The Palestinian- American Women’s Association of Southern California

Cordially invites you to attend

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!!

PALESTINIAN CULTURAL RESISTANCE: USING THE POWER OF FILMS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  FILMMAKER AND PRODUCER

CHERIEN DABIS

Award-winning Palestinian- American filmmaker Cherien Dabis was named one of Variety magazine’s “Ten Directors to Watch”  in 2009.  Her debut feature film-AMREEKA- premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival to wide acclaim and is the first fiction feature to be acquired for theatrical distribution by National Geographic Entertainment.  Also in 2009, AMREEKA opened the New Directors/New Films series in New York City and took home the FIPRESCI critics award at the Cannes film Festival. The film tells the story of a Palestinian woman who immigrates with her teenage son to United States of America after 9/11.

MAZZA AND ARABIC DINNER WILL BE SERVED

DATE :

MARCH 6, 2010  AT 6:00 PM

WHERE:

DOUBLETREE HOTEL
100 THE CITY DRIVE
ORANGE, CA  92868

Adults: $50 Presale, $60 at the Door

Students: $35

Tables: Gold: $1200 Silver: $1000 Bronze $800

To make reservations and/or purchase tickets contact:

(909) 861-8645) or (949) 310-0015 or (714) 381-2102

For more information see commentary by the US Palestine Community Network.

Officials in the PA contacted several Palestinian activists in Europe, North America and South America inviting them to the “Palestine Network Founding Conference” in Bethlehem for late February 2010. The Palestinian Authority claims that the initiative is a response to “grassroots” demands, hiding the fact that international participants were handpicked according to their political orientation in a secretive process controlled by senior officials in the office of Mahmoud Abbas, first and foremost Rafiq Al-Hussaini, the “Head of the Palestine Network Taskforce”.

The Palestine Network comes at a time when the Palestinian Authority faces a legitimacy crisis. There has been an upsurge of global activism outside the control of the Palestinian Authority. US-trained security forces are cracking down on internal dissent. The Palestine Network aims to build a constituency that will act as the “Palestinian voice” in order to lend legitimacy to these unpopular policies.

The undersigned individuals and organizations pledge to boycott and resist the Palestine Network and reaffirm the integrity of the inalienable rights of Palestinians, first and foremost the Right of Return.

To endorse this petition, please email your endorsement to: conference@palestineconference.org or complete the form below.

Endorsers

Another Voice–Ramallah, Palestine
The Austin Coalition for Palestine
The Brussles Palestine Collective
US Palestinian Community Network

Dr. Hatem Bazian, National Chairman, American Muslims for Palestine and
Faculty member, University of California, Berkeley
Omar Shweiki, Kenyon Institute (CBRL), Jerusalem
Osamah Khalil, Uiniversity of California, Berkeley
Sobhi Samour, London UK
Malak Khaled, Oxford, UK
Dr.Jamil Fayez, Washington, DC
Haitham El-Zabri, Austin, TX

For Reference: Palestine Network Documents

Endorse here!

* Required to Complete Form. You may also email your endorsement to conference@palestineconference.org

Featuring:
Monadel Herzallah of  the US Palestinian Community Network
Rebecca Tumposky of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Eugene, OR
Thursday, February 25
7-9 P.M.
The Knight Browsing Room
Knight Library
University of Oregon
1501 Kincaid
Eugene, OR 97403-1299

Portland, OR
Friday, February 26
7-9 P.M.
Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 298
Portland State University
1825 SW Broadway
Portland OR 97201

Corvallis, OR
Saturday, February 27
7-9 P.M.
Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship
2945 NW Circle Blvd.
Corvallis OR 97330

Free, donations gratefully accepted.

Sponsored by
Al-Nakba Awareness Project
Advocating Freedom, Justice & Equality in the Holy Land

Co-sponsors:
Arab Student Union, UO
Al-Awda Oregon
Peace Action Council Corvallis Unitarian
June Kenagy
Corvallis Veterans For Peace
Corvallis/Albany Friends of Middle East Peace Group
Bob Stebbins
Milton Takei
Peter Chabarek

Rebecca Tumposky lives in Oakland, CA and is an organizer and coordinator of U.S. chapters with the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network. She is also part of the Coordinating Committee of the 2010 U.S. Assembly of Jews: Confronting Racism and Israeli Apartheid which will be held in Detroit, MI in June, just prior to the U.S. Social Forum.

Monadel Herzallah is the Founder and President of the Arab American Union Members Council and member of the Coordinating Committee of the US Palestinian Community Network. Monadel has spoken at conventions and conferences across the U.S. and internationally; he was one of the coordinators of the Israel Review Conference which took place on the sidelines of the UN Conference Against Racism in Geneva in April 2009 and a speaker at the Boston “one-state” conference in March 2009, as well as the National Coordinator of the Palestinian Popular Conference in 2008.

