Palestinian Trade Unions’ Anti-Apartheid Call

Labour  •  April 16, 2023

The global trade union movement, which has played a key and inspiring role in its commitment to workers’ rights and human rights more generally, has stood in principled solidarity with the oppressed across the world, adopting concrete, ground-breaking, labour-led sanctions against oppressive regimes.

Israel’s systematic destruction of the Palestinian economy, discriminatory and racist laws, and restrictions on freedom of movement and association have a significant impact on the rights and working conditions of Palestinian workers.

Inspired by the massive workers’ solidarity with the struggle that ended apartheid in South Africa and with the ongoing Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and equality, and

Based on the consensus among major Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations and UN experts that Israel is perpetrating the crime against humanity of apartheid,

We, the undersigned Palestinian trade union bodies and professional syndicates, urge all trade unions, trade union federations, and professional syndicates worldwide to contribute to the Palestinian-led Anti-Apartheid Movement by taking meaningful action in support of the rights of Palestinian workers and the Palestinian people at large to end the system of occupation, colonization and apartheid, including by:

• Excluding from procurement Israeli and international companies and banks that are complicit in Israel’s apartheid and military occupation, including illegal settlements;
• Divesting pension funds from State of Israel Bonds (#BreakTheBonds) and all Israeli and international companies and banks that are complicit in Israel’s occupation and apartheid;
• Mobilizing port workers and their unions to refrain from loading/offloading Israeli ships, as was done in Oakland, California and elsewhere, inspired by the heroic measures taken by port workers around the world in suspending maritime trade with apartheid South Africa;
• Pressuring city councils to end any complicit relations they may have with Israeli apartheid, including by excluding from their procurement all companies that are implicated in grave human rights violations globally, including Israel’s illegal settlements and system of apartheid against Palestinians;

And pressuring your government/parliament to,

1. Support efforts at the UN to investigate Israeli apartheid and to reconstitute the UN Special Committee against Apartheid and the UN Centre against Apartheid.
2. Investigate and prosecute individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid.
3. Ban arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel.
4. Suspend free trade agreements with Israel.
5. Prohibit trade with the illegal Israeli settlements and terminate corporate business with Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. •

Signatories

• General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW)
• Palestinian Union of Postal, IT and Telecommunications Workers
• Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions “PGFTU Jericho”
• Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions “PGFTU Gaza”
• Federation of Independent Trade Unions
• General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT)
• The Palestinian New Federation of Trade Unions
• Union of Palestinian Farmers
• General Union of Palestinian Peasants
• Agricultural Cooperatives Union
• Palestinian Engineers Association
• Palestinian Bar Association
• Palestinian Agriculture Engineers Syndicate
• Palestinian Veterinarians Syndicate
• Palestinian Dental Association
• Palestinian Medical Association

This article first published on the BDS Movement website.