zaterdag 5 november 2011

Factsheet on Palestine for Trade Unions

Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign
  
The Apartheid Wall has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, yet the international community has done nothing to halt its encroachment on Palestinian land. Palestinian workers and farmers have been the most effected by the ongoing construction of the wall, thus we reach out to trade unions, invoking the best practices of trade union solidarity and internationalism under the tried and true union slogan of ‘an injury to one is an injury to all!’. We implore workers around the world in the spirit of the South African Anti-Apartheid struggle, where trade union solidarity was critical, to raise awareness within their unions and workplaces about the daily violations Palestinian workers and farmers have to endure. Help us expose the companies complicit in the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

While the Israeli state argues that the construction of the wall is due to security reasons, the reality is that the Apartheid Wall cuts across Palestinian lands, separating the Palestinians into smaller segregated ghettos where the workers movement is controlled though a permit system (reminiscent of the Pass Laws of the South African apartheid state). The Apartheid Wall has been especially harmful to Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers who are forced to obtain permits to work their own lands behind the Wall or near settlements. Applicants must satisfy the security considerations and submit land documents to prove a ‘connection to the land’. Those that obtain permits are often only allowed on their land for limited periods during the harvest season, making the upkeep of farmland impossible.

We ask the trade union movement to stand in solidarity with Palestinian workers and farmers by joining the Week Against the Apartheid Wall and by helping us to distribute the following facts.

Vervolg in Factsheet on Palestine for Trade Unions, Stop the Wall 30-10-2011

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