Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 13)
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- Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 13)
- المحتوى
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the Zionist colonial enterprise. One of its
original tasks was enforcing the slogan
«Jewish labor only». Not until 1966 did it
open its membership to the Palestinians
who were considered Israeli citizens
after 1948. Even then it has done
nothing to protect their rights. Of course,
eligible Palestinians began to join the
Histadrut nonetheless, as the only
means of securing health and employ-
ment insurance. After almost twenty
years, this had a perceivable impact: In
the May 1985 Histadrut elections, the
dominant Zionist Labor Party lost
ground in 46 Palestinian Arab com-
munities to the Democratic Front for
Peace and Equality which got 50% of
the Palestinian vote in 22 communities
and 30% in 24 others. Given Histadrut's
nature, this will not lead to any dramatic
change in its policy. Rather it shows
something about Palestinian workers’
political sentiments. It is a result of the
struggle to defend their rights against all
odds, employing the structures available
to them. More important, it is part of the
trend of more overt politicization marked
by the 1976 Day of the Land uprising and
local elections that brought Democratic
Front for Peace and Equality candidates
into Galilee and Triangle townhalls.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian
trade union movement was severely
repressed, first under Jordanian rule,
(1948-67), then under Israeli military
rule. In the Gaza Strip, the General Fed-
eration of Trade Unions was banned
with the 1967 occupation, and only
allowed to reopen in 1980 under a local
capitalist appointed by the occupation
authorities; it is forbidden to recruit new
members. This is no coincidence, for the
Strip is the most extreme example of
Zionism’s super exploitation of Palesti-
nian labor, due to its small size, high
population density and the fact the two-
thirds of the residents are refugees.
These factors, combined with Israeli
restrictions on local industry and fishing,
make it almost impossible for the Gaza
Palestinians to sustain themselves inde-
pendently.
The West Bank General Federation
of Trade Unions functions despite
severe repression against its leaders,
cadres and component unions - arrests
and house/town arrests, closure of
locales, etc. In addition, several labor
blocs have been formed in close affilia-
tion to Palestinian resistance organiza-
tions and progressive parties. Their
activity resulted in the opening of many
new unions for previously unorganized
workers in the early eighties. This reacti-
vation of the trade union movement can-
not be separated from the overall esca-
lation of the Palestinian mass movement
in the same period, resisting occupation
and especially the plans of Camp David
and ‘autonomy’.
Zionist policy has severely ham-
pered the trade unions from fulfilling
their specific role. Approximately 49% of
the active West Bank labor force has
been driven to work in ‘Israel’, but West
Bank trade unions are not recognized by
the Israeli authorities and therefore lack
negotiating rights. Concerning those
who work for Palestinian employers, the
national question interjects itself. Zionist
policy aims to undermine the Palestinian
national economy as a whole. It would
therefore be counterproductive, eco-
nomically as well as politically, for Pales-
tinian workers to wage labor disputes
against the Palestinian employers to the
extent of contributing to this undermin-
ing. West Bank trade unions therefore
chart a careful course of defending
workers’ interests in the context of pre-
serving what is left of the local economy,
for its further destruction would leave the
entire population even more vulnerable
to Zionism’s exploitation. An increase in
strikes was, however, noted in the West
Bank from early 1985, as Palestinian
workers refused austerity measures
imposed as a result of the Israeli
economic crisis being shoved into the
occupied territories. Workers in some
Bee
enterprises have been successful in
gearing their struggle against the
national and class enemy. The best
example is the workers at the Jerusalem
District Electric Company who have
defended themselves and the national
company against Israeli and royal Jor-
danian encroachments. Another exam-
ple was the Hotel Workers Union strike
in October 1985, protesting the decision
of owner Samia Maroun to sell the
Shepherds Hotel, in the Jerusalem dis-
trict, to the Jewish National Fund.
An important component of the
West Bank trade unions’ work is socially
oriented. Projects such as consumer
cooperatives aim to meet the needs of
laborers and their families in the
absence of other social security prog-
rams. This work is closely linked to polit-
ical mobilization and aims to bolster
Palestinian steadfastness, national
identity and resistance to the occupa-
tion, and assert the role of the working
class in this struggle. As a result of their
effective work in this field, trade
unionists have figured prominently
among the political activists targeted by
the Israeli occupation’s iron fist.
Racist discrimination
An Israeli education minister in the
fifties once said that he preferred to see
Arabs as «woodcutters and gardners
only.» This kind of thinking determined
how the Palestinians who remained in
Slave market - Palestinians line up for day labor.
“SR cai
wie ne ee
SRD REDS
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41 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 16
- تاريخ
- مايو ١٩٨٦
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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