ISRAELI TRADE UNIONISTS SAY STOP THE WAR IN GAZA
Rather inconveniently for the Zionists using the rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel to justify their murderous assault, this picture shows the brother of some of those injured by a Hamas rocket, calling for an end to the Israeli military action. Second from the left in the picture is Ihab Orabi, a construction worker from Kufr Manda, who works with his brothers on a building site in the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Two of his brothers were injured on December 29th when a Hamas missile hit the construction site they were all working in. The slogan Ihab holds says: “workers pay the price of war”.
From the Workers Advice Centres (WAC) - Ma’an (in Arabic). WAC is an initiative for building an independent labor association. It aspires to create a culture of worker solidarity and a consciousness for union organization. WAC aims to provide an address for unorganized workers, with a strong emphasis on Arabs who are segregated in the Israeli job market. Hundreds of workers have already joined WAC and found the protection of a labor union, assuring them proper jobs with full social benefits.
Arab Construction worker killed and 9 wounded as missile hits the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Monday. WAC-MAAN calls upon trade unions and the international labor movement to pressure their governments to stop Israel ’s war on Gaza
On Monday morning, Dec. 29, a Grad missile launched in Gaza hit a construction site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon . It killed Hani al Mahdi, 27 years old, from the Arab town of Aarara in the Negev . It also injured nine workers from the Arab village of Kufr Manda in Galilee .
These men, who were working to gain a decent life for their families, fell victim to Israel ’s war on Gaza , which started Saturday and has so far killed 300 in Gaza , as well as injuring 1000. Among the killed and wounded are many civilians.
Israel claims that it is defending its citizens in the South. But these people are working-class, and the government has shown by its policies that the lives and security of workers mean nothing to it: its priorities are with the rich.
WAC-MAAN, an independent trade-union association, has been active for many years in Kufr Manda. Many construction workers, including those who were injured on Monday, are members and supporters of WAC, which acts day and night to defend the rights of workers in Israel , especially Arabs.
We know from our members that they have to travel 200 kilometers each day, like the nine who were injured in Ashkelon , just to find a place that is willing to hire them. Their tenuous job situation has caused them, in recent years, to work without social benefits at sites that threaten their safety and health. The government encourages the formation of a “precarious work force” in order to help employers and investors.
The same government that started the present war has sent tens of thousands into unemployment, while destroying the social security net in accordance with its neoliberal agenda.
WAC-MAAN opposes the war on Gaza and calls for an immediate cease fire. After the war ends, we know, hundreds of thousands on both sides of the border will remain poor and unemployed. Palestinian workers are shut jobless behind the separation wall, while their families languish in poverty and hunger. Israeli workers, for their part, are starting to feel the pinch of the global financial crisis, with higher levels of unemployment and further attacks on earlier social gains.
The killing of Hani al Mahdi on Monday brings to mind the situation of 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel , whom the establishment routinely brands as disloyal. In reality, half the Arab families here live below the poverty line, although the national average is 20%. They live in towns without infrastructure or job opportunities, a result of discriminatory policies implemented since Israel was established 60 years ago.
WAC-MAAN calls upon trade unions around the world to pressure their governments for action that will force Israel to end its brutal attack on the Palestinians in Gaza , stop its occupation of Palestinian lands and accept the right of the Palestinians to self determination and peace.
Thanks to solidarity the trade union magazine
This is also useful:
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/
Comment by johng — 31 December, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
As is this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5420584.ece
Comment by johng — 31 December, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
“I just want to point that that Sderot has 20,000 residents. This means that 2.5% of the residents of Sderot signed. This is in fact a huge number if you consider the social pressure that exists in Israel against such initiatives.”
Lord.
Comment by Sociologist — 31 December, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
see also http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__226 & http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__227
Comment by Entdinglichung — 31 December, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
The lack of British trade union banners on the Israeli embassy demos is very disappointing.
Comment by David Broder — 31 December, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
Then again think of the season David. Hopefully that will start changing.