For more information, please contact HappyHeartMom@comcast.net or uspcn@palestineconference.org.

First, submit workshop proposals by MARCH 20, 2010 to USSF at http://organize.ussf2010.org/workshops.

Then, after submitting to USSF, email USPCN at uspcn.ussf2010@yahoo.com with your proposed workshop or use the form below to send us your workshop. You must also use the link above to register and submit your workshop to USSF!

For additional information, workshop ideas or to volunteer at USSF, please contact us at uspcn.ussf2010@yahoo.com.

PALESTINE AT THE US SOCIAL FORUM 2010

USPCN’s participation in the USSF’s NPC signifies a momentous shift for both the Left movement in the U.S. as well as for Palestinian rights activism. Through Palestinian community participation, we aim to encourage the US Left movement to integrate the Palestinian struggle for self-determination into its analysis and work. Conversely participation allows Palestinian rights advocates as well as Palestinian-Americans who struggle for their labor, housing, immigrant, racial, and criminal justice rights, to align themselves more firmly within the Left to build another world together.  USPCN sees many roles that the Palestinian/Arab community could and should play at the USSF, including but not limited to:

* Asserting the Palestinian narrative in discussions of Palestine Liberation and its connection to the overall social justice movement;
* Building alongside and in solidarity with other social justice movements in the US; and
* Cultivating Palestinian/Arab leadership and participation in various pursuits for social justice in the U.S.

Sincerely,

Mezna Qato,  Rama Kased, Noura Erakat, Andrew Dalack, Kamelya Youssef
on behalf of the US Palestinian Community Network

SEND US YOUR USSF WORKSHOP OR CONTACT US ABOUT USSF! Note: you MUST also submit your workshop to the USSF using the link above!

The US Palestinian Community Network calls on the Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim community and their supporters to participate in the preparatory process for the convening of the Second Popular Conference for Palestinians in the US in Chicago, IL in October 2010! We invite you to become involved in planning, building and making the Second Popular Conference a step towards empowering Palestinians in the U.S. to partake in shaping the Palestinian people’s destiny.

The Popular Conference will be a weekend of cultural events, strategizing workshops, community-building forums, seminars and discussions, and opportunities for various sectors of our community – students, youth, women, academics, workers, professionals and others – to come together, plan actions, learn from each other, and rebuild their shattered national institutions.

The announcement of the Second Popular Conference comes as a result of the national meeting of members and supporters of the US Palestinian Community Network that occurred in San Francisco, January 15-17, 2010. The meeting also resolved to develop a summer camp for Arab youth in the US, jointly with the Palestinian Youth Network, to take place in Ohio later this year, as well as to further develop USPCN’s participation in the US Social Forum. In addition, the meeting also planned a national tour for the Palestinian troupe, Firqat Marj Ibn Amer.

The USPCN meeting also developed plans to expand its base and membership in Palestinian and Arab communities across the country.

The USPCN invites your participation in the above-mentioned events.

To participate in planning the Popular Conference, email conference@palestineconference.org
To work with USPCN on the US Social Forum, email uspcn.ussf2010@yahoo.com
To work with USPCN to build Youth Camps, email youth@palestineconference.org

Join USPCN for the USPCN National Meeting in San Francisco – and the exciting Cultural Night! (Cultural Night OPEN TO ALL – please spread the word!)

The Defend Palestine Cultural Night will take place at:
Tartousa Mediterranean Bistro
514 Peninsula Ave
San Mateo, CA 94401

Saturday, January 16, 2010
6-8 PM Dinner
Performances will begin at 8 PM

With Dinner: $25 – Without: $10

Download Cultural Event Flyer

Featuring Performers:

Comedian Nick Hanna

Hip-Hop  Politikal Heat

Spoken Word Lubna

Singer Safwan

Hip-Hop Excentrik

The Defend Palestine Cultural Night is part of the US Palestinian Community Network national planning meeting taking place in San Francisco, California, from Friday, January 15, 2010-Sunday, January 17, 2010.

This national planning meeting will be a working meeting addressing key issues:

* Planning for the Second Popular Palestinian Conference to take place in 2010
* Planning for Palestinian participation in the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit in 2010 (the USPCN is part of the USSF’s National Planning Committee)
* Building USPCN for the future – including fundraising plans and organizational development.

We invite all USPCN chapters and members, as well as new members and those members of our Palestinian and Arab community in the U.S. interested in developing new chapters and building USPCN for the future to join us in San Francisco January 15-17! Cultural Event OPEN TO ALL.

