow this vital aid to reach its destination. Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Canada and has profusely praised you for maintaining strong relations with Israel, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers believes that you have an obligation to condemn this brutal attack.

Israel's occupation of Gaza is illegal under international law, and it has been accused in a UN report of committing war crimes in Gaza.

Your obligation must be towards a group of citizens peacefully attempting to deliver humanitarian aid, than to a country which repeatedly violates international treaties. CUPW calls on you to end the government's silence over Israel's aggressive actions against the flotilla, and intervene now to demand its safe passage to Gaza.

CUPW is calling on you to condemn this wanton act of piracy against the peaceful flotilla taking aid to the people of Gaza. Finally, CUPW is calling upon you to take every step possible to bring about an end to the inhuman treatment of the people of Gaza by acting to end the siege and blockade that is taking place against them by the Israeli Government.

Yours sincerely,

Denis Lemelin
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Cc:

National Executive Board
Regional Executive Cttee
Israeli Embassy to Canada

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International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-Labor Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian General Strike

October 1, 2009

In the long tradition of Jewish working class involvement in and support for liberation struggles, IJAN-Labor stands in solidarity with the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel, the National Committee of Local Authorities, and all parties, movements and institutions of Palestinian civil society in Israel, who have called a general strike for today, October 1, 2009.


This strike marks the ninth anniversary of the Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Day in October 2000 when Israeli authorities massacred 13 Palestinian protesters.

The killers have never been brought to justice.

IJAN-Labor also welcomes the Trades Union Congress (U.K.) resolution of 17 September, which endorses the growing movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, and calls for reconsideration of the TUC's relationship with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation whose latest crime was to support Israel's attacks on Gaza.

The BDS campaign has been endorsed by a growing number of labor bodies, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Solidaires Industrie (France), UNISON (UK), Transport and General Workers’ Union (UK), Western Australia Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario, six Norwegian trade unions, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Scottish Trades Union Congress, and Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya.

In the United States, despite growing support from labor organizations and populations across the globe, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win fail to recognize what their British counterpart has now acknowledged: that Israel is a state built on defeating the aspirations and solidarity of working families not only in Israel but internationally.

Often without the knowledge or consent of union members, US Labor officialdom remains a leading accomplice of Israeli apartheid and the Zionist colonialism of which it is part. For more than sixty years, it has closely collaborated with the Histadrut, which has spearheaded — and whitewashed — apartheid, dispossession, ethnic cleansing and exploitation of the Palestinians since the 1920s.

Indeed, the Histadrut (as both employer and union) provided lethal weapons which the South African apartheid government used against Black workers, while at home it either excluded or segregated Arab workers.

Today, in solidarity with the general strike of Palestinian workers in Israel and growing international labor support for BDS, we call on US labor organizations to divest their estimated $5 billion investment in State of Israel Bonds, and to end all relations with the Histadrut.

For more information IJAN Labor, please see our website:
http://www.ijsn.net/C91
If you are interested in participating in IJAN Labor, please email us at:
Labor-IJAN@ijsn.net

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Join Our General Strike on October 1, 2009

by the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel

We would like to bring to your attention the decision of the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel, the National Committee of Local Authorities, all parties, movements and institutions of civil society of the Palestinian minority in Israel, to declare a general strike on October 1, 2009 to mark the 9th anniversary of the Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Day (October 2000) when 13 of Palestinian Arab citizens were killed, and their case is still waiting for justice.


This year we decided to commemorate the memory with a strike. The strike is part of the struggle of the Palestinian minority inside Israel for equal rights as we continue to face home demolitions in the Triangle and the Naqab (Negev); changing of the demography through Judaization of the Galilee and the Triangle; an increase in racial incitement; discrimination against our local authorities; new racist laws, such as the new Nakba law; hebraicizing the Arabic names of our towns and villages, with ultimate disregard of the common and historical Arabic names of these places; selling of Palestinian refugees' properties; and an intensification of the intimidation campaigns and distortion of our national consciousness.

