Monthly Archives: July 2014

Solidarity Appeal to U.S. Trade Unionists, From Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions — Gaza Strip

LOGOPGFTU
PALESTINE GENERAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS – GAZA STRIP

July 31, 2014 

Dear brothers and sisters in the labor movement, and all people who are working hard to build a better future for themselves and for their families in the United States of America, and those who believe in peace and justice. 

As we write this message from Gaza, our families are facing a genocidal war waged by Israel. The State of Israel is using the most advanced killing machines made and exported from the United States of America. They are killing Palestinian children and eliminating entire families. They are denying the population of Gaza their right to live in peace and dignity. 

The Gaza Strip is small space, about 250 square miles, and is home to approximately 1.8 million people. Before the current massacre, the people of Gaza were already living in very difficult conditions. Israel imposed a siege and blockade, and has been controlling the air, sea, and land of Gaza for more than seven years. This blockade has also included control and closure of border crossings, and the restriction of movement, including of sick patients and students. 

The trade market, import and export, has been restricted. As a result, we have witnessed and experienced the destruction of agriculture and the ongoing annihilation of workers, farmers and fishermen. The extreme levels of poverty and unemployment have been rising. The people of Gaza have seen a decline in their health and well-being, including the lack of educational services and severe shortages in access to healthy food. In addition, Israel controls the drinking water and electricity, and as result, Gaza has had outages of water and electricity for up to 12 hours a day. As many scholars, journalists and human rights activist have noted, “Gaza is the world’s biggest prison.” 

Under the pretext of the killing of three settlers in the West Bank, with no of evidence pointing to any Palestinian group, Israel with its racist right-wing government, started its current offensive war, which has resulted in more than 1,600 Palestinians killed and more than 6,700 others injured, mostly serious and severe. Many of those killed were civilians, and more than one quarter of them were children and women. 

In addition, more than 2,000 houses have been completely destroyed and nearly 3,000 houses have been partially destroyed — with more than half of them uninhabitable. This war has displaced more than 400,000 citizens from their homes. In addition, 95 mosques have been totally demolished, and 10 hospitals have been directly targeted, with one hospital totally destroyed. 

Israel is targeting municipal workers, civil defense vehicles and ambulances — with more than six paramedics killed. During this war, we have experienced the attacks on more than 50 headquarters of the police and security services, 95 schools and educational facilities, and 7 media offices; many journalists and photographers have been killed. Also, 40 commercial fishing boats have been destroyed. Experts in the Interior Ministry estimate more than 15,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on the Gaza Strip. Economists estimate the Gaza Strip losses, as a result of the aggression, at more than US$3 billion thus far. 

Dear friends, it’s your turn NOW to take an historic stand and take on the responsibility to stand by truth and justice and urge immediate action through the following: 

1 – Pressure your government to stop the unjust aggression on our people and to stop spending money for weapons for occupation that kill us and kill our children.

2 – Work on a local and national level to urge your elected officials to stop dealing with the institutions that profit from the occupation and death of Palestinians. 

3 – Educate and build awareness among the labor movements of the U.S. and urge them to condemn the Israeli aggression and to boycott Israel through various means, i.e., cultural, educational and commercial exchange with the occupation, while exposing the crimes of the occupation and its practices. 

4 – Reach out and urge the international community through the United Nations to work by all means to enable the Palestinian people to attain and exercise their right to self-determination, through the embodiment of the Palestinian State, which is recognized by the General Assembly with an overwhelming majority, and to use the means of international law, including punitive means, to end the occupation of the Palestinian State, and to hold Israel accountable. 

5 – Call upon the United Nations to provide protection for the Palestinians in the Occupied territories, and to provide safeguards to prevent a repeat of aggression upon the Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza Strip. 

6 – Urge the United Nations to enforce the Geneva Conventions, and to ensure that Israel — as a member State that is a signatory of these agreements, including the human rights agreements — complies fully with these international conventions. 

7 – Call on signatory States to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligation to work to ensure the application, and to implements its jurisdiction to hold war criminals accountable, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator and place of commission, to pave the way for rendering Israeli war criminals accountable, and end the impunity they have enjoyed for decades. 

8 – Urge governments around the world and humanitarian organizations to declare the Gaza Strip a disaster area that is in need of major reconstruction and humanitarian aid for urgent relief to the displaced and affected people. 

Finally, we are all confident and hope that you will stand with us to influence and put pressure on your government and the Israeli government alike, to stop the criminal aggression on our people. Your actions may help to save thousands of innocent children, women, youth and elders — as well as their dreams of living in security and peace.

SIGNED/ WITH UNION SEAL

Palestinian and South African Trade Unions: Stand with Palestinian workers in Gaza: a call for trade union solidarity

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Stand with Palestinian workers in Gaza: a call for trade union solidarity

The Palestinian trade union movement, with support from with support from the Congress of South African Trade Unions and its affiliates, is unanimously calling on trade unions internationally to take immediate action to stop the Israeli massacre in Gaza and hold Israel to account for its crimes against the Palestinian people.

In the two weeks of the latest Israeli military aggression in the Gaza strip, whole families have been wiped out, and over 600 Palestinians have been killed, almost 80% of them civilians and a third of them children. Over 1.8 million Palestinians are trapped in an occupied and besieged small piece of land that Israel has turned into an open-air prison, subject to daily bombardment by Israeli rockets and heavy artillery. For seven years, Palestinians in Gaza have been under a brutal and illegal siege whose purpose is to destroy the conditions of life and break the spirit of the people. The siege and the recurrent bombing have created a humanitarian catastrophe, with critical shortages of water, food, and medical supplies. Freedom of movement, the right to education and access to health services have been extensively denied by the Israeli occupation.

Israel’s goal in this latest aggression against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is to perpetuate the occupation. This year we mark ten years since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the construction of Israel’s wall and its associated regime in the occupied Palestinian West Bank – of settlements, land confiscation, separate roads, permit systems and movement restrictions – is illegal under international law. Yet in ten years the international community has allowed Israel to continue construction on occupied territory and continue its system of occupation, apartheid and colonialism against the Palestinian people.

While governments prevaricate and allow Israel to act with utter impunity, and most of the mainstream media parrots Israel’s Orwellian propaganda, civil society solidarity is the only force that can help stop the ongoing slaughter of our people and send them a message that they are not alone, exactly as effective international solidarity had done in supporting the struggle for freedom in apartheid South Africa. In the face of this international inaction, we, the Palestinian trade unions, call on trade unions around the world to take urgent measures, and in particular to intensify Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, until it complies with international law.

We ask you to consider the following actions:

  1. Stop handling goods imported from or exported to Israel,
  2. Divest your trade union pension — and other — funds from Israel Bonds as well as from corporations and banks that complicit in Israel’s occupation and human rights violations,
  3. Dissociate from Israeli trade unions which are complicit in the occupation
  4. Support our call for a military embargo on Israel
  5. Share information with your members about the siege and destruction of Gaza and ask your members to boycott Israeli products and to share their knowledge with family, co-workers, and friends.

Today more than ever, solidarity with Palestinians workers and their families in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory is an essential component of progressive, principled trade union politics. Given the complete failure and unwillingness of governments to hold Israel accountable to international law there is widespread recognition that Israel’s occupation must be isolated by the pressure of civil society.

We rely on our brothers and sisters in the trade union movement internationally to continue a proud tradition of international solidarity and to stand with us as you stood with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Issued by the following Palestinian trade unions:
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions-Gaza
General Union of Palestinian Workers
Union of Professional Associations
Federation of Independent Trade Unions

With the support of:
Congress of South African Trade Unions

– See more at: http://bit.ly/1AAxp6D

Student Workers at the University of California Support Palestine: UAW 2865 Joint Council Prepares for Membership Vote on BDS

uaw local 2865Student Workers at the University of California Support Palestine: UAW 2865 Joint Council Prepares for Membership Vote on BDS
July 29, 2014

We are teaching assistants, tutors, and other student-workers at the University of California represented by UAW 2865. We have a responsibility as educators to both learn about and teach the social issues of our time, including pressing global struggles such as the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation from settler-colonialism and apartheid.

