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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://merip.org/2023/10/palestinian-trade-unions-call-for-an-end-to-arming-israel/">merip.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestinian Trade Unions Call for an End to Arming Israel<br></h1>
10.16.2023
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<p><span><strong>O</strong></span>n Monday October 16, 2023, Palestinian trade unions <a href="https://twitter.com/workersinpales1/status/1713908923848130880?s=46&t=E_0Syf7evT947IEXmC-ggA">released</a>
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.</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_208335" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-208335" src="https://merip.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/GettyImages-1725837045-scaled-e1697472060452.jpg" alt="" width="413" height="275" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-208335" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">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</p></div>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/israel-white-phosphorus-used-gaza-lebanon">verified</a>
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<a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231011-far-right-israel-mk-to-distribute-10000-rifles-to-settlers/"> announced</a> the ministry was purchasing 10,000 rifles, body armor and helmets to distribute to settler militias for use in the West Bank.</p>
<p>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.<a name="_ednref1">[1]</a> The United States, in addition to<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-military-navy-carrier-e648c53dc53a46e2e12950784ea5e8d2"> dispatching</a>
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<a href="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"> surge</a> in US defense stocks.</p>
<p>During the May 2021 Unity Intifada, a collective of Palestinian trade unions <a href="https://twitter.com/workersinpales1/status/1396034862432260099?s=46&t=79hwzWYljz2wrmrnb8MpTA">called</a>
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.</p>
<h2><strong>‘An Urgent Call from Palestinian Trade Unions—End all Complicity, Stop Arming Israel’</strong></h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>As Israel escalates its military campaign, <strong><em>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. </em></strong>The time for action is now—Palestinian lives hang in the balance.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>We are calling on trade unions in relevant industries: </strong></p>
<ol><li>To refuse to build weapons destined for Israel.</li><li>To refuse to transport weapons to Israel.</li><li>To pass motions in their trade union to this effect.</li><li>To take action against complicit companies involved in implementing
Israel’s brutal and illegal siege, especially if they have contracts
with your institution.</li><li>Pressure governments to stop all military trade with Israel, and in the case of the US, funding to it.</li></ol>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, Gaza. </strong><br>
General Union of Public Service and Trade Workers<br>
General Union of Municipal Workers<br>
General Union of Kindergarten Workers<br>
General Union of Petrochemicals Workers<br>
General Union of Agricultural Workers<br>
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees Generation<br>
Union of Media and Print Workers<br>
<strong>Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) </strong><br>
<strong>General Union of Palestinian Teachers<br>
General Union of Palestinian Women<br>
General Union of Palestinian Engineers </strong><br>
<strong>Palestinian Accountants’ Association </strong><br>
<strong>Professional Associations Federation including: </strong><br>
Palestinian Dental Association—Jerusalem center<br>
Palestinian Pharmacists Association—Jerusalem Center<br>
Medical Association—Jerusalem Center<br>
Engineers Association—Jerusalem Center<br>
Agricultural Engineers Association—Jerusalem Center<br>
Veterinarians Syndicate—Jerusalem Branch.<br>
<strong>Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate<br>
Palestinian Bar Association<br>
Palestinian Nursing and Midwifery Association<br>
Union of Kindergartens Workers<br>
Palestinian Postal Services Workers Union<br>
Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities Professors & Employees </strong><br>
<strong>The General Federation of Independent Trade Unions, Palestine<br>
The Palestine New Federation of Trade Unions<br>
Palestinian General Union of Writers<br>
Palestinian Contractors Union<br>
Federation of Health Professionals Syndicates<br>
Palestinian Union of Psychologists and Social Workers</strong></p>
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<h3>Endnotes</h3>
<p><a name="_edn1">[1]</a> Alice Speri, “<a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/09/israel-hamas-war-crimes-palestinians/">Israel Responds to Hamas Crimes by Ordering Mass War Crimes in Gaza</a>,” <em>The Intercept</em>, October 9, 2023.</p>
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