[News] Palestinian Trade Unions Call for an End to Arming Israel

[Anti-Imperialist News]

merip.org
<https://merip.org/2023/10/palestinian-trade-unions-call-for-an-end-to-arming-israel/>
Palestinian Trade Unions Call for an End to Arming Israel
10.16.2023
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*O*n Monday October 16, 2023, Palestinian trade unions released
<https://twitter.com/workersinpales1/status/1713908923848130880?s=46&t=E_0Syf7evT947IEXmC-ggA>
an urgent call for international trade unions to take action to halt the
arms trade to Israel. The call comes amid a ruthless bombing campaign of
Gaza, following Hamas’ October 7 offensive into Israel, and as Israel
prepares for a ground invasion into the territory.

A man reacts as he watches rescuers and civilians remove the rubble of a
home destroyed following an Israeli attack on the town of Deir Al-Balah, in
the central Gaza Strip, on October 15, 2023. Mohammed Faeq/AFP via Getty
Images

In the week following October 7, the full force of the Israeli
military-industrial apparatus was put on display. Over just six days,
Israel dropped more than 6,000 bombs onto Gaza. Human Rights Watch verified
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/israel-white-phosphorus-used-gaza-lebanon>
videos documenting Israel’s use of the lethal chemical white phosphorous in
Gaza and Southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right National Security
Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231011-far-right-israel-mk-to-distribute-10000-rifles-to-settlers/>
the ministry was purchasing 10,000 rifles, body armor and helmets to
distribute to settler militias for use in the West Bank.

As Israeli politicians called for retaliation, using genocidal language
that likened Gazans to “human animals,” leaders in Britain and the United
States in the week following October 7, dispensed with even the fig leaf of
“restraint” that usually accompanies Israeli bombing campaigns of Gaza.[1]
The United States, in addition to dispatching
<https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-military-navy-carrier-e648c53dc53a46e2e12950784ea5e8d2>
two aircraft carriers laden with F-18 fighter jets to the region has
instructed US defense companies to expedite munitions to Israel, causing an
immediate $30 billion surge
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/10/11/us-defense-stocks-surge-nearly-30-billion-after-hamas-attack-dont-count-on-it-lasting-analysts-say/?sh=ec956e3100ee>
in US defense stocks.

During the May 2021 Unity Intifada, a collective of Palestinian trade
unions called
<https://twitter.com/workersinpales1/status/1396034862432260099?s=46&t=79hwzWYljz2wrmrnb8MpTA>
for international solidarity from international unions, urging them to
divest their pensions from companies implicated in the occupation and
release statements of solidarity. The latest call—which is reprinted in
full below—focuses on the weapons industry and infrastructure of the
blockade and occupation.
*‘An Urgent Call from Palestinian Trade Unions—End all Complicity, Stop
Arming Israel’*

Israel has demanded that 1.1 million Palestinians evacuate the northern
half of Gaza, whilst subjecting them to constant bombardment. This ruthless
move is part of Israel’s plan, backed by unwavering support and active
participation from the US and majority of European states, to carry out
unprecedented and heinous massacres against 2.3 million Palestinians in
Gaza and to ethnically cleanse it altogether. Since Saturday Israel has
indiscriminately and intensively bombarded Gaza, and cut off fuel,
electricity, water, food, and medical supplies. Israel has killed more than
2,600 Palestinians—including 724 children—leveling whole neighbourhoods,
wiping out entire families and injuring more than 10,000 people. Some
international law experts have begun warning of Israel’s genocidal acts.

Elsewhere, Israel’s far-right government has distributed more than 10,000
rifles to extremist settlers in ‘48 Palestine and the occupied West Bank to
facilitate their escalating attacks and pogroms against Palestinians.
Israel’s actions, massacres, and rhetoric point to its intention to
implement its long promised second Nakba, expelling as many Palestinians as
possible and creating a ‘New Middle East’ in which Palestinians live in
perpetual subjugation.

The response by Western states has been one of complete and total support
for the State of Israel, without even a cursory nod towards international
law. This has amplified Israel impunity, giving it carte blanche to carry
out its genocidal war without limit. Beyond diplomatic support, Western
states are supplying Israel with armament, sanctioning the operation of
Israeli weapons companies within their borders.

As Israel escalates its military campaign, *Palestinian trade unions call
on our counterparts internationally and all people of conscience to end all
forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes—most urgently halting the arms
trade with Israel, as well as all funding and military research. *The time
for action is now—Palestinian lives hang in the balance.

This urgent, genocidal situation can only be prevented by a mass increase
of global solidarity with the people of Palestine and that can restrain the
Israeli war machine. We need you to take immediate action—wherever you are
in the world—to prevent the arming of the Israeli state and the companies
involved in the infrastructure of the blockade. We take inspiration from
previous mobilisations by trade unions in Italy, South Africa and the
United States, and similar international mobilisations against the Italian
invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s, the fascist dictatorship in Chile in the
1970s and elsewhere where global solidarity limited the extent of colonial
brutality.

*We are calling on trade unions in relevant industries: *

   1. To refuse to build weapons destined for Israel.
   2. To refuse to transport weapons to Israel.
   3. To pass motions in their trade union to this effect.
   4. To take action against complicit companies involved in implementing
   Israel’s brutal and illegal siege, especially if they have contracts with
   your institution.
   5. Pressure governments to stop all military trade with Israel, and in
   the case of the US, funding to it.

We make this call as we see attempts to ban and silence all forms of
solidarity with the Palestinian people. We ask you to speak out and take
action in the face of injustice as trade unions have done historically. We
make this call in the belief that the struggle for Palestinian justice and
liberation is not only a regionally and globally determined struggle. It is
a lever for the liberation of all dispossessed and exploited people of the
world.

*Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, Gaza. *
General Union of Public Service and Trade Workers
General Union of Municipal Workers
General Union of Kindergarten Workers
General Union of Petrochemicals Workers
General Union of Agricultural Workers
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees Generation
Union of Media and Print Workers
*Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) *


*General Union of Palestinian Teachers General Union of Palestinian Women
General Union of Palestinian Engineers *
*Palestinian Accountants’ Association *
*Professional Associations Federation including: *
Palestinian Dental Association—Jerusalem center
Palestinian Pharmacists Association—Jerusalem Center
Medical Association—Jerusalem Center
Engineers Association—Jerusalem Center
Agricultural Engineers Association—Jerusalem Center
Veterinarians Syndicate—Jerusalem Branch.





*Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate Palestinian Bar Association Palestinian
Nursing and Midwifery Association Union of Kindergartens Workers
Palestinian Postal Services Workers Union Federation of Unions of
Palestinian Universities Professors & Employees *





*The General Federation of Independent Trade Unions, Palestine The
Palestine New Federation of Trade Unions Palestinian General Union of
Writers Palestinian Contractors Union Federation of Health Professionals
Syndicates Palestinian Union of Psychologists and Social Workers*
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Endnotes

[1] Alice Speri, “Israel Responds to Hamas Crimes by Ordering Mass War
Crimes in Gaza
<https://theintercept.com/2023/10/09/israel-hamas-war-crimes-palestinians/>,”
*The Intercept*, October 9, 2023.
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