All major Palestinian trade unions have issued the following statement: “We call for a final end to the crimes and oppression against us. We call for: Arms embargoes on Israel, sanctions that would cut off the supply of weapons and military aid from Europe and the United States on which Israel depends to commit such war crimes…[and] Boycott, divestment and sanctions, as called for by the overwhelming majority of Palestinian civil society in 2005 ” [1]. We believe it is our duty as a labor union to support our Palestinian counterparts.

As we write this letter, over 1,100 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed as a result of the most recent Israeli bombardment through both airstrikes and ground invasions targeting Palestinian land and life [2]. Major international human rights organizations including Amnesty International and The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights have expressed that Israel has likely committed war crimes [3], and the U.N. Human Rights Council has voted by a majority to investigate Israel for such crimes [4]. What is certain is that the Israeli government’s atrocities have yet again resulted in a devastating loss of Palestinian life and destruction to all infrastructure in Gaza such as hospitals, schools, sewage systems, and water sanitation systems. The targeting of these sites makes access to food, water, and medicine nearly impossible for Gaza’s nearly 1.8 million inhabitants.

This aggression is part of the seven-year long Israeli siege on Gaza which has sealed all its borders, turning the Gaza strip—one of the most densely populated places on earth—into what has been widely acknowledged as the world’s “largest open air prison” [5]. Israeli attacks on Gaza occur regularly: “Operation Pillar of Defense” (November 2012) resulted in the killing of 158 Palestinians [6]; “Operation Hot Winter” (February-March 2008) resulted in the killing of 112 Palestinians [7]; “Operation Cast Lead” (December 2008-January2009) resulted in the killing of 1417 Palestinians [8]; “Operation Summer Rains/Autumn Clouds” (June-November 2006) resulted in the estimated killing of some 650 Palestinians [9]; and “Operation Days of Penitence” (October 2004) resulted in the killing of 133 Palestinians [10].

Because of the urgency of the situation, the Joint Council of the UAW 2865, a body made up of 83 elected officers who oversee the affairs of the 13,000 member-strong student-worker union at the University of California, is publishing this open letter that outlines our intent to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement [11] against public institutions and corporations that profit from occupation and apartheid. This means that we will seek a full membership vote within the upcoming academic year in support of BDS, and we will update our membership in the coming months regarding educational forums about divesting our union pension investments and the University of California in general from companies that profit off of the Israeli occupation. Since we are also academics, we call upon our members to honor the academic and cultural boycott of Israel and will offer information about the specifics of the campaign soon.

Across the University of California, the conversation continues to grow around BDS today. Previously, the University of California system used BDS efforts as a non-violent means to address urgent matters of social injustice. Students, faculty and workers organized together to demand the UC to divest three billion dollars of investments to support the end of South African apartheid. In coming together, we made this happen [12]. We as the UAW 2865 Joint Council are adding our voices to the statewide University of California Student Association and the student governments at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, all of whom have passed resolutions in favor of divestment.

We intend to throw our weight behind the BDS movement to add to the international pressure against Israel to respect the human rights of the Palestinian people. As workers, students, and as a labor union, we stand in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for self-determination from a settler-colonial power for the following reasons:

1. The current situation in Palestine is one of settler-colonialism. In 1948, over 750,000 indigenous Palestinians were made refugees as a result of the aggression of Zionist militias who wished to create a Jewish-only state. With the formation of Israel, those refugees and exiles, whose descendants now number nearly 8.6 million, have been barred from returning to their lands and homes for over 66 years [13]. Of the exiled Palestinian population, 5.3 million live as stateless people entitled to United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency (UNRWA) services in refugee camps inside Palestine and in surrounding Arab countries [14]. These camps were originally built to house only a few thousand people, yet their inhabitants live under the most dire conditions and are the longest-running refugee status group in modern history. Under UN Resolutions 194 [15], 237 [16], and 484 [17], they have a right to return to Palestine. Today Israel continues to confiscate land from indigenous Palestinians and break international laws that enshrine the refugees’ right to return.

2. The Israeli state enforces an apartheid system, illegally privileging one ethnic group over another [18]. Over 50 Israeli laws impose second-class citizenship on Palestinian citizens of Israel (20% of the Israeli population). Among them are laws “restricting political participation, access to land, education, state budget resources, and criminal procedures” [19]. These laws institutionalize the unequal treatment of Palestinians within Israel [20].

3. Israel’s system of apartheid geographically segregates Palestinians and Israeli Jews. This system is most visible by examining the 47-year long Israeli military occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The occupation enables the transfer of Palestinian land in the 1967 territories to Israeli-Jewish ownership through continued illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank. Settlement expansion encroaches on even the sliver of land nominally left to the Palestinians (a total of twenty-two percent of historic Palestine) [21] in the West Bank, forcibly displacing more Palestinians. Settlements rely on the construction of Israeli-Jewish-only roads and are often built in areas rich with vital resources such as water to which the Palestinians are prohibited access. Additionally, the security apparatus that the Israeli state has imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank includes military patrol via a concrete wall, which was deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004 [22]. Checkpoints, roadblocks, and control of all borders solidify the occupation of Palestine, making it impossible for Palestinians to control their own economy. These actions have turned the West Bank into an archipelago of islands that are geographically disconnected from one another. Gaza’s borders, like those of the West Bank, have been sealed off by Israel making the two territories isolated from each other.

4. Since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, approximately 20% of the total Palestinian population in the occupied territories has been sentenced to prison time. Israeli use of torture tactics for interrogation is in direct violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) [23]. In particular, detention, imprisonment and torture in interrogations of Palestinian children are heavily documented and in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Human Rights Committee [24].

5. Israeli arms, military and police training tactics, tested on Arab people in the region, have both historically and today been used to suppress peoples’ movements, displace indigenous peoples, and criminalize people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America [25]. The U.S. has joint agreements with Israeli defense training on many levels including both public and private, and has turned to Israeli “technologies and techniques in the arena of homeland security and counterterrorism” as a source of informing its own security apparatus [26]. Here in California, local police and sheriff’s departments are consistently under federal investigation for corruption, racial discrimination, and police violence all while having a longstanding history of exchanging militarized programming and surveillance technologies with Israel and their IDF [27]. The UC Police Department has also participated alongside the IDF in the annual, Bay Area-based “Urban Shield” police-training program [28]. On the nation-wide level, the “Law Enforcement Exchange Program” (LEEP) has enabled similar exchanges between Israeli and U.S. law enforcement [29]. In addition, the militarized U.S.-Mexico Border wall, which has resulted in numerous killings of migrants, was built by the same Israeli company (Elbit Systems) responsible for the apartheid wall in Palestine [30].

We believe that as student and labor organizers, we have a duty to stand by principles of anti-oppression organizing. As we stand in solidarity with Palestinian self-determination, we also recognize that here in the United States we have our own systems of structural racism and settler colonialism to resist and dismantle. In the university system in which we both learn and labor, the disparity in access to people of color and working-class people as well as the existence of our universities on stolen indigenous land alerts us to the importance of making these connections in our movements.

We conclude with the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who had the following to say after a visit to Occupied Palestine:

“I witnessed the daily humiliations of Palestinians at Israeli military checkpoints, the inhumanity that won’t let ambulances reach the injured, farmers attend their land, or children attend school. This treatment is familiar to me and the many black South Africans who were corralled and harassed by the security forces of the apartheid government. It is not with rancor that we criticize the Israeli government but with hope, hope that a better future can remain for both Israelis and Palestinians. Hope for a future where one people need not rule over another, engendering suffering, humiliation, and retaliation. Hope for a time when there are universal rights for all humans regardless of ethnicity, gender, or national origin…True peace comes only with justice” [31].

We agree with these words and are compelled by the ongoing displays of resilience by the Palestinian people and the global movement for justice in Palestine, which includes multiplying voices from Jewish communities condemning the ongoing Israeli occupation. We want to make it clear that this resolution targets a colonial-apartheid state, not Jewish people. Many Jewish individuals and organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace have expressed support for divesting from the Israeli state in order to bring about peace with justice for Israeli Jews and Palestinians alike. By joining the BDS movement, we throw our voices behind the broader movement for peace with justice in Palestine.

To our members, the Joint Council of UAW 2865 thanks you for your consideration and asks that you vote “yes” in the coming membership vote for joining the BDS movement.

