Internationale VN dag 29 november / Internationale Dag van Solidariteit met het Palestijnse Volk

Deze door de Verenigde Naties uitgeroepen jaarlijkse Internationale Dag van Solidariteit met het Palestijnse Volk is een goed moment om nog eens na te lezen wat de Palestijnse vakbeweging voor boodschap had voor haar internationale vakbondsvrienden en -vriendinnen. ABVAKABO FNV nam die boodschap in ontvangst, zie nogmaals het verslag van een Werkconferentie te Amman in juni 2010.

Een greep aan citaten uit dat verslag:

• Relatie met FNV Mondiaal en Abvakabo FNV: hun financiële steun voor de uitvoering van projecten heeft geleid tot het vergroten van de capaciteit van de bonden, een verhoging van de deelname van vrouwen en het houden van democratische verkiezingen.
• Gezamenlijke strijd tegen globalisering en privatisering van de publieke sectoren.
• De kaders dienen meer van elkaar leren, bijv. door delegatie werkbezoek of een werkstage uitwisselingsprogramma .
• Continuering van de solidariteitsactie voor Palestijnse werknemers in de huidige uitzichtloze bezettingsituatie.
• blij met alle boycotcampagnes in het buitenland. De BDS-campagne (boycot, disinvestment, sanctions) is een goed drukmiddel op Israël. Er moeten ook fact-finding missies komen van vakbonden van buiten de regio. De bezetting zelf ervaren maakt duidelijker voor de internationale gemeenschap onder welke omstandigheden vakbondswerk uitgevoerd moet worden.
• een internationale conferentie om Israël verantwoordelijk te stellen.

Er is ruim huiswerk!

Vakbondsvrouw Rafeef Ziadah - 'We teach life, sir', London, 12.11.11

Rafeef Ziadah - 'We teach life, sir', London, 12.11.11

Vakbondsvrouw en econoom Rafeef Ziadah nam deel aan het Russell Tribunal on Palestine, te Kaapstad (Zuid Afrika), over Apartheid. Hier de Cape Town Session summary of findings

Verhaal van een boer in Palestina, Turkalem

In Turkalem woont en werkt Faize Taneeb, een 'organic farmer' omringd door 'de muur' en Israelische fabrieken.

Lees Faiez - Story Palestinian farmer

Afrondend zegt Faize:  "I think the world does not understand us. The world does not know how it feels your children leaving home to school without knowing weather they will return, the world does not know what every child feels when leaving home without knowing if his parents will be still alive when he returns from school. The world does not know what happens here and we are alone. They hear about Palestine and they think they know what happens here and they (foreigners) come and visit us and here they realize that things are not as the imagine, but even worse."

Verhaal van een schoenmaker in Palestina, in Hebron

Lees het verhaal van Tamir ofwel Abu Taleeb (de vander van Taleeb), een schoenmaker wonend in het zogenaamde H2-deel van Hebron's oude stad.

Hier We are here because we exist - Story of shoemaker in Hebron.

Het artikel eindigt aldus:

"I live here to confirm my existence and prove that we are going to continue our presence in this land," Tamir said.

"The settlers want to scare us and to drive us to despair, they want us to leave this area, that is why they do all this. But we are not leaving. That is why we are here, because we exist and we are not going to allow them to kick us from our lands. This is our land and we ae not going to give up," Tamir said.

Tamir also said that he know he is quite alone in this struggle, and he asked me: "Where are all those large international organizations of Human Rights, the UN? We have lived through 40 years of occupation and where are they? what are they doing?"

When I left, Tamir told me that he dreams on the day when Palestinians can live safe in their land and the settlers leave.

VN-rapport meldt stijgend geweld door kolonisten

The United Nations publishes a report on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, revealing a drastic rise in Palestinian casualties and property damage in 2011 compared with 2010

The United Nations publishes a report on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, revealing a drastic rise in Palestinian casualties and property damage in 2011 compared with 2010

Zie UN report shows rise settler violence in 2011

En meer kolonistengeweld is aangekondigd, zie Al Ahram (29-9):
'Jewish settlers indoctrinated in extremist Talmudic theology have threatened to transform the West Bank into a huge killing field.'

Zou goed zijn als de internationale campagne voor Decent Work / Decent Life hier aandacht aan zou geven, nu het nog zin heeft.

Factsheet on Palestine for Trade Unions

Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign

Sunday October 30, 2011

  

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

Palestijnse arbeiders onder de Israelische bezetting, een analyse

Impact on Palestinian Workers under Israeli Occupation
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign - Sunday October 30, 2011

  

Since the beginning of this Intifada in 2000, Israel has transformed the already harsh conditions under occupation into a nightmare of destruction and imprisonment. Economic life has severely suffered and unemployment has skyrocketed. Since September 2000, over 432 factories and 9,735 small shops and street seller stalls have been destroyed while Gaza’s industry has suffered complete breakdown due the destruction wrecked upon the Strip in the 2008/9 attack by Israel and the ongoing siege.

Palestinian workers are particularly suffering from this destruction and restrictions put on every aspect of life, which make reaching work places and earning a decent livelihood almost impossible. In its latest report on the situation of workers in Arab occupied territories, the ILO states that “no real improvement can take place unless restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation, and the occupation itself is removed”. For the Palestinian labour movement the struggle for self-determination and freedom has become an intrinsic component and precondition for achieving their working class demands.

Hier de volledige tekst: Impact Palestinian workers under Israeli occupation, Stop the Wall 30-10-2011

Het artikel eindigt aldus:
In front of these prospects, as Palestinian workers struggling against occupation we thank international organizations for their long standing solidarity with our people and its recent statements in support of our people against the Israeli occupation. It is time all world organisations decided to boycott all Israeli institutions implicated in the occupation and its practices, impose a military embargo on Israel, and end free trade agreements as long as Israel continues its occupation, denies the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, keeps thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, builds and maintains the apartheid wall and its settlements on our land.