As representatives of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, we want to stress our opposition to racism, incitement and discrimination . . . and we want to affirm our desire to live in our homeland in dignity.

With our declaration for a general strike, we want to emphasize our stand against the escalating racism and fascist incitement against our Arab population; we want to defend our existence, our rights and our dignity in our homeland which we have no other. We want to make a stand against the denial of our national and historical rights, while calling for the realization of our national and civil rights, our right to remain steadfast and rooted in the land of our forefathers. We call for an end to the policy of expropriation, privatization of land and demolition of our homes.

We assert our need for fundamental equality for the Palestinian Arab minority and equal allocation for the Arab local authorities. We remain resolute against the arrests and investigation campaign of our young people and the systematic attempts to intimidate them and distort their national identity.

The declaration of the general strike also comes to affirm our position regarding the continuing occupation of the Palestinian people in the Palestinian Territory; in support of the Palestinian national cause, an end to occupation including the siege on the Gaza Strip and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.

The one day general strike will be highlighted with a main public national march in Arabbeh, which will commence from the Mahmoud Darwish roundabout in Arabbeh (the western roundabout -- in the direction of Sakhnin) at two in the afternoon (14:00) towards the municipal market square (Wadi Salameh Road).

We want to take this opportunity to invite you to join us or send a representative and participate in the march. Your presence is of utmost importance; with the current atmosphere of increased racism and the various statements made by government officials, there is a great fear of a repetition of the scenario of October 2000. We want to avoid this situation, but at the same time, it is time to raise our united voice against racism and discrimination. We ask you to join us in making our just cause known, in order to achieve equality, civil and human rights. Our men were killed and we will not relent and will not rest until justice is served and the truth is revealed and those responsible are punished.

With our sincere hope that you will join us in this important event,

Yours respectfully,

Muhammad Zidan
Chairperson
High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel
Contact: Email: ; Tel: 04 601 3323; Fax: 04 601 3322
[Originally posted at MR Zine]

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PFLP salutes British Trades Union Congress for resolution to boycott the occupation state

The statement below was issued by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in response to the British TUC's call on September 17 for Sanctions and Boycotts against Israel.

*************

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine expressed its solidarity and greetings to British workers and the Trades Union Congress of Britain after the annual congress passed a resolution committing to participate in and campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli occupier.


The motion was passed on September 17, 2009 at the annual conference of the TUC, which is comprised of 60 trade unions representing 6.5 million workers in Britain. It condemned the massacres in Gaza in December 2008-January 2009 and called for an end to the blockade and siege of Gaza, and demanded a ban on the importation of goods produced in the illegal Israeli occupation settlements in the West Bank, as well as for suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a recent agreement increasing economic ties between the European Union and the occupation state.

In addition, the motion condemned the Histadrut, the Zionist trade union, for supporting the massacre in Gaza and called for a 'review' of the TUC's relationship with Histadrut. The motion was brought by the Fire Brigades Union, which represents 85% of British firefighters and support staff.

This comes following the endorsement of two other national labor federations, COSATU (The Congress of South African Trade Unions) in South Africa and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Ireland.

A spokesperson for the PFLP commended this action by the British TUC and emphasized the importance of working-class solidarity to confront the Zionist occupation and stand alongside Palestinian workers. Palestinian workers and popular classes have always paid the highest price of occupation and oppression, said the spokesperson, and have been the constant source of steadfastness and strength in the Palestinian revolution.

The PFLP spokesperson called upon all trade unions to immediately cut their relations with the Histadrut, noting that the Histadrut is part and parcel of the Zionist state and was formed as part of the colonization of Palestine and is thoroughly integrated into the occupation state. The spokesperson said further that the Histadrut is openly complicit in discrimination against and repression of Palestinian workers and has been throughout its history.

The spokesperson further called upon trade unions around the world to take up this example and build full international isolation of Israel, including full economic, academic, cultural boycott of Israel, divestment of pension funds from Israeli companies, refusing to move Israeli cargo or unload Israeli products, and political pressure to impose sanctions upon the occupation state.