Sincerely,
UAW 2865 Joint Council


1. http://www.bdsmovement.net/StopArmingIsrael; also https://laborforpalestine.net/2014/07/12/urgent-call-from-gaza-civil-society-act-now/

2. http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/23/headlines#7231

3. http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/23/headlines#7233

4. http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/24/headlines#7243

5. http://www.globalresearch.ca/gaza-the-world-s-largest-prison/829

6. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20466027

7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7274929.stm

8. http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1073:confirmed-figures-reveal-the-true-extent-of-the-destructioninflicted-upon-the-gaza-strip-israels-offensive-resulted-in-1417-dead-including-926-civilians-255-police-officers-and-236-fighters&catid=36:pchrpressreleases&Itemid=194

9. http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/fatalities-and-injuries

10. http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20041018

11. http://www.bdsmovement.net/

12. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/31/1273884/-UC-Berkeley-s-anti-apartheid-movement-setting-the-record-straight#

13. http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/site/512/default.aspx?tabID=512&lang=en&ItemID=788&mid=3171&wversi%20on=Staging

14. ibid.

15. http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C758572B78D1CD0085256BCF0077E51A

16. http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/E02B4F9D23B2EFF3852560C3005CB95A

17. http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/FF192961FEBCBCA5852560DF006576C1. Israel is also in violation of UN Resolutions 252, 267, 271, 298, 446, 476, 478, 452, and 1860, as seen in footnote 11 of UC San Diego’s divestment bill: http://www.sjpucsd.com/divestment-campaign-2013.html

18. http://www.bdsmovement.net/apartheid-colonisation-occupation

19. http://adalah.org/eng/Israeli-Discriminatory-Law-Database

20. http://www.bdsmovement.net/apartheid-colonisation-occupation

21. http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/maps.html

22. http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1497.pdf

23. http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=359

24. http://www.dci-pal.org/english/camp/freedom/pdf/torture.pdf

25. http://israelglobalrepression.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/israels-worldwide-role-in-repression-footnotes-finalized.pdf

26. http://www.aipac.org/~/media/Publications/Policy%20and%20Politics/AIPAC%20Analyses/Issue%20 Memos/2013/03/Homeland.pdf

27. http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/lapd_scopes_out_israeli_drones_big_data_solutions; http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/lapd-goes-israel-falls-love-drones-and-mass-surveillance

28. https://www.urbanshield.org/index.php/2012-urban-shield-exercise/special-wepons-and-tactics; https://www.urbanshield.org/index.php/2012-urban-shield-exercise/supporting-agencies; http://police-statistics.universityofcalifornia.edu/2011/ucb.html

29. http://www.jinsa.org/events-programs/law-enforcement-exchange-program-leep/about-leep/about-law-enforcement-exchange-prog

30. http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jimmy-johnson/contractor-israels-apartheid-wallwins-us-border-contract

31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzey6qg2lMA


http://www.uaw2865.org/student-workers-at-the-university-of-california-support-palestine-uaw-2865-joint-council-prepares-for-membership-vote-on-bds/

Palestinian Journalist and Teenage Daughter are Latest Victims of Israeli Attacks (NWU/UAW Local 1981)

Palestinian Journalist and Teenage Daughter are Latest Victims of Israeli Attacks


chicago_0731Following the killing of a Palestinian journalist and his daughter, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today issued a renewed call for the safety and freedom of journalists in Gaza.  The IFJ announced in a press release: “According to IFJ affiliate, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), Baha Edeen Gharib, 55, who worked as Israeli affairs editor for Palestinian TV, and his 16-year-old daughter Ola, were killed by an Israeli rocket attack this morning in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip region, while they were travelling home.”

There’s an old saying, “The first casualty of war is the truth.” Nowhere is that more true than in the US corporate media’s coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza.   As of this writing, more than 700 Palestinians have been killed, almost all civilians. Mosques, schools, and medical centers have been destroyed. Thirty-two Israelis have been killed, almost all soldiers.

NWU has posted on our social media channels about the murder of a Palestinian journalist by Israeli troops,  and how NBC pulled a reporter from Gaza after he reported that four Palestinian children were killed by an Israeli airstrike while playing soccer on the beach. A social media campaign convinced NBC to return Mohyeldin to Gaza.

But more significant than how the war is being covered is the war itself and the US complicity in it. Israel has carried out a brutal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank for 47 years. The occupation is underwritten by $3.1 billion annually in US aid, 25% of Israel’s military budget. And according to If Americans Knew, the US will provide an additional $3 billion per year, every year thru 2018!

Israel’s cries of “self-defense,” amplified uncritically by the US mainstream media, ring hollow; like the “self defense” of the US against Native Americans, or the “self-defense” of the Apartheid regime against the black South African population.

On July 23, the UN Human Rights Council voted to investigate alleged war crimes in Gaza. The US was the only “No” vote.

I urge every member and chapter to join local actions and coalitions to end this brutal occupation now!

NWU President Larry Goldbetter

Photo: Chicago Gaza solidarity march. Image courtesy: Workers World

https://www.nwu.org/palestinian-journalist-and-teenage-daughter-are-latest-victims-israeli-attacks

Labor for Palestine Stop the War on Gaza: No Arms for Apartheid Israel — Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions!

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[Please sign this statement here. To be listed, please provide your trade union affiliation/organization (including local number, if any), union position (if any), location and email address. THAT INFORMATION SHOULD BE LISTED IN THE BOX LABELED, “WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ME.”]

Labor for Palestine
Stop the War on Gaza: No Arms for Apartheid Israel  Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions!
July 28, 2014

“We call on the UN and governments across the world to take immediate steps to implement a comprehensive and legally binding military embargo on Israel, similar to that imposed on South Africa during apartheid.” Palestinian Trade Unions and Civil Society, Stop Arming Israel, July 20, 2014

“For the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.” Beyond Vietnam, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967

* * *

As workers and trade unionists, we join with Palestinian trade unions, the Congress of South African Trade UnionsUnite (UK/Ireland), and labor organizations around the world to urgently condemn Israel’s barbaric war on Gaza, which has taken thousands of lives since 2006, including many hundreds in recent weeks.

With them, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people against more than a century of Zionist colonialism, dispossession, ethnic cleaning, racism, apartheid and genocide — including Israel’s very establishment through the uprooting and displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians during the 1947-1948 Nakba. Indeed, eighty percent of the 1.8 million people sealed into Gaza are refugees.

With them, we support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), which demands an end to Israeli military occupation of the 1967 territories; full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel; and the right of return for Palestinian refugees, as affirmed by UN resolution 194.

Therefore:

• We call on the US government and its allies to end all aid to Israel.

• We call on workers to emulate dockers in South Africa, India, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, the US west coast, and elsewhere, by refusing to handle military or any other cargo destined for Israel.

• We call on labor bodies to divest from Israel Bonds, and cut ties with the Histadrut, Israel’s racist labor federation. (See model resolution, below.)

Initial Signers (List in formation)

Labor Bodies

NC Public Service Workers Union-UE Local 150

Unite Union NZ

Individuals (Affiliation shown for identification only // *Labor for Palestine co-conveners)

*Suzanne Adely, U.S.-MENA Global Labor Solidarity Network; Former Staff, Global Organizing Institute, UAW

*Monadel Herzallah, former member, Arab American Union Members Council, San Francisco, CA

*Michael Letwin, former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW L. 2325; co-founder, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, NYC Labor Against the War; US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Prof. Rabab Abdulhadi, California Faculty Association SFSU

Judith Ackerman, 1199SEIU, AFT, UFT, AFTRA, SAG, New York NY

Larry Adams, former President, NPMHU L. 300; co-founder, NYC Labor Against the War; People’s Organization for Progress

Joseph Agonito, former President, L. 1845-NYSUT, AFT

Bina Ahmad, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

Sameerah Ahmad, Executive Director, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center; former member, GEO/UAW L. 2322

Faiz Ahmed, Chairperson/président Canadian Union of Public Employees L. 3903

Tanya Akel, IBT L. 2010, AFT L. 1521

Noha Arafa, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

Anthony Arnove, National Writers Union/UAW L. 1981, Brooklyn NY

B. Ross Ashley, SEIU L. 204 (retired), Toronto ON

John Bail, National Director, Pacific Region Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Harry Baker, Former Executive Board member, SEIU L. 1021, N. CA
Sarah Barker, Organiser, New Zealand Nurses Organisation

