The following letter was sent by the Palestinian Postal Service Workers’ Union to the South African Communication Workers on the 65th commemoration of the Nakba, May 15, 2013:
Sisters and brothers of South Africa, dear to our hearts,
Fraternal greetings from Palestine,
We address you today as we commemorate the grim anniversary of our Nakba, our national catastrophe, and as our days continue to be filled with calamities and sufferings. While the living conditions of our fellow Palestinian refugees outside Palestine are worsening by the day, inside the occupied Palestinian territory we are faced with the daily discriminatory and racist acts and decisions of the Israeli Occupying Power aimed at stealing our lands and turning Palestinian towns into isolated cantons. This continued oppression and injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people is possible because of the absence of international pressure on part of governments, and Palestinian workers, who form the bulk of the Palestinian people, bear their full share of oppression due to Israeli Apartheid policies. Thus on this sad day, we direct the following message to you:
On behalf of all Palestinian postal workers, we would like to thank you for your solidarity with our Palestinian cause and for organizing this demonstration on the day of our commemoration of the Nakba. We highly appreciate your support for the boycott campaign against Apartheid Israel, and we are asking you to broaden the appeal for the boycott of all Israeli organizations and products in order to pressure Israel to stop its aggression against the Palestinian people, including its illegal appropriation of postal revenues and physical attacks against Palestinian postal workers. We call for a continuation of this boycott until Israel recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to return, our right to a life in dignity and our right to self-determination.
Dear sisters and brothers,
Dear comrades of the South African Communication Workers Union (CWU),
The Palestinian Postal Service Workers’ Union proudly stands in solidarity with your labor demands and your struggle against unjust and exploitative anti-worker practices in the South African communications sector. We ask the South African Post Office to respond to your demands, end its unfair treatment of communication workers and improve their situation, and ensure full respect of workers’ fundamental human rights.
Our message to your government is that dialogue is the only way to solve all labor crisis and the real key to partnership and respect of human rights.
Long live Palestine, may it be free and independent at last!
Long live the friendship and solidarity between the workers of Palestine and South Africa!
May the communication workers of South Africa achieve all their demands!
Palestinian Postal Service Workers’ Union
(PPSWU) State of Palestine 15/5/2013