The PFLP spokesperson concluded by expressing the Front's solidarity with these British workers and its commitment to international working class solidarity, noting that the liberation of Palestine is part and parcel of confronting our common enemies of capitalism and imperialism and securing victory for all workers.

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Pro-Israel unionists seek to undermine Palestinian solidarity

Lisbeth Latham

In recent weeks, there have been a number of articles in the corporate media globally, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian, on the creation of a new international union organisation — Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine.

TULIP’s stated goal is promoting Middle Eastern peace by bringing Israeli and Palestinian unions together. To this end, it has gone on the offensive against “apologists” for Hamas and Hezbollah in the international labour movement and seeks to end union support for the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign directed at Israel.

TULIP has been founded by Australian Workers Union National Secretary Paul Howes; Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (USA), and Michael J. Leahy , General Secretary of Community (United Kingdom).


TULIP’s website provides a number of links to labor organisations in both Israel and Palestine. In addition the site provides links to organisations in Canada, the US and Britain. These organisations which include Union Members for Israel (Canada); Trade Union Friends of Israel (Britain); Engage (a British organisation established to oppose the BDS campaign in the Association of University Teachers); US Jewish Labor Committee (Appelbaum is the President of JLC).

Both Union Members for Israel and Engage were established by unionists opposed to their unions supporting the BDS campaign. Both the JLC and TUFI actively seek to build support for not only the Israeli Labour movement in their respective labour movement, they have also attempted to build support for the Israeli state and its occupation of Palestine. JLC is also a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – which refers to itself as America’s Pro-Israel Lobby. Both TUFI and the JLC issued statements in response to Israel’s most recent war on Gaza that both portrayed Israel as an innocent victim and said little or nothing of the extent of the Israeli Defence Force’s slaughter of more than 1300 civilians in Gaza strip.

In its founding statement TULIP states that “solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is clear – and has been accepted in principle by both sides. Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side, within secure and recognised borders, is the only workable solution to a conflict that has dragged on for decades”. It continues “Israel has already taken a number of steps towards this goal, most notably by agreeing to the Oslo Accords in 1993 and later by the unilateral withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Lebanon and Gaza. Palestinian moderates lead by Mahmoud Abbas support this process”.

In fact, since Oslo, Israel’s illegal settlement program has been massively expanded - an expansion which continues today. Moreover when Israel withdrew from Gaza, it continued to build and expand settlement in the West Bank. Also in withdrawing Gaza, Israel moved to turn the territory into a giant prison, closing the borders and has blockaded Gaza restricting the flow of supplies.

What is the basis for collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian unions?
TULIP founding expresses the desire to improve links between Israeli and Palestinian unions as a central goal. To be serious in doing so surely it is necessary to understand what the previous relationship was. The dominant Israeli trade union organisation is Histadrut (General Federation of Laborers in the Land of Israel) , which is affiliated to the International Confederation of Trade Unions and it is primarily this organisation that TULIP relates to but there is also Kav LaOved (a NGO that works with disadvantaged Israeli and Palestinian workers) and the Workers Advice Centre which aims to build support for the formation of an independent labour association bringing together Israeli and Palestinian workers.

While Histadrut has existed since 1920, it is only since 1994 that it has taken on the characteristic what would normally be considered a trade union in much of the world. Prior to this Histadrut was a corporatist organisation, it not only organised workers but was also one of Israel’s largest employers owning 25% of the economy. In 1995, the leadership of Histadrut sol d off the organisations assets as part of the neo-liberal drive which that begun within Israel and renamed the organisation New Histadrut. Histadrut’s ownership of a substantial section of the economy reflected the role it played in capital formation within Israel and within the Zionist settler community in Palestine prior to the creation of the Israeli state. At this time individual capitalists did not sufficient capital to construct much of the new infrastructure and enterprises. Histadrut was created to both furnish the money for future development but also to ensure that Jewish workers would be provided to work.