Julia Barnett, Steward, CUPS, L. 79

Thomas F. Barton, L. 768, DC 37, AFSCME

Bill Bateman, Laborers L. 271; Coordinator, RI Unemployed Council, RI Campaign for Work & Wages

Richard Berg, Past President, IBT L. 743

Michael Billeaux, Co-President, Teaching Assistants’ Association/AFT L. 3220, Madison WI

Walter Birdwell, Retired Steward, National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 283

Richard Blake, IBT L. 512, Jacksonville FL

Dana Blanchard, Berkeley Federation of Teachers, AFT L. 1078

Dave Bleakney, National Union Representative, CUPW, Ottowa ON

Rebecca Bor, Chicago Teachers Union, AFT L. 1

Alexandra Bradbury, co-editor, Labor Notes

Larry Bradshaw, VP SEIU L. 1021, San Francisco

Gloria Brandman, UFT/NYC-MORE Caucus

Deena Brazy, Steward/VP, AFSCME L. 60, Madison WI

Tibby Brooks, National Writers Union/UAW L. 1981

Gabriel Camacho, UNITE HERE L. 66L Cambridge MA

Chris Carlsson, Co-Director, Shaping San Francisco; SEIU L. 1021; adjunct faculty, San Francisco Art Institute

Nora Carroll, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

David Chavez, UAW L. 2865, UC Riverside

Edward Childs, Chief Steward, Unite-Here L. 26

Jan Clausen, Goddard College faculty; UAW L. 2322 Liaison to U.S. Labor Against the War, NYC Chapter

Mary Clinton, Organizer, CWA District 1

L. Antonia Codling, Alt. VP & Former Rep., Attorneys of Color of Legal Aid, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

Len Cooper, Victorian Secretary, Communication Workers Union, Australia

Krista L. Cortes, Unit Chair, UAW L. 2865, UC Berkeley

Heather Cottin, Professional Staff Congress, NYC

Mike Cushman, Membership Secretary, London School of Economics, University and College Union branch (UCU)

Denise D’Anne, SEIU L. 1021

Joe Davies, Organizer, Southern Local Government Officers Union, Christchurch NZ

Warren Davis, Exec. VP (Retired), AFGE L. 2006, Philadelphia

Richard Deaton, Ph.D., LL.B., Asst. Director of Research, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)(retired)

Francisco Martin del Campo, Head Steward, UAW L. 2685, UC Berkeley Unit

Jacob Denz, GSOC/UAW L. 2110; NYU; Brooklyn, NY

Roger Dittmann, PhD, Former Secretary, United Professors of California

Monique Dols, UFT, NYC

Greg Dropkin, Unison; Liverpool Friends of Palestine, UK

Tim Dubnau, Organizing Coordinator, CWA District One

Arla S. Ertz, SEIU L. 1021 San Francisco

Shelley Ettinger, AFT L. 3882, NYC

Mark Evard, National Director, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Ottawa ON

Mikos Fabersunne, Professional Engineers in California Government (retired)

Jessica Feldman, UAW L. 2110, NYC

Chris Ferlazzo, Portland Jobs with Justice

Prof. Mary E. Finn, Ph. D., United University Professionals, State University of New York at Buffalo

Prof. Patrick J. Finn, Ph. D., United University Professionals, State University of New York at Buffalo

Gord Fischer, National Director, CUPW Prairie Region, Winnipeg MB

Jon Flanders, Past President, IAM 1145

Prof. Manzar Foroohar, former Chapter President, California Faculty Association-Cal Poly

Sheena Foster, Global Labour University Alumni

Andre Francois, Recording Secretary, USW L. 8751

Carol Gay, President, NJ State Industrial Union Council

Maxine Gay, Retail Finance & Commerce Secretary, FIRST Union New Zealand

Carl Gentile, National Representative, American Federation of Government Employees

Christine Geovanis National Writers Union/UAW L. 1981

Alborz Ghandehari, Recording Secretary, San Diego Unit, UAW L. 2865 (UC Student-Worker Union)

Hadi Gharabaghi, GSOC-UAW L. 2110; Cinema Studies, NYU

Steve Gillis, VP USW L. 8751 (Boston School Bus Drivers’ Union)

Mike Gimbel, Chairperson, Labor/Community Unity Committee, L. 375, AFSCME

Greg Giorgio, Delegate, Upstate NY Regional Branch, Industrial Workers of the World

Nathan Goldbaum, Member Communications Coordinator, Chicago Teachers Union, AFT L. 1

Marty Goodman, former Executive Board member, Transport Workers Union L. 100

Erik Green, UAW L. 2865, Financial Secretary, Santa Cruz CA

Ira Grupper, Delegate (retired), Greater Louisville (KY) Central Labor Council, BCTGM L. 16T

Maria Guillen, SEIU L. 1021

Gabriel Haaland, CWA L. 9404

Jesse Hagopian, Seattle Education Association/NEA

Denise Hammond, Unifor 591 G

David Heap, University of Western Ontario Faculty Association

Jenny Heinz, 1199SEIU

Stanley Heller, 40-year AFT member, West Haven, CT, now AFT 933 (retired)

Lucy Herschel, Delegate, 1199SEIU, NYC

Fred Hirsch, VP, Plumbers and Fitters L. 393, San Jose CA

Michael Hirsch, National Writers Union/UAW L. 1981
Bridgett Holloman, 1199SEIU, Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn NY

Alexandra Holmstrom-Smith, Chair, UCLA Unit, UAW L. 2865 (UC Student-Worker Union)

Jim Holstun, UUP Buffalo Center Chapter, NYSUT, AFT

Evert Hoogers, National Union Rep., CUPW (retired)

Cherrene Horazuk, President, AFSCME L. 3800

Jonathan House, President (1979-1981), Executive Director (1982-1989), Committee of Interns and Residents, SEIU

Sean Howard, Shop Steward, IBT L. 559, Hartford CT

Janet Hudgins, CUPE (retired)

Ren-yo Hwang, S. VP, UAW 2865, Los Angeles

Joe Iosbaker, Executive Board, SEIU L. 73

Malathi Iyenga, San Diego Unit Chair, UAW L. 2865

Joe Jamison, TWU L. 100 (retired)

James Jordan, National Co-Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice

Michael P. Kaehler, President, APWU L. 647, Saint Cloud MN Area

Marianne Kaletzky, Head Steward, UAW L. 2865 Berkeley CA

Dan Kaplan, Executive Secretary, AFT L. 1493, San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers

Jim Kaplan, former member, Somerville Teachers Association, MA

Wendy Kaufmyn, Executive Board, AFT L. 2121 (faculty union of City College of San Francisco)

Brian Kelly, UCU Belfast (formerly Carpenters L. 33 Boston and IUMSWA L. 25 East Boston)

Sue Kelly, OPEIU L. 334 (retired)

Russell Kilday-Hicks, VP, California State Employees Association

Ed Kinchley, San Francisco Committee on Political Education; Co-chair, SEIU L. 1021, San Francisco

John Kirkland, Carpenters L. 1462, Bucks County PA

Steve Kirschbaum, Grievance Committee Chair, USW L. 8751

David Klein, California Faculty Association

Jeff Klein, Retired President, NAGE/SEIU L. R1-168

Cindy Klumb, OPEIU L. 153

Richard Koritz, Former President, NALC Branch 630, Greensboro NC

Dennis Kortheuer, California Faculty Association

Bud Korotzer, Shop Steward, AFSCME District Council 37, L. 371 (retired)

Daniella Korotzer, Former VP & Health & Safety Rep., ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

Francine Korotzer, Shop Steward, AFSCME District Council 37, L. 2054 (retired)

Dennis Kosuth, Shop Steward, Convention Delegate, National Nurses Organizing Committee, National Nurses United

Rebecca Kurti, 1199SEIU

Elizabeth Lalasz, Steward & Bargaining Team Rep., National Convention Delegate, District 13, National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses Unites (NNOC/NNU)

Zoe Lawlor, Unite Teacher, University of Limerick, Ireland

Howard Lenow, American Jews For A Just Peace, trade union lawyer

Kristin Lew, 1199SEIU

Stephen Lewis, SEIU L. 509

Joe Lombardo, CSEA L. 999, Troy Area Labor Council

Marsha Love, UALE, Chicago

Michael Lyon, AFT L. 2121 (retiree)