Comment by johng — 31 December, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
Brilliant. Thanks for posting this, Andy.
Comment by christian h. — 31 December, 2008 @ 4:42 pm
Press release:
ISRAEL MUST end the hideous slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, transport trade union RMT said today.
Condemning Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians, RMT added its voice to the growing world-wide demands for an immediate end to its illegal and inhuman military operations and urged support for emergency demonstrations.
“Israel has unleashed what can only be described as indiscriminate massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and there can be no excuse for it,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
“Common humanity demands that the world tells the Israeli government that it must stop the bombing, end the inhuman blockade and abandon any plans it has for a land invasion of Gaza.
“It has been the failure of governments such as our own to demand an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands since 1967 that has encouraged horrific acts such as those we have witnessed in recent days.
“It is time for the British government to tell the Israeli government that its bombing and blockade of Gaza and its continued occupation of Palestinian lands are unacceptable and illegal under international law and must end.
“We send our solidarity to the Palestinian people, and to those brave Israelis who have refused military service and who demonstrated in Tel Aviv against the bombing at the weekend.
“We urge trade unionists in Britain to attend the national demonstration called in London on Saturday by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Stop the War Coalition, and other protests called around the country in the coming days,” Bob Crow said.
Comment by RMT — 31 December, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
Just posted this on the tomb. Happy if any bloggers take me up on it:
And if you want a symbol of the roots of the present conflict you could do no better then recall this interview with Dov Weisglass, Ariel Sharon’s foreign policy adviser at the time of the disengagement from Gaza:
“When you freeze that process [i.e. the political process with the Palestinians], you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem…Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state . . . has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.”
I think its an important quote to remember today. It would be great actually to get the whole interview up on-line (hint, hint). The original appeared in Ha’aretz but the link doesn’t seem to work. I reckon it could be published almost without comment.
Comment by johng — 1 January, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=485929
Comment by external bulletin — 1 January, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
From the interview:
“And we educated the world to understand that there is no one to talk to. And we received a no-one-to-talk-to certificate. That certificate says: (1) There is no one to talk to. (2) As long as there is no one to talk to, the geographic status quo remains intact. (3) The certificate will be revoked only when this-and-this happens - when Palestine becomes Finland. (4) See you then, and shalom.”
Comment by external bulletin — 1 January, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
17 Jan 2009: Trade Union Solidarity with Palestine
Event
Augustine United Church - Edinburgh
Day School
Speakers in Edinburgh:
Manawel Abdel Al will speak on behalf of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
Salim Vally is a founder member of COSATU and a spokesperson for the South African Anti-War Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Committee
Katherine Nastovski was the Chair of the International Solidarity Committee of Ontario CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) when this key Canadian union body committed to boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel
Conference is sponsored by
Unison Scotland International Committee
Unite – T&G Edinburgh Voluntary Sector Branch
Unite – Amicus Edinburgh General Branch
UCATT – Dalkeith Branch
Aim of the conference:
To educate trade unionists on the current situation for Palestinian workers and to debate and provide information for grassroots trade unionists on the current call from Palestinian civil society, including the PGFTU and other Palestinian trade unions, for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.
Agenda:
* Understanding Palestinian Labour in the Middle East
* Palestinian Workers and International Solidarity
* International Trade Union Solidarity
* Building an Effective Solidarity Campaign
For further details and to register contact campaign@scottishpsc.org.uk
Comment by smacleod — 1 January, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
Actually the whole thing is an incredible document. Particularly fascinating are the principles involved in relationship to a) the principle that first ‘terrorism’ is erradicated and only then do you get peace b) the consiousness that this is a tricky argument with respect to the ‘international community’ and c) the solution proposed (in particular concerning territory and what is and what is not ‘national interest’). Also illuminating is the relationship with Condi when stuff ‘goes wrong’.
Comment by johng — 1 January, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
Nice article. Bringing hope for many. Thanks. Maya
Comment by a-kasse — 2 March, 2010 @ 3:39 pm