This role as a central actor in the creation of the Israeli state also stamped Histadrut with one of its defining features since its foundation – racism. British anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein in an article on the Electronic Intifada describes the Histadrut as a racist organisation. During intial process colonisation in Palestine – Zionist organisations sort to promote and encourage through promoting buy Jewish campaign. These Jewish companies were to only employ Jewish workers and so Histadrut actively participated in excluding Palestinian from employment in these companies. Palestinians, including Arab Israelis were barred from becoming full members of Histadrut until 1959. In 1979, all Palestinians from the occupied territories who worked in Israel were forced to join Histadrut, with 1% of their wages being paid in dues to the union however these workers were not entitled to receive any support from Histadrut.

Histadrut and Palestinian Workers In the wake of the Oslo accords Histadrut looked for greater links with Palestinian trade unions, according to Dani Ben Simhon, this was to enable it to take over the Palestinian unions and use them to legitimate its entry into the Arab world. In March 1995, Histadrut made an agreement with the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PFGTU) to allow it to continue to collect 1% from all Palestinian workers working inside Israel as before, but to give half of this money to the PGFTU. As part of these negotiations began over the division of funds from Palestinian workers Histadrut offered to give the PGFTU 8 million shekels to compensate for funds previously collected. The PFGTU contested amount that would paid as it was a tiny fraction of the estimated 1.5 billion shekels collected from Palestinian workers.

Following the outbreak of the second intifada Histadrut cut off all ties with the PFGTU, it stopped acting behalf of Palestinian workers inside Israel and it has refused to speak out against the IDF’s assault on Palestinians or their unions, instead acting as the part of Israel’s PR machine within the labour movement globally. This includes when the Nablus offices of the PGFTU were bombed by the IDF in February 2002.

More broadly Histadrut has a poor record of supporting the rights of non-Jewish workers within Israel. According to Greenstein Histadrut has never supported Arab workers' fight against racial discrimination. Examples of this include its failure to oppose mass layoffs of Arabs that occurred after the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000; a labor dispute of Arab and Jewish employees with the Dead Sea Hotel Nirvana in 2003, when an Arab manager was fired because he refused to forbid his co-workers to speak Arabic in front of tourists, although nominally Arabic is an official language of Israel. Likewise it has done nothing about McDonald's Israel's policy decision in 2004 not to allow Arabic to be spoken in the restaurants or the situation at a building site in the Knesset grounds in 2004 when Arab workers' helmets were marked with a red X, to facilitate assassination by marksmen in case of emergency. In 2005, Histadrut was found by a Labour Court to have failed in duties and allowed illegal discrimination against foreign workers by the Israeli Hotel Association. 0n August 6 2008 a new agreement was signed between the PGFTU and Histadrut to renew relations between the new organisations and including the continued division of fees, with the amount owed by Histadrut having to be calculated.

Following the announcement of the agreement Histadrut Chairperson Ofer Ein said, “The outcome of our dialogue with the PGFTU can only help achieve this, and help lay the foundations for future cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian trade unions and progress in our shared quest for justice, peace and prosperity for all in the region”.

Unfortunately this cooperation did not extend to defending Palestinian workers and their unions when they were next attacked by the IDF. During the IDF’s assault on Gaza between November 2008 and January 2009, Histadrut issued a number of statements supporting and defending the IDF assault on Gaza, as a "defence on Israel’s sovereignty". While the statements do indicate regret at the death of innocent civilians, Histadrut's statements give no indication that more than 1300 Palestinians were killed in the terror unleashed on Gaza. The main focus of Histadrut's statements is the threat to life caused by the Hamas’s launching of missiles into Israel.

Signifcantly Histadrut statement does not incude any condemnation of the impact of the IDF's offensive on Palestinian unions. An example of this destruction of the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees' office on December 29.