John McColgan, SENA 9158, United Steelworkers of America

Maureen McDermott, UFT, NYC

Henry Maar, Trustee, UAW L. 2865

Amir M. Maasoumi, former member, Federation des travailleurs du Quebec (FTQ)

Shafeah M’Balia, National Assn. of Letter Carriers, Greenville, NC Branch 1729; Black Workers For Justice

Cindy McCallum Miller, President, Castlegar Local Canadian Union of Postal Workers, BC

Edward Miller, Strategic Adviser, FIRST Union, Auckland NZ

Gail Miller, UFT, NYC

Nathaniel Miller, Industrial Workers of the World

Susan Olivia Morris, Alternate VP, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

Irene Morrison, Recording Secretary, UAW 2865, UC Riverside

Hlokoza Motau, National Union of Metalworkers’ Union (Numsa), Johannesburg, South Africa

Kenneth Myers, United Federation of Teachers, NYC

Ken Nash, AFSCME L. 1930, DC 37

Lisa North, AFT L. 2, Brooklyn NY

Raquel Pacheco, UAW L. 2865, San Diego CA

Meredith Palmer, Head Steward, UAW L. 2865, UC Berkeley

Jackson Pitts, Head Steward, UAW L. 2865, UC Riverside

Maria Pizarro, AFSCME L. 2081

Marion Pollack, retiree, Vancouver BC

Jay Poppa, VP, Bridgeport Education Association, Bridgeport, CT

Dr. Anna Potempska, PhD, PEF (retired), NY

Andre’ Powell, AFSCME Delegate, Baltimore Central Labor Council

Peter Rachleff, Labor Educator; UALE

Natasha Raheja, Bargaining Committee, GSOC-UAW L. 2110, NYC

Melissa Rakestraw, Executive Board and Shop Steward, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 825, Oakbrook IL

Croft Randle, Retired Local Officer and Provincial Representative, Telecommunications Workers Union, BC Canada

Ben Ratliffe, Steward, AFSCME L. 60, WI

Dominic Renda, Chief Shop Steward, CWA L. 1105

Eric Robson, Steward and Trustee, AFSCME L. 171, Madison WI

Marco Antonio Rosales, Unit Chair, UAW L. 2865, UC Davis

Mimi Rosenberg, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society
Keith Rosenthal, AFSCME L. 3650, Somerville MA

Prof. Emerita Marguerite G. Rosenthal, Massachusetts State College Association/Mass. Education Assn./NEA

Andrew Ross, AAUP, NYU

Janice Rothstein, AFSCME L. 3299, San Francisco

Christina Rousseau, CUPE 3903, Toronto ON

David Russitano, Executive Board, United Educators of San Francisco, AFT/CFT L. 61

Gillian Russom, Board of Directors, United Teachers Los Angeles, AFT L. 1021

Carl Sack, AFT L. 3220, UW-Madison Teaching Assistants’ Association

Keith Sadler, UAW L. 2, Toledo OH

Lauren Schaeffer, Head Steward, UAW L. 2865, Los Angeles CA

Charity Schmidt, Former Co-President, University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA)

Robert M. Schwartz, National Writers Union/UAW L. 1981, Boston MA

Helen Scott, United Academics AAUP/AFT L. 4996, Burlington VT

Mary Scully, IUE-CWA L. 201 (retired)

Snehal Shingavi, Texas State Employees Union/CWA L. 6186, Austin TX

Tyler Shipley, CUPE L. 3903; Toronto ON

Ahmad Shirazi, Former Board Member, IATSE L. 700, NYC

Sid Shniad, Former Research Director, Telecommunications Workers Union, Vancouver BC

Jerry Silberman, Senior Staff Rep., Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals

Lorrie Beth Slonsky, SEIU L. 1021; Paramedic (retired)

Larry Smallwood, former Telecommunications Workers Union of Canada; Volunteer President L. 7; human rights officer; union activist for equity rights

Nancy Snyder, Recording Secretary Emeritus, SEIU L. 1021

David Sole, Past President, UAW L. 2334, Detroit

Peter Spitzform, AFT/AAUP, University of Vermont

Brenda Stokely, former President, AFSCME DC 1707; co-founder, NYC Labor Against the War; Co-Chair, Million Worker March Movement

Alan Stolzer, Bakers L. 3 (retired)

Susan Stout, Unifor 2002, Canada (retired)

Dante Strobino, UE L. 150, North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, Durham

Brian J. Sullivan, LSSA/UAW L. 2320, NYC

Rick Sullivan, BC Retired Teachers’ Association, Parksville BC

Lee Sustar, NWU/UAW L. 1981; Chicago IL

Alice Sturm Sutter, NYSNA (retired), NYC

Team Solidarity – the Voice of United School Bus Workers

Steve Terry, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

Clarence Thomas, Co-Chair, Million Worker March; Executive Board, ILWU L. 10

Elizabeth Thornton, Head Steward, UCLA Unit, UAW L. 2865 (UC Student-Workers Union)

Joanne Tien, Head Steward, UAW L. 2865, Oakland CA.

Azalia Torres, Former Executive Board Member, ALAA/UAW L. 2325, NYC Legal Aid Society

Mike Treen, National Director, Unite Union NZ

Corey Uhl, IBT L. 79, Tampa FL

Jaime Veve, Transport Workers Union L. 100, NYC (retired)

Nantina Vgontzas, GSOC/UAW L. 2110, NYU

Sabina Virgo, Founding and Past President, AFSCME L. 2620

Kay L. Walker, SEIU L. 1021, San Francisco (retired)

Peter Waterman, Researcher/writer on labour internationalisms; ABVA-KABO, The Hague, Netherlands

Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council

Nancy Welch, Delegate, UVM United Academics AFT/AAUP

Bruce Wolf, Social Justice Committee, OPEIU L. 2

Sherry Wolf, CWA L. 1032

Cynthia Wright, CUPE 3903

Garrett Wright, National Organization of Legal Services Workers, UAW L. 2320, NYC

Eddie Yood, CWA L. 1180 Liaison to US Labor Against the War

Carol F. Yost, Organization of Staff Analysts, NYC (retired)

Steve Zeltzer, CWA L. 39521; Pacific Media Workers; KPFA WorkWeek Radio


Labor for Palestine Model Resolution
Stop the War on Gaza: No Arms for Apartheid Israel  Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions!

Whereas, Israel is committing yet another series of massacres in Gaza, many victims of which include workers, children, entire families the elderly, and the disabled; and

Whereas, Palestinian workers and their families continue to be killed and maimed by naval vessels, jet fighters, Apache helicopters, white phosphorous and other weapons supplied by the US and its allies; and

Whereas, during 2009-2018, the US government is set to provide military aid to Israel worth $30 billion; and

Whereas, Israel claims of “self-defense” are a thinly disguised pretext for more than a century of Zionist colonialism, dispossession, ethnic cleaning, racism, and genocide against the Palestinian people — including Israel’s very establishment through the uprooting and displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians during the 1947-1948 Nakba. Indeed, eighty percent of the 1.8 million people sealed into Gaza are refugees; and

Whereas, veteran South African freedom fighters have observed that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is “worse than apartheid”; and

Whereas, on July 12, 2014, Gaza civil society issued an urgent appeal for solidarity, calling for an arms embargo and full Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against apartheid Israel, which demands an end to Israeli military occupation of the 1967 territories; full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel; and the right of return for Palestinian refugees, as affirmed by UN resolution 194; and

Whereas, on July 10, 2014, the Congress of South African Trade Unions denounced the latest Israeli massacres in Gaza, and called “on the international trade union movement, various civil society organisations, international religious bodies and even business to speak out against savagery and barbarism against fellow human beings”; and

Whereas, on July 11, 2014, Unite, the biggest union in the UK and Ireland, stated that it “unreservedly condemns the continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and calls for the military strikes and the military build up to be halted immediately,” and reiterated its support for BDS; and

Whereas, the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against apartheid Israel has been endorsed by numerous labor bodies around the world, including the trade union congresses of South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Ireland, Scotland and the UK, and labor bodies in Australia, France, Canada, Norway, Catalunya, Italy, Spain and Turkey; and

Whereas, top U.S. labor officials nonetheless continues to invest billions of from union members’ pension funds in State of Israel Bonds, a pillar of apartheid that enjoys tax-exempt status from the U.S. government; and

Whereas, in opposing the Vietnam War, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared: “For the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent”; and

Whereas, Nelson Mandela declared: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”;

Therefore:

• We call on the US government and its allies to end all aid to Israel.

