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http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2009/s2752246.htm ----- *Palestinian Trade Union Movement Unanimously Confirms Support for BDS* 25
November 2009 In
reaction to reports alleging that a Palestinian trade union official has
stated his reservations about the Palestinian civil society campaign of
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), the full spectrum of the Palestinian
trade union movement has expressed solid support for the BDS National
Committee (BNC)* and for the global BDS campaign against Israel as an
effective form of resisting its military occupation, war crimes and apartheid
policies. On
November 12, the Jewish Chronicle, a staunchly Zionist paper published in the
United Kingdom, reported that the Secretary General of the Palestinian
General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), Shaher Sa'ad, had told a small
delegation of British trade unionists that PGFTU “had
so little interest in the subject [of boycotting Israel] it had never
discussed boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS).” The head of the
delegation, Steve Scott, who is the director of Trade Union Friends of Israel
(TUFI), a well-oiled lobbying front for Israel in the trade union
movement, is quoted in the same article as saying, “the only area where the
PGFTU did have a boycott policy was with regard to produce from West Bank
settlements. Even then, there was concern about whether that boycott could do
more harm than good for the 30,000 Palestinians employed
there.” On
November 14, Shaher Sa'ad categorically denied the above report in an
interview with Aljazeera TV, reiterating his support for the boycott against
Israel. The following day, in an
official speech [1] before thousands of Palestinian workers at a political
rally in Nablus, he called again for "boycotting [all] Israeli
goods" and "supporting local [Palestinian]
products" as an effective "form of resistance against the Israeli
occupation." Whether
Mr. Sa'ad made the statement attributed to him by the Zionist media outlets
in the UK or not, the fact remains that PGFTU
has officially endorsed the Palestinian civil society campaign of Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, since it was launched on 9
July 2005, and has been a member in the BDS National Committee (BNC), the
coalition of Palestinian unions, political parties, NGOs and networks that
leads the global BDS campaign, ever since its inception. If
the Jewish Chronicle's report is accurate, something that cannot be taken for
granted, given the paper's notorious record, Mr. Sa'ad will have isolated
himself completely from the absolute majority of the Palestinian trade union
movement, including a solid majority within PGFTU itself. Since the above
report, the BNC has officially asked PGFTU for clarifications and for a
public, written position confirming its support for the boycott and calling
on international trade unions to support BDS. Within hours of our letter,
PGFTU-Gaza (which forms a sizeable part of the whole Federation) issued an
official statement confirming its support for BDS and condemning any alleged
violation of it by Sa'ad. Six trade union factions within PGFTU immediately
followed suit, endorsing the BNC position and confirming their unambiguous
support for BDS. Union leaders affiliated to all political parties
represented in the PGFTU have insisted on the need to combat any attempts to
undermine the BDS movement. Furthermore,
the largest, most representative Palestinian trade union federation, the
General Union of Palestinian Workers (one of the constituent mass
organizations of the PLO), reiterated its steady support of BDS and denounced
Sa'ad's reported statements as falling completely outside the Palestinian
trade union consensus behind the boycott of Israel. The Palestinian
Federation of Independent Trade Unions also issued a similar position. It is
worth noting that all three federations are part of the BNC. The
Israel lobby groups in the UK and elsewhere have felt quite desperate lately
in their abortive attempts to stop the spectacular growth of the BDS
movement, particularly among major international trade unions. In South
Africa, Great Britain, Ireland, Brazil, Canada and France trade union
federations representing tens of millions of workers have endorsed –
partially or fully – the BDS campaign against Israel. Many
trade unions in Europe, Latin America and Canada have also announced their
support for the Israel boycott, underlining the dramatic shift in international
public opinion against Israel, especially in the aftermath of its war crimes
against the Palestinian people in the occupied Gaza Strip, which were
squarely condemned by the UN Fact Finding Mission led by South African Judge,
Richard Goldstone. The
BNC, including all three federations representing the Palestinian trade union
movement, warmly salute all international trade unions who have endorsed BDS,
confirming that this is the most effective and needed form
of solidarity with the Palestinian people and the strongest challenge to
Israel's criminal impunity and exceptionalism. As in the struggle against
South African apartheid, Israel's occupation, colonialism and apartheid will
only come to an end when international civil society shoulders the moral responsibility
by holding Israel to account before international law and universal
principles of human rights, and by treating it as a pariah state, as
apartheid South Africa was, deserving comprehensive and sustained BDS
campaigns. Any
isolated and dissonant statements attributed to any Palestinian trade union
official can never be regarded as remotely representing the Palestinian trade
union movement, as it would be in direct conflict with the consensus in this
movement behind BDS. We urge all international trade unions to heed the call
of Palestinian civil society, including the trade union movement, by
endorsing BDS. We further urge all trade unions and trade union federations
to sever their links with the Histadrut, a Zionist organization that has always
played a key role in perpetuating Israel's occupation, colonization and
system of racial discrimination, and that has justified and applauded
Israel's war crimes in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. The
Histadrut and Israel apologists within the international trade union movement
have continuously tried to use partial comments and innuendo by this or that
Palestinian trade union official to create a deceptive impression of an
imagined “split” in the Palestinian trade union movement on BDS. Today, we
reconfirm to the TU movement worldwide that _*the Palestinian trade union
movement stands united in support of BDS and calls on every TU to endorse
BDS*_. This is our best hope to end Israel's grave violations of
international law and to attain our inalienable, UN-sanctioned rights,
especially our right to self determination. *The
Palestinian Civil Society BDS National Committee (BNC)* [1]
_http://www.maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=240140_ *The
Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC)
is a wide coalition of the largest Palestinian mass organizations, trade
unions, networks and organizations. * _Member
organizations:_ Council
of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine General
Union of Palestinian Workers Palestinian
General Federation of Trade Unions Palestinian
NGO Network (PNGO) Palestinian
National Institute for NGOs Federation
of Independent Trade Union Palestine
Right of Return Coalition Occupied
Palestine and Golan Heights Initiative General
Union of Palestinian Women Union
of Palestinian Farmers Grassroots
Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (STW) The
National Committee for Popular Resistance Palestinian
Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) National
Committee to Commemorate the Nakba Civic
Coalition for the Defense of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCDPRJ) Coalition
for Jerusalem Union
of Palestinian Charitable Organizations Palestinian
Economic Monitor Union
of Youth Activity Centers-Palestine Refugee Camps *Web:
*_*www.bdsmovement.net* <http://www.bdsmovement.net/>_ *E-mail:
*_*info@bdsmovement.net* <mailto:info@bdsmovement.net>_ |
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