Questions? Email sfmeeting@palestineconference.org

Click here to Register Online for the USPCN National Meeting!

The US Palestinian Community Network is pleased to announce its participation in the envisioning and organizing of the Second U.S. Social Forum (USSF) as a member of its National Planning Committee (NPC). The USSF is the US-based counterpart to the World Social Forum and is therefore the locus of social justice organizing in the US. It is “more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more than a reaction to war and repression. The USSF will provide space to build relationships, learn from each other’s experiences, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed insight and inspiration. It will help develop leadership and develop consciousness, vision, and strategy needed to realize another world.”

The NPC is comprised of social justice organizations, each representative of a broad swath of social justice advocacy in the U.S. The USPCN is honored to be a part of this body. The USPCN’s participation in the Forum’s NPC signifies a momentous shift for both the Left-movement in the U.S. as well as for Palestinian human rights activism. While the USSF is primarily concerned with base-building intended to improve living conditions and human rights for US-based residents, the US’s foreign policy agenda directly reflects and impacts its domestic one. The ability to synthesize an otherwise bifurcated agenda allows the US-Left movement to integrate the Palestinian struggle for self-determination into its analysis and work. Conversely, it allows Palestinian human rights advocates as well as Palestinian-Americans who struggle for their labor, housing, immigrant, racial, and criminal justice rights, to align themselves more firmly within the Left to build another world together.

The 2nd USSF is scheduled to take place in Detroit, Michigan on June 22-27, 2010 and there is much work to be done in the next six months. The USPCN sees many roles that the Palestinian/Arab community could and should play at the USSF, including but limited to:

1. Asserting the Palestinian narrative in discussions of Palestine Liberation and its connection to the overall social justice movement;
2. Building alongside and in solidarity with other social justice movements in the US; and
3. Cultivating Arab/Palestinian leadership and participation in various pursuits for social justice in the U.S.

The USPCN along with its allies and supporters seek to build a coalition to achieve the following at the Social Forum:

1. Organize a Palestine Justice Track (25+ workshops);
2. Host a Palestine Tent that features dance performances, workshops, film screenings, and goods for sale;
3. Choose a keynote speaker for a plenary session; and
4. Mobilize our communities to attend and participate in the Social Forum.

We are calling on you to join us by developing a workshop for the Palestine Track and/or developing a USPCN-USSF local organizing committee. If you are interested in organizing, leading a workshop, or have additional questions please email uspcn.ussf2010@yahoo.com When you submit a workshop application to the USSF here (http://www.ussf2010.org/) please email uspcn.ussf2010@yahoo.com. For examples of previous workshops organized at the USPCN Popular Conference and the First US Social Forum, see below—note that this list is not exhaustive but meant to inspire you to think of your own workshop.

Sincerely,

Mezna Qato,  Rama Kased, Noura Erakat
on behalf of the US Palestinian Community Network

Palestine Track Workshops at the First US Social Forum and the Palestinian Popular Conference (Examples):

Oral History: Transforming Narrative  and memories into action

Public Art and  Culture of Resistance: Handala and Naji Al-Ali

Engaging elected officials: The Presidential Campaign 2008 & Beyond

Inserting Palestine into high school curricula in the US & empowering students to challenge dominant narratives

Towards Institutionalizing  Youth and Student activism: The General Union of Palestinian Students and the Palestinian Youth Network

Between the Block and the Bled: Youth Space for Sharing Experiences and Strategies for fighting Systems of Oppression

Breaking the Walls of Fear: The imperative of building community-based networks to support targeted  activists and academics

Hip-Hop and spoken word: The relevance of culture and counter-culture to our movement

Break the Siege on Gaza

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, and Mainstream Churches in the U.S

Dabkeh 101: Learning and performing our folkloric dance

Nakba and  Palestinian Refugees:  Empowering the refugees to resist the marginalization of their rights

Self-Organizing and Community Politics: Uniting our community and facing our challenges

Solidarity Workshop-Building Solidarity with the Palestinian Movement for Self-Determination and Return:  How to be in solidarity with the Palestinian movement for self-determination responsibly

Past, Present and Future of Palestinian Activism in the U.S.