• We call on workers to emulate dockers in South Africa, India, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, the US west coast, and elsewhere, by refusing to handle military or any other cargo destined for Israel.

• We call on labor bodies to divest from Israel Bonds, and cut ties with the Histadrut, Israel’s racist labor federation.

Solidarity with Palestine song (NUMSA, South Africa)

Screen Shot 2014-08-04 at 2.06.41 PM

South African workers from NUMSA (National Union of Metalworkers) sing solidarity with Gaza

Filmed at a public demonstration in Port Elizabeth on Friday 25 July 2014.

BNC Petition: Stop Arming Israel

StopArmingIsrael BDSSign the call: We call on the UN and governments across the world to take immediate steps to implement a comprehensive and legally binding military embargo on Israel, similar to that imposed on South Africa during apartheid.

TAKE ACTION NOW – add your name to the call for a military embargo using the form on the right

Israel has once again unleashed the full force of its military against the captive Palestinian population, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip, in an inhumane and illegal act of military aggression.

Israel’s ability to launch such devastating attacks with impunity largely stems from the vast international military cooperation and arms trade that it maintains with complicit governments across the world.

Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Peres Esquivel, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchú and Betty Williams have published an open letter calling on the UN and governments around the world to impose a military embargo on Israel.

Other signatories include Noam Chomsky, Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, playwright Caryl Churchill, US rapper Boots Riley, João Antonio Felicio, the president of the International Trade Union Confederation, and Zwelinzima Vavi, the general secretary of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions.

By importing and exporting arms to Israel and facilitating the development of Israeli military technology, governments are effectively sending a clear message of approval for Israel’s military aggression, including its war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

TAKE ACTION NOW – add your name to the call for a military embargo using the form on the right

The call will be presented to the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights when they take up their post in September 2014.
Read our fact sheet on the military embargo
#StopArmingIsrael

http://www.bdsmovement.net/StopArmingIsrael

Petition: 200 Jews Say: End the War on Gaza — No Aid to Apartheid Israel!

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Sign here

Jews Say: End the War on Gaza — No Aid to Apartheid Israel!
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, July 22, 2014

On July 12, 2014, Gaza civil society issued an urgent appeal for solidarity, asking: “How many of our lives are dispensable enough until the world takes action? How much of our blood is sufficient?”

As Jews of conscience, we answer by unequivocally condemning Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza, whose victims include hundreds of civilians, children, entire families, the elderly, and the disabled. This latest toll adds to the thousands Israel has killed and maimed since its supposed withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

In response to this crisis, we urgently reaffirm our support for a ban on all military and other aid to Israel.

In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. opposed the Vietnam War with his famous declaration: “For the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”

Today, *we* cannot be silent as the “Jewish state” — armed to the teeth by the U.S. and its allies — wages yet another brutal war on the Palestinian people. Apartheid Israel does not speak for us, and we stand with Gaza as we stand with all of Palestine.

In the face of incessant pro-Israel propaganda, we heed Malcolm X’s warning: “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

For Israel’s relentless war on Gaza is no more an act of “self-defense” than such infamous massacres as Wounded Knee (1890), Guernica (1937), the Warsaw Ghetto (1942), Deir Yassin (1948), My Lai (1968), Soweto (1976), Sabra and Shatila (1982), or Lebanon (2006).

Rather, it is but the latest chapter in more than a century of Zionist colonialism, dispossession, ethnic cleaning, racism, and genocide — including Israel’s very establishment through the uprooting and displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians during the 1947-1948 Nakba. Indeed, eighty percent of the 1.8 million people sealed into Gaza are refugees.

Like any colonial regime, Israel uses resistance to such policies as an excuse to terrorize and collectively punish the indigenous population for its very existence. But scattered rockets, fired from Gaza into land stolen from Palestinians in the first place, are merely a response to this systemic injustice.

To confront the root cause of this violence, we call for the complete dismantling of Israel’s apartheid regime, throughout historic Palestine — from the River to the Sea. With that in mind, we embrace the 2005 Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which demands:

* An end to Israeli military occupation of the 1967 territories

* Full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel

* Right of return for Palestinian refugees, as affirmed by UN resolution 194


Initial Signers (list in formation; organizations, schools and other affiliations shown for identification only; *Co-founder, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return)

Avigail Abarbanel, Psychotherapist; editor, Beyond Tribal Loyalties: Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists (2012, Cambridge Scholars), Inverness, Scotland

Noa Abend, Boycott From Within

Stephen Aberle, Independent Jewish Voices; Vancouver, BC

Lisa Albrecht, Ph.D. Social Justice Program, University of Minnesota

Anya Achtenberg, novelist and poet; teacher; activist; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Mike Alewitz, Associate Professor, Central CT State Unversity; Artistic Director, Labor Art & Mural Project

Zalman Amit, Distinguished Professor Emeritus; Author, Israeli Rejectionism

Anthony Arnove, International Socialist Organization

Gabriel Ash, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Switzerland

Ted Auerbach, Brooklyn for Peace

Anna Baltzer, author and organizer

Ronnie Barkan, Co-founder, Boycott from Within, Tel-Aviv

Judith Bello, Administrative Committee, United National Antiwar Coalition

Lawrence Boxall, Independent Jewish Voices, Canada; Vancouver Ecosocialist Group

Linda Benedikt, writer Munich, Germany

Nora Barrows-Friedman, journalist; Oakland

Prof. Jonathan Beller, Humanities and Media Studies Graduate Program in Media Studies, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn

Medea Benjamin, co-founder, CODEPINK

Rica Bird, Joint Founder, Merseyside Jews for Peace and Justice

Audrey Bomse, Co-chair, National Lawyers Guild Palestine Subcommittee

Prof. Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, UC Berkeley

Lenni Brenner, Author, Zionism In The Age Of The Dictators

Elizabeth Block, Independent Jewish Voices, Toronto ON

Max Blumenthal, Author, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel; and Senior Writer for Alternet.org

Mary P. Buchwald, Jewish Voice for Peace-New York

Monique Buckner, BDS South Africa

Maia Brown, Health and Human Rights Project-Seattle & Stop Veolia Seattle

Estee Chandler, Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles

Rick Chertoff, L..A. Jews for Peace

Prof. Marjorie Cohn, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; past president, National Lawyers Guild

Ally Cohen, Ramallah, Palestine; International Solidarity Movement media coordinator

Ruben Rosenberg Colorni, Youth for Palestine, Netherlands

Mike Cushman, Convenor, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (UK)

Margaretta D’arcy, Irish actress, writer, playwright, and peace-activist

Natalie Zemon Davis, Historian

Warren Davis, labor and political activist, Philadelphia, PA

Eron Davidson, film maker

Judith Deutsch, Independent Jewish Voices Canada; Science for Peace

Roger Dittmann, Professor of Physics, Emeritus California State University, Fullerton; President, Scholars and Scientists without Borders Executive Council, World Federation of Scientific Workers

Gordon Doctorow, Ed.D., Canada

Mark Elf, Jews Sans Frontieres, London, UK

Hedy Epstein, Nazi Holocaust survivor and human rights activist; St. Louis, MO

Marla Erlien, New York NY

Shelley Ettinger, writer/activist, New York, NY

Inge Etzbach, Human Rights Activist, Café Palestina NY

Richard Falk, Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University; Former UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine, 2008-2014

Malkah B. Feldman, Jewish Voice for Peace and recent delegate to Palestine with American Jews For A Just Peace

Deborah Fink, Co-Founder, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods UK

Joel Finkel, Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago

Sylvia Finzi, JfjfP; Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, EJJP. Germany)

Maxine Fookson, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner; Jewish Voice for Peace, Portland OR

Richard Forer, Author, Breakthrough: Transforming Fear Into Compassion – A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine

Sid Frankel, Associate Professor, University of Manitoba

Prof. Cynthia Franklin, Co-Editor, Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, University of Hawai’i

Racheli Gai, Jewish Voice for Peace

Herb Gamberg, Independent Jewish Voices, Canada

Ruth Gamberg, Independent Jewish Voices, Canada

Lee Gargagliano, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Cheryl Gaster, social justice activist and human right lawyer, Toronto ON

Alisa Gayle-Deutsch, American/Canadian Musician and Anti-Israeli Apartheid Activist

Jack Gegenberg, Professor of Mathematics, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton NB

Prof. Terri Ginsberg, film and media scholar, New York

David Glick, psychotherapist; Jewish Voice for Peace

Sherna Berger Gluck, Emerita Professor, CSULB; Israel Divestment Campaign

Neta Golan, Ramallah, Palestine; Jews Against Genocide; Co-founder, International Solidarity Movement.