Boycott
TULIP has expressed considerable concern at the spreading support for the BDS campaign against. Unions in a number of countries have decided to support the BDS campaign, these include: Australia, Canada, Ireland, Norway, Scotland and South Africa. It is this move, which threatens to isolate Israel and is already causing damage to the Israeli economy that has motivated the formation of TULIP, as the supporters of Israel within the labour movement realise that the growing support for the BDS campaign reflects the extent of revulvsion felt by ordinary people towards the actions of the IDF. TULIP attempts to overcome this by arguing that a boycott will undermine collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian unions and impact most on the weakest sections of society.

While its possible that a BDS will undermine collaboration, the campaign is supported by Palestinian unions. Equally importantly for collaboration to be anything more than co-option of Palestinian unions, it needs to be based on support for their struggle for justice. Finally while TULIP is totally opposed to the propose BDS campaign, it has no problem with the very real sanctions and blockade that has been applied to the Palestinian people for electing Hamas into government.

Hamas an Obstacle to Peace?
TULIP has made a number of statements arguing that Hamas is an obstacle to peace as it does not support the two state solution that was agreed to as part of the Oslo Accords. Contrary to TULIP’s claims, Hamas’s leadership have repeatedly stated that are they willing to accept a pause based on the formation of two sovereign states.

This was most recently reflected on May 9, when Hamas leader Khaled Meeshal, said the formation of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders as the basis of a long-term truce. Such a state which would include East Jerusalem as its capital, Israel’s settlements dismantled, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and full sovereignty over land, air and water. These are all issues that Israeli government, whether they have been led by Labor, Likud or Kadima have repeatedly refused.

In laying the blame for the lack of progress at the feat of Hamas, TULIP’s founders label Hamas as an extremist organisation which needs to be isolated. In labelling Hamas an extremist organisation they ignore Hamas’s continued willingness to explore negotiations with both other Palestinian organisations and with the Israeli government. Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza followed a 17 month cease, during which, according to the Israeli Intelligence & Terrorism Information Centre, Hamas did not launch a single rocket or mortar shell into Israel, this was despite the Israel failing to uphold its commitment to lift the blockade on Gaza.

While TULIP is highly critical of Hamas as block to peace, it has nothing to say with regard to Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Bieteinu Party, only the Engage website has articles referring to Lieberman. Lieberman is now the foreign minister and deputy Prime Minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud lead government. Lieberman is on record for making a range of racist statements against Palestinians and Arabs in general, these include:

• In 1998, Lieberman called for the flooding of Egypt by bombing the Aswan Dam in retaliation for Egyptian support for Yasser Arafat;
  
• In 2001, as Minister of National Infrastructure, Lieberman proposed that the West Bank be divided into four cantons, with no central Palestinian government and no possibility for Palestinians to travel between the cantons;
  
• In 2003, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Lieberman called for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel to be drowned in the Dead Sea and offered to provide the buses to take them there;
• Also in May 2004, he said that 90 percent of Israel's 1.2 million Palestinian citizens would "have to find a new Arab entity" in which to live beyond Israel's borders. "They have no place here. They can take their bundles and get lost';
• In May 2006, Lieberman called for the killing of Arab members of Knesset who meet with members of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

TULIP’s claims of support for peace covers an attempt to mobilise support for Israeli oppression and undermine international solidarity with Palestine.

The only basis for a lasting peace in the region is justice for the Palestinians. To help achieve this, internal labour movement should give active solidarity with the Palestinian people — including by supporting the BDS campaign.

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FIOM Statement on Gaza

The following statement was originally posted at MRZine's website.

Italy's Most Powerful Union:

Prosecute Israeli War Crimes, Suspend EU-Israel Agreement

Federazione Impiegati Operai Metallurgici nazionale (FIOM), the largest metalworkers union in Italy, whose membership numbers 360,000, called for prosecution of Israeli officials for war crimes and suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement as well as of the military cooperation agreement between Italy and Israel. The following is FIOM's 13 January 2009 statement on Gaza published on its Web site. -- Ed

Federazione Impiegati Operai Metallurgici nazionale
Corso Trieste, 36 - 00198 Roma - tel. +39 06 85262341-2 fax +39 06 85303079
www.fiom.cgil.it - e-mail: protocollo@fiom.cgil.it

Comitato Centrale

COMITATO CENTRALE F.I.O.M.
13 gennaio 2009

GAZA

For nearly two years the Gaza Strip has been subjected to what can only be described as a state of siege by Israel, with interruption of electricity, lack of heating, scarcity of drinking water, a healthcare emergency and no freedom of movement for persons or goods. UN Observers have repeatedly denounced the condition of the inhabitants of Gaza as inhumane, in violation of all International Conventions on Human Rights.

