08) CUPW DELEGATES VOTE TO SUPPORT PALESTINIAN WORKERS

(The following article is from the May 16-31, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Delegates at the April national convention of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers voted to adopt composite resolution 338/339, calling for a boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. CUPW is the first national union in North America to take this stance.

     Resolution 338/339 reads as follows:

"CUPW will: Continue to demand that Israel immediately end all military assaults and abide completely by the most recent and unanimous Security Council resolution calling on them to do so.

     Call for and actively work towards an end to the suicide bombings, military assaults and other acts of violence that take the lives of innocent people and demand that the Israeli-West Bank barrier be immediately torn down.

     Demand that the Israeli Government immediately withdraw from the occupied territories and abide by UN resolution 242.

     Call on the Canadian government to increase humanitarian aid to Palestinians that have been affected by the ongoing conflict.

     Support the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self- determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

     With Palestine solidarity and human rights organizations, develop an education campaign about the apartheid nature of the Israel state and the political and economic support of Canada for these practices.

     Commit to research into Canadian involvement in the occupation and call on other Canadian unions to join us in lobbying against the apartheid like practices of the Israel state and call for immediate dismantling of the wall.

     We want to do this for these reasons:

     BECAUSE no lasting peace can be created unless there is implementation of international law, United Nations resolutions and respect for the human rights of both Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis equally.

     BECAUSE 35 years ago, the United Nations Security Council unanimously called for Israel to withdraw from territories it invaded in 1967 (West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem) in resolution 242.

     BECAUSE Israel has refused to implement resolution 242 for 40 years and, moreover, has illegally established Jewish-only settlements in these areas in further violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

     BECAUSE the Israeli Apartheid Wall has been condemned and determined illegal under international law.

     BECAUSE over 170 Palestinian political parties, unions and other organizations including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions issued a call in July 2005 for a global campaign of boycotts and divestment against Israel similar to those imposed against South African Apartheid;

     BECAUSE the barrier severely restricts the movement of and work possibilities for Palestinians, violates international law, is partially built on land confiscated from Palestinians and is not a way to create lasting peace and security.

     BECAUSE CUPW has a constitutional policy in favour of peace and disarmament and has consistently worked within the Canadian labour movement to pressure the Canadian government to promote peaceful solutions in the face of war."

     In a bulletin addressing the issue, newly-elected CUPW National President Denis Lemelin notes that "There are around 235 Israeli settlements in the West Bank in violation of international law and in defiance of UN resolutions. Checkpoints, roadblocks, military bases, and by-pass roads that connect illegal settlements are found throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In 2003, the Israeli government began building a 700 km long and six-metre-high Separation Wall inside the West Bank. More than 10% of Palestinian land will lie behind the wall. The International Court of Justice, the world's highest court, ruled the wall illegal in 2004.

     "The Israeli occupation of Palestine has had a serious impact on workers. Unemployment has risen from 5% before 1993 to around 50% in 2006, leaving approximately 350,000 workers unemployed. Approximately 50% of families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are living under the poverty line of $2 per day."

     Other unions which have adopted resolutions endorsing the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign include Unison, the British Public Sector Union; Irish Congress of Trade Unions; Norwegian Electrician and IT Workers Union; British University and College Union; and CUPE Ontario Division.