Tsilli Goldenberg, teacher, Jerusalem, Israel

Steve Goldfield, Ph.D.

Sue Goldstein, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Canada

Marty Goodman, former Executive Board member, Transport Workers Union Local 100; Socialist Action

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Freeman Fellow, Fellowship of Reconciliation

Hector Grad, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Spain

Prof. Jesse Greener, University of Laval

Cathy Gulkin, Filmmaker, Toronto ON

Ira Grupper, Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY

Jeff Halper, The Israeli Committee Against House demolitions (ICAHD)

Larry Haiven, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Halifax

Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, publisher, Germany

Stanley Heller, The Struggle Video News TSVN

Shir Hever, Jewish Voice for Just Peace, Germany

Deborah Hrbek, media and civil rights lawyer, NLG-NYC

Dr. Tikva Honig-Parnass, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return

Adam Horowitz, Co-Editor, Mondoweiss

Gilad Isaacs, Economist, Wits University.

Selma James, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Jake Javanshir, Independent Jewish Voices, Toronto

Riva Joffe, Jews Against Zionism

Val Jonas, attorney, Miami Beach

Sima Kahn, MD; President of the board, Kadima Reconstructionist Community

Yael Kahn, Israeli anti-apartheid activist

Michael Kalmanovitz, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (UK)

Dan Kaplan, AFT Local 1493

Susan Kaplan, J.D. National Lawyers Guild

Danny Katch, activist and author

Bruce Katz, President, Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU), Montreal, Canada

Lynn Kessler, Ph.D., MPH, psychologist/social justice activist

Janet Klecker, Sonomans for Justice & Peace for Palestine, Sonoma CA

Prof. David Klein, California State University, Northridge; USACBI

Emma Klein, Jewish Voice for Peace, Seattle WA

Sara Kershnar, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Harry Kopyto, Legal activist Toronto ON

Richard Koritz, veteran postal trade unionist and former member of North Carolina Human Relations Commission

Yael Korin, PhD., Scientist at UCLA; Campaign to End IsraelI Apartheid, Southern California

Dennis Kortheuer, CSULB, Israel Divestment Campaign

Steve Kowit, Professor Emeritus, Jewish Voice for Peace

Toby Kramer, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Jason Kunin, Independent Jewish Voices Canada

Dr. David Landy, Trinity College, Dublin

Jean Léger, Coalition pour la Justice et la Paix en Palestine, membre de la Coalition BDS Québec et de Palestiniens et Juifs Unis

Lynda Lemberg, Educators for Peace and Justice, Independent Jewish Voices, Toronto ON

David Letwin,* activist and teacher, Al-Awda NY

Michael Letwin,* former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325; USACBI; Al-Awda NY

Les Levidow, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG), UK

Corey Levine, Human Rights Activist, Writer; National Steering Committee, Independent Jewish Voices Canada

Joseph Levine, Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Lesley Levy, Independent Jewish Voices, Montreal

Mich Levy, teacher, Oakland CA

Abby Lippman, Professor Emerita; activist; Montreal

Brooke Lober, PhD candidate, University of Arizona, Gender and Women’s Studies Department

Antony Loewenstein, journalist, author and Guardian columnist

Jennifer Loewenstein, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Alex Lubin, Professor of American Studies, University of New Meixco

Andrew Lugg, Professor Emeritus, University of Ottawa, Canada

David Makofsky, Jewish Voice for Peace, Research Anthropologist

Harriet Malinowitz, Professor of English, Long Island University, Brooklyn

Mike Marqusee, Author, If I Am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew

Miriam Marton, JD

Dr. Richard Matthews. independent scholar, London ON

Daniel L. Meyers, Former President National Lawyers Guild-NYC

Linda Milazzo, Writer/Activist/Educator, Los Angeles

Eva Steiner Moseley, Holocaust refugee, Massachusetts Peace Action board member and Palestine/Israel Working Group

Dr. Dorothy Naor, retired teacher, Herzliah, Israel

Marcy Newman, independent scholar; Author; The Politics of Teaching Palestine to Americans

Alex Nissen, Women in Black

Dr. Judith Norman, San Antonio, TX

Henry Norr, retired journalist, Berkeley CA

Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against Racist Terror

Prof. Bertell Ollman, NYU

Karin Pally, Santa Monica, CA

Prof. Ilan Pappé, Israeli historian and socialist activist

Karen Platt, Jewish Voice for Peace, Albany CA

Dr. Susan Pashkoff, Jews Against Zionism, London UK

Miko Peled, writer, activist; Author, The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine

Prof. Gabriel Piterberg, UCLA

Mitch Podolak, Founder, Winnipeg Folk Festival and Vancouver Folk Music Festival

Karen Pomer,* granddaughter of Henri B. van Leeuwen, Dutch anti-Zionist leader and Bergen-Belsen survivor

Lenny Potash, Los Angeles CA

Fabienne Presentey, Independent Jewish Voices, Montréal

Diana Ralph, Independent Jewish Voices Canada

Roland Rance, Jews Against Zionism, London

Karen Ranucci, Independent Journalist, Democracy Now!

Ana Ratner, Artist, Puppeteer, Activist.

Michael Ratner, President Emeritus, Center for Constitutional Rights

Prof. Dr. Fanny-Michaela Reisin, Jewish Voice Germany

Diana M.A. Relke, Professor Emerita, University of Saskatchewan

Prof. Bruce Robbins, Columbia University

Stewart M. Robinson, retired Prof of Mathematics

Professor Lisa Rofel, University of California, Santa Cruz

Mimi Rosenberg, Producer & Host, Building Bridges and Wednesday Edition, WBAI 99.5 FM; Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325

Lillian Rosengarten, Author, From The Shadows Of Nazi Germany To The Jewish Boat To Gaza

Prof. Jonathan Rosenhead, British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP)

Yehoahua Rosin, Israel

Ilana Rossoff, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Martha Roth, Independent Jewish Voices; Vancouver BC

Marty Roth, Emeritus professor of English, University of Minnesota

Ruben Roth, Assistant Professor, Labour Studies, Laurentian University; Independent Jewish Voices Canada

Emma Rubin, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Cheryl A. Rubenberg, Middle East Scholar; Editor, Encyclopedia of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; Author, The Palestinians in Search of a Just Peace

Josh Ruebner, Author, Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Mark Rudd, retired teacher, Albuquerque NM

Ben Saifer, Independent Jewish Voices Canada

Evalyn Segal, Rossmoor Senior Community

Sylvia Schwarz, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Yossi Schwartz, Internationalist Socialist League; Haifa

Carole Seligman, co-editor, Socialist Viewpoint magazine

Yom Shamash, Independent Jewish Voices, Vancouver, Canada

Tali Shapiro, Boycott from Within; Israel

Karen Shenfeld, Poet, Toronto ON

Sid Shniad, National Steering Committee, Independent Jewish Voices Canada

William Shookhoff, Independent Jewish Voices, Toronto ON

Melinda Smith, Jewish Voice for Peace, Albuquerque NM

Kobi Snitz, Tel Aviv

Marsha Steinberg, BDS-LA for Justice in Palestine, Los Angeles

Lotta Strandberg, Visiting Scholar, NYU

Carol Stone, Independent Jewish Voices, Vancouver BC

Miriam (Cherkes-Julkowski) Swenson, Ph.D.