Thus, it appears a kind of “collective punishment” has been imposed on all Palestinians because of the vote expressed in the democratic elections two years ago, with a Hamas victory. For FIOM, the negative political evaluation of this organization is not up for discussion and we reiterate our choice to support the formation of an independent, secular and democratic Palestinian state living in peace and mutual security with that of Israel. What we denounce is the international community’s tolerance and, in fact, support of the mistaken choice of the siege, which contributed to the strengthening of the fundamentalist forces and armed groups of all types, rather than their isolation. The launch of Kassam rockets on Israel is also the result of this situation. This rocket fire is wrong and illegal, because it hurts Israeli civilians. It is harmful to the Palestinian cause itself. And it is used to create consensus in the Israeli population on the offensive against the people of Gaza. The Israeli army began its attack on Gaza on December 27, 2008, with a substantial deployment of forces, followed by a land invasion and use of white phosphorus on the civilian population, which is banned by international conventions, causing a true massacre, and committing intolerable war crimes for any democratic conscience.

Israel has gone so far as to attempt to hide what is happening, preventing International Observers and journalists from entering Gaza. Those responsible for these crimes must be prosecuted and judged by the relevant international institutions. The Israeli government should be held accountable for its repeated violations of international law, including humanitarian law, by national governments, the European Union, the international community, just as violations committed by any other government would be.

In particular, the EU-Israel Association Agreement, whose application is bound to respect of human rights, should be immediately suspended; the Italian government, which, unlike other European governments, has characterized itself in a negative light by the complete subordination and support of political choices of the Israeli government, must suspend the Military Cooperation Agreement of Italy with Israel, a belligerent country that violates international law and human rights.

In denouncing this situation, the FIOM Central Committee believes it necessary to immediately ensure that all political forces, the government, European and international institutions work for:

An immediate, general and permanent ceasefire;
Humanitarian protection of the civilian population of Gaza;
An end to the invasion of Gaza and withdrawal of Israeli troops;
Cessation of missile fire on Israel;
An end to the siege and embargo of Gaza;
Concrete steps to achieve a rapid end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.
These conditions can promote the opening of a negotiated peace -- based on the resolutions of the United Nations -- which includes all stakeholders, beginning with the legitimate institution of the PNA, and finding ways to include Hamas as a democratically elected representative.

The FIOM Central Committee condemns all initiatives of an anti-Semitic nature and those that deny the right of the State of Israel to exist.

We judge negatively all anti-Arab or anti-Muslim expressions.

We express our solidarity to Palestinian people and our support to that brave minority inside Israeli civil society that is fighting against the occupation, against the Gaza siege and the current massacre.

We commit ourselves to supporting the above-mentioned objectives and in participating in all the activities that focus on them.

On the 17th of January, different groups and coalitions called for two separate demonstrations for the ceasefire in Gaza. Although we think these simultaneous demonstration inopportune, we believe that it is essential that the two initiatives not to be in contrast, because in both cases the demonstrations are in solidarity with Palestinian people and to stop the massacre.

Therefore, FIOM, in addition to participating in the demonstration in Assisi, called by Tavola della Pace, that engages the whole of Cgil, will also be present with a delegation at the demonstration in Rome, called by the Palestinian Community.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The statement in English is available in PDF at <www.fiom.cgil.it/cc/cc_09_01_13-odg_gaza-eng.pdf>. The statement in Italian, also in PDF, is at <www.fiom.cgil.it/cc/cc_09_01_13-odg_gaza.pdf>.

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