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<font size=4><b>California dockworkers reject meeting with Israeli consul
<br><br>
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<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11384.shtml" eudora="autourl">
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11384.shtml<br>
</a>Report, <i>The Electronic Intifada,</i> 9 July 2010 <br><br>
<img src="http://electronicintifada.net/artman2/uploads/2/100709-ilwu-picket.jpg" width=483 height=306 alt="[]">
<br>
Picketers at the Port of Oakland prevent the unloading of goods from an
Israeli ship on 20 June 2010. (Bill Hackwell) <br><br>
Two weeks after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in
the San Francisco Bay Area joined with activists at the Port of Oakland
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11348.shtml">to block
the unloading of an Israeli Zim Lines cargo ship</a>, the union
reaffirmed its support of Palestinian rights despite pressure from the
Israeli consulate and the Zionist-Israeli organization Stand With Us.
<br><br>
On 6 July, a group representing the Israeli consulate and Stand With Us
attempted to pressure the ILWU Local 10 into withdrawing its protest of
Israel's 31 May attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and its condemnation
of the Gaza siege and wall in the West Bank. The groups had asked to
address the ILWU Local 10's Executive Board at their regular meeting.
<br><br>
However, the local union members were not easily persuaded, and denied
permission for the Israeli delegation to attend their meeting, according
to a press release issued by Labor for Palestine (US)
("<a href="http://www.laborforpalestine.net/wp/2010/07/08/oakland-dockers-stand-firm-as-israeli-consul-seeks-an-audience/">
Oakland dockers stand firm as Israeli Consul seeks an audience</a>,"
7 July 2010).<br><br>
The local's rejection of the meeting follows a request sent by the
Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) to the ILWU Local 10
Executive board, praising the union's historic action at the Port of
Oakland on 20 June. The Palestinian trade union leaders also expressed
deep concern that the Israeli consulate would command a meeting with the
union in an attempt to coerce members out of their political stance on
Palestinian human rights.<br><br>
"Although we do not live in the United States, we find it highly
unusual and somewhat uncustomary that a paid foreign representative of a
racist and apartheid regime can demand and get a meeting with the
executive board of a local union no less than the ILWU," stated the
PGFTU.<br><br>
"We humbly ask of you to hold steadfast in the face of backlash and
revenge against your union. The call for a meeting with your union by a
foreign paid emissary is intervening in the domestic affairs of local
community grassroots action in the United States. Israel, an apartheid
state, maintaining an illegal war against our people, should not be given
the platform at your union house. That platform should be reserved for
heroes who champion justice and equality for all. Please ask Mr. Tor to
end his government's criminal actions and answer for the 40,000 people
Israel killed during the multiple invasions and occupations of Lebanon,
the massacres of Deir Yassin, Qibya, Sabra and Shatila, Jenin and Gaza.
Like the Turkish nationals [killed on 31 May], the fallen have names,
lives and families and worked in the most destitute of conditions. Our
mission, like yours, is to bring dignity to our working people."
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