An education delegation led by CUPE National and made up of members from across the country is currently in Israel-Palestine. Their goal is to learn about the impact of Israel’s military occupation on Palestinian workers, and to hear firsthand accounts of the human rights impact on the population in general.
After meeting with a diversity of trade unions, workers’ centres, grassroots organizations, legal rights organizations, and human rights activists in Israel and Palestine, and community leaders and victims of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it is clear that the struggle for land under colonial rule is at the heart of the occupation. Under the occupation, the Palestinian people in Israel and Palestine are vulnerable.
The delegation is deeply concerned with a continued disregard for labour and human rights in Israel-Palestine. There is a proliferation of exploitive precarious work and trade unions are repressed. Communities face demolition leading to forced displacement. The detention of child prisoners like Ahed Tamini continue to alarm within the international community. The ongoing diversion of water from Palestinian communities into the settlements in the Jordan Valley is provocative and denies the Palestinians ongoing access to water.
CUPE has long recognized the need for the Israeli Government to withdraw from the Occupied Palestinian Territories and abide by UN Resolution 242 and Resolution 338 as a precondition to peace. We have called for Israel to dismantle the separation wall and end all acts of violence that take the lives of innocent people, whether they be Palestinian or Israeli, and have voiced our support for a peace process that recognizes the equality of all Israelis and Palestinians, based on the implementation of UN resolutions and international law.
This historic support for solidarity campaigns remains relevant today.
A more substantial report will be posted in the coming days when the delegation concludes.