Matthew Taylor, author

Laura Tillem, Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas

Peter Trainor, Independent Jewish Voices, Toronto

Rebecca Tumposky, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Darlene Wallach, Justice for Palestinians, San Jose CA

Dr. Abraham Weizfeld, JPLO

Bonnie Weinstein, Co-Editor of Socialist Viewpoint magazine; Publisher, Bay Area United Against War Newsletter

Sam Weinstein, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-Labor; former President, UWUA Local 132

Judith Weisman, Independent Jewish Voices; Not in Our Name (NION); Toronto ON

Paul Werner, PhD, DSFS Editor, WOID, a journal of visual language

Noga Wizansky, Ph.D., artist, instructor, and researcher; Administrator, Institute of European Studies, UC Berkeley

Marcy Winograd, public school teacher, former congressional peace candidate

Bekah Wolf, UC Hastings College of Law Student; Co-founder, Palestine Solidarity Project

Sherry Wolf, International Socialist Organization

Dave Zirin, Author, Game Over: How Politics Have Turned the Sports World Upside Down

 

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Jews for Palestinian Right of Return

http://tinyurl.com/jfpror

http://jfpror.wordpress.com/

Arab Workers Union Appeal to labour unions and civil society organisations

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International Trade Union Committee in support of Palestinian working men and women*

mail j-p.barrois@wanadoo.fr

Arab Workers Union Appeal to labour unions and civil society organisations

Nazareth, 20 July 2014

Stop the terrorist war on Gaza!

Stop the sacking of Arab workers for showing their solidarity with the people of Gaza!

The Arab Workers Union of Nazareth calls on all civil society organisations and all international trade unions throughout the world to openly take a clear position condemning the barbarous terrorist attacks carried out by the Israeli occupying forces against the population of the town of Gaza, the refugee camps, and throughout the Gaza Strip. This area is the scene of murders on a daily basis, targeting hundreds of children, men and women. The most recent of these took place in the Shuyayia neighbourhood and the town of Khan Yunis. The trade union calls on the international organisations, as well as on all progressive forces, political parties and trade unions, to demonstrate and strengthen their protests and solidarity with the civilians of Gaza, who are undergoing extermination.

On another level, the Arab Workers Union of the town of Nazareth has urged the progressive forces, trade unions and political parties to condemn every kind of racial discrimination suffered by the Palestinian workers (who have Israeli nationality), especially after several Israeli employers had sacked dozens of Arab workers because of their solidarity with their brothers in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, several Israeli workplaces have banned their employees from speaking Arabic to each other.

It should be noted that for more than a month now, all of the towns and villages of Galilee, the Negev region and Nazareth have witnessed big demonstrations by the people following the murder by burning alive of the child Mohammed Abu Khdair, born in Jerusalem, and also in solidarity with the people of Gaza. These popular demonstrations saw violent clashes between the demonstrators and the army and police forces, which resorted to repression in order to disperse the angry crowds. We should emphasise that the number of people detained in the 1948 zones is now over 150.

We urge all the revolutionary forces, parties and trade unions throughout the world to express their solidarity and demonstrate against the murders being committed by Israel in Gaza.

We invite all trade union comrades and friends to condemn every kind of racial discrimination against Arab workers in Israel and also to condemn the repression carried out by the Israeli police against the Palestinian demonstrators in the 1948 zones.

Nazareth, PO Box 2721, Mikod 16126
Fax: (972) 04 6001369
Mobile: (972) 0507770134

* The International Trade Union Committee in support of Palestinian working men and women was set up in December 2006 in Algiers, by trade unionists from 23 countries who participated in an international conference in support of Palestinian Arab workers of Nazareth being subjected to the Wisconsin Plan.

National Trade Union Initiative, India: Government of India must stand up for Palestine

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Government of India must stand up for Palestine

New Delhi, 17 July 2014: The murderous attack of Israel on Gaza that began on 3 July is like all Israel’s attacks on Palestine without justification and lacking in proportion. There is no evidence that the three Israeli teenagers who went missing on 12 June and whose bodies were found on 30 June were killed by Hamas. In the 18 intervening days the Israel Security Agency rounded up several hundred Hamas members as persons responsible for the disappearance and even razed the houses of some of them to the ground. On 1 July, when the Hamas retaliated with rocket fire in response to which the Israel Defence Force aerially bombed 34 locations in the Gaza strip razing parts of northern Gaza to the ground.

In the last 14 years, of 8,166 conflict-related deaths recorded by an Israeli Human Rights Organisation, 7,065 have been of Palestinians and 1,101 of Israelis – which means for every 15 people killed in the conflict, 13 are Palestinian and 2 are Israeli. Of these, since January 2005, of 4,006 people killed, 168 have been Israeli and 3,838 Palestinian – which means that, since January 2005, only 4 percent of those killed have been Israeli, and 96 percent Palestinian. The dramatic fall in Israeli deaths in this period is because of Israel’s decision to increase the size and number of walls separating Israeli and Palestinian territory. This separation was of course, despite UN efforts, accompanied by aggressive expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and then protecting these settlements with walls.

In the present crisis, according to Gaza medical officials 195 Palestinians, including at least 150 civilians, among them 31 children, have been killed on the other hand 1 Israeli has been killed. Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system has intercepted 20 Hamas projectiles, with no casualty, while Israel has mobilised troops and threatened a ground invasion of Gaza that is home to 1.8 million Palestinians. The conflict impacts Palestinians and Israelis far beyond just conflict deaths, but even these official statistics show how extremely disproportionate the impact of the conflict is.

The statement of Ms Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, in the Rajya Sabha, that India has “diplomatic ties with both nations. Any discourteous reference to any friendly country can impact our relations with them” is in complete negation of the disproportionately tilted balance of power between Israel and Palestine. This reflects the BJP government’s position on Indo-Israel relations. It is however not surprising from a government led by the architects of the Gujarat genocide.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, was one of the first to telephone Mr. Narendra Modi to congratulate him on the victory of the BJP. Mr. Netanyahu is reported to have told a cabinet meeting that there was a “clear expression of the desire to deepen and develop economic ties with the State of Israel” from Mr. Modi in the course of the telephone conversation.

Israel’s support to India in the Kargil conflict during the last NDA government’s term had built a relationship which has seen defence cooperation between the two countries registering a significant high. India constitutes the largest market for the Israeli defence industry, and Israel is the second largest supplier of arms to India, after Russia. According to 2014 estimates, India accounts for $1 to $1.5 billion of Israel’s $7 billion total defence exports. The two countries have also been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement for the last several years which is likely to be concluded in this government’s term.

The Modi government in Gujarat continued this relation and furthered it. Israeli agriculture, pharmaceutical, alternative energy and information technology companies have flourished in Gujarat. This isn’t incidental: Mr. Modi’s campaign was based on replicating his economic success in Gujarat on a national scale which includes the successful tie-up with Israel. The Indo-Israel relation is more than economic and defence cooperation but entrenched in advancing the ideology of Hindutva that is articulated in direct opposition to Islam and hence in opposition to the nationhood of Palestine and the inalienable right of Palestinian peoples to the right to self determination. The last NDA government’s national security advisor, Brajesh Mishra in an address in 2003 in the US called for a “viable alliance” against international terrorism and the development of “multi-lateral mechanisms” to counter it. Israel in response had said that an “unwritten and abstract axis” between the U.S., India and Israel to combat terrorism. This is a foreign policy of the core politics for a society driven by religious majoritarianism and bigotry that labels everyone outside it or opposed to it as a terrorist.

We call upon the Government of India to:

  1. Respect the right to nationhood and the right to self determination of the Palestinian peoples and towards this end issue a strong condemnation of the illegal actions of the Israel government and defence forces and to work for an immediate ceasefire by the Israel Defence Force,
  2. Respect and work towards the realisation of the Fortelaza Declaration which it has just signed at the Sixth Brics Summit with regard to rights of the peoples’ of Palestine and in all other matters,
  3. Respect the democratic spirit of this country and accede to the request of various parties in parliament to an open debate on the Palestinian question and the present attack by Israel, and
  4. Respect the wishes of the vast majority of Indians for a plural and democratic country and world by ensuring that it does not promote one religion, faith or belief over others at home and is not party in any way to promoting it abroad too.

Gautam Mody
General Secretary

http://ntui.org.in/media/item/government-of-india-must-stand-up-for-palestine/