We, the undersigned Palestinian trade union bodies, welcome the initiative by the European Trade Union Network for Justice in Palestine to establish May 20th – as the European Day of Solidarity with Palestinian workers.

On the 20 of May 1990 a group of Palestinian workers from Gaza was waiting to board an Israeli bus to go to work. A man in an IDF uniform checked their IDs, forced them to kneel on the ground and assassinated seven workers.

The month of May also commemorates the Nakba, known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, that resulted in the dispossession of an estimated 750,000 refugees from historic Palestine,

It’s now widely recognised that under international law, the violation of Palestinian human rights constitutes the crime of apartheid.

We call on European trade unions to engage in a meaningful act of solidarity by:

  • cutting ties with institutions and companies involved in the oppression of Palestinian workers;
  • pressuring European governments to end economic transactions with illegal Israeli settlements, to impose a two way military embargo on Israel and end their relations with companies complicit with Israel’s apartheid regime.

We continue our struggle and resistance, but there is a need to step up European and international solidarity with Palestinian workers on all fronts. Therefore we welcome the initiative for the European Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Workers to be set up on May 20th.

Endorsing unions:

General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW)
Palestinian Union of Postal, IT & Telecommunications Workers
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions “PGFTU Gaza”
Federation of Independent Trade Unions
The Palestinian New Federation of Trade Unions
The Arab Workers Union
Palestinian Postal Service Workers Union
Independent Labours Committees Union in Palestine – Gaza
The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)