It’s high time important steps to be made for the end of the Israeli occupation and the barbarity of Israel army forces.
The Palestinian People are suffering because of the Israeli occupation, the occupation of the territories after the 6-day war of 1967, the separation wall built by Israel, the organized attacks against the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Half of the Palestinian population lives under the poverty range. The unemployment rate is severe. There are more than 5.5 million registered refugees. Around 10.000 Palestinians are held imprisoned in more than 30 detention locations.
Torture and degrading treatment is a routine for the Israeli army. The 8-meter Israeli separation wall reaches the length of 760 km diving whole villages, destroying the agricultural land and blocking the access to water. More than 120 settlements are built illegally in the occupied territories.
The torture of the Palestinian people and the occupation of their land must end now.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, with its long-lasting expression of moral and material solidarity towards the Palestinian people and its struggle, calls for the immediate recognition of the Palestinian State as a free, independent, sovereign and viable State on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The 3-days boycott declared by WFTU in the ports of the world (June 2010) was a class oriented action of the trade union movement against the commercial vessels of Israel.
On the call of the WFTU International Campaign (September 2011) for the Recognition of the Palestinian State as a member-state of the UN, hundreds of solidarity messages from trade union organizations, were addressed to the Palestinian People and delivered to the General Secretary of the UN, Mr. Ban-Ki-Moon.
The WFTU also demands:
• The end of the settlements and the withdrawal of all settlers who have settled across the borders of 1967.
• The demolition of the separation wall in Jerusalem.
• All the Palestinian refugees to be granted the right to return to their homes, based on the relevant decisions of the UN
• The elimination of any exclusion against the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
• The immediate release of imprisoned Palestinians and other political prisoners kept in the Israeli prisons.
• The withdrawal of the Israeli army from all the occupied territories of the 1967, including the Golan Heights and the Sheba area of Southern Lebanon.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, its affiliated trade unions and the 80 million workers from 120 countries it represents: We all stand on the side of the Palestinian people on their fair struggle against the imperialist barbarity of Israel which is fully supported by the USA, the European Union and their allies.
The great and fair struggle of the Palestinian movement will be further strengthened with the accumulation of forces willing to struggle against the Israeli occupation and the imperialist system that supports and backs this occupation, aiming for the radical changes in favor of the contemporary needs of the Palestinian people.
No imperialist force or mechanism can ensure the peace in the area of the Middle East or elsewhere. The plots for the “New Middle East”, the rivalries for the control of the resources, the invasions of USA, NATO and the EU as well as the aggressiveness of Israel are creating an even more dangerous mixture for the people of the area.
The imperialist interventions and the intra-capitalist conflicts in countries of North Africa, in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, Iraq etc. underline that today’s’ UN has become an umbrella to legalize the attacks and occupation. While the decisions of UN at the expense of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are immediately put into action, the tens of decisions for a fair solution of the Palestinian issue are still in papers, they are not applied. The same way neither they apply the twenty one decisions in favor of Cuba adopted by UN to stop the embargo.
Only the anti-imperialist struggle with the international support of progressive forces, movements and the trade union organizations worldwide can form a strong and effective front against the imperialist planning.
Today internationalism and workers solidarity can provide solutions. The duty of strengthening the proletarian internationalism is a basic duty for all of us. The World Federation of Trade Unions is aligned with this class oriented positions of COSATU and together we can trace joint activities.