Palestinians in 1948-Occupied Palestine

Palestinian Women and Palestinian Self-Determination: Discussion on the role of women in the movement and in society

One-State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Arabic-speaking Workshop: Evaluating our efforts and finding new ways of collaboration to move forward  (Arabic)

Children’s Workshop: Mapping out Palestine. Interactive game designed to reinforce children’s connection to their roots and history

Children’s workshop: Arab-Black-Indigenous relations

The Hydropolitics of Palestine & Israel, a slide show

Palestine Solidarity Review: Building Anti-Apartheid and Middle East Solidarity Rooted in Anti-Racism and Democracy From Below

Political Prisoners: From Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib to Palestine

Forced Displacement and the Right to Return: Palestine, New Orleans, and Urban America

BDS 101: From South Africa to Palestine

Slingshot Hip Hop: Colonization and Resistance from Brooklyn to Palestine

Reproductive Justice in Palestine/Israel: Controlling the Palestinian Population

The Role of Anti-Zionist Jewish Activist in Palestine Solidarity: A vision of accountability and transformation

Facts on the Ground in Palestine: Approaching Apartheid

From Palestine to Juarez: Your Border Crossed our Land

A Basis for Resolving the Conflict Between the Israeli and Palestinian Peoples

Digital Resistance: Palestinian Youth Media

The Palestinian Struggle for Freedom and the Media Blockade

United Labor: US and Palestinian Movements for Worker’s Rights

History of US Imperialism and Resistance in the Middle East/West Asia

Building A Stronger Movement: Multi-racial organizing for Justice in the Middle East and at Home

A year after Israel’s vicious “Operation Cast Lead” assault against the Gaza Strip, which left over 1400 Palestinians – including 355 children – dead, thousands more wounded and tens of thousands of homes destroyed while devastating Palestinian health care, educational and economic infrastructure in Gaza, the siege that has continued since that day is being tightened further by the Egyptian government, in violation of the wishes of its people.

The Egyptian people have a long and proud history of support for the just cause of the Palestinian people and led the Arab nation to confront colonization and economic domination. It comes today as a bitter shock and appalling reality that the government of Egypt now is implementing a policy of separation and division at the behest of the United States government and Israel that is harmful and dangerous to the Egyptian and Palestinian people.

The Egyptian government is actively participating in starving Palestinians by building a steel underground wall along Egypt’s border with Gaza. According to British newspapers, the barrier stretching over 40 meters into the ground, designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, is being built under the supervision of French and American intelligence officials. The new wall will be supplemented by a series of electronic sensors detecting movement and reinforced with a system of pipes through which seawater would be passed to flood the tunnels used by Gazans as a lifeline to smuggle desperately needed food, consumer goods, fuel and medical supplies to the besieged Strip. Furthermore, the use of seawater in this way would help destroy the soil on the Palestinian side of the wall.

Adding insult to injury, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donated medical equipment, school supplies and winter clothing are awaiting delivery to Gaza via its border with Egypt. The Egyptian government continues to prevent the over 1,400 members of the Gaza Freedom March from participating in an international march to break the siege of Gaza, and the Viva Palestina 3 caravan from delivering its hundreds of thousands of dollars much-needed supplies.

The US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), standing in full solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Gaza, as well as the heroic organizers and participants of the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina, calls on the government of Egypt to:

1. End its siege of Gaza, the longest blockade in history since World War 2, including permanently opening the Rafah crossing.

2. Terminate its plans to build the “Wall of Shame” on border between Gaza and Egypt. As detailed by numerous humanitarian groups, Egypt’s wall will cut Gaza from desperately needed food, medicine and other essentials for the survival of its 1.5 million people.

3. Permit the entry into Gaza of all members of the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina and exercise all efforts in support of breaking the siege.

Take Action!

USPCN calls on its members and supporters to contact the Egyptian consulates and embassies, demanding that the Egyptian government end its participation in the siege on Gaza, allow the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina to enter, end all plans to build the “Wall of Shame,” and immediately and permanently open the Rafah crossing. Click here to send a letter to the Egyptian government using our web form!

In the U.S., contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask to speak to Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@hotmail.com. Also contact Ahmed Azzam at the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo, tel +202-25749682 Email: ahmed.azzam@mfa.gov.eg. Click here to send a letter online!

Furthermore, please call your representative and member of Congress, and demand that Congress cut off all funding to the “Wall of Death,” end U.S. aid to Israel, and stop participating in the siege of Gaza. The US House of Representatives main switchboard is (202) 225-3121 or visit http://www.house.gov/ to locate your representative.

In Chicago, a coalition of protestors demonstrated on Monday, December 28 at the Egyptian consulate and will return on Wednesday, December 30 at 12:00 PM, following up on a similar protest last week. Calls to stop the Wall of Shame and open the gates at Rafah were also heard clearly at the mass protest for Gaza in New York City on Sunday, December 27. We call upon all USPCN supporters to organize and participate in similar actions at Egyptian embassies and consulates across the country:

The Washington Embassy and its Consulate Section
Telephone: (202)895-5400
3521 International Ct. N.W
Washington, DC 20008

The Consulate General in San Francisco
Telephone:(415)346-7352 /  (415)346-9702 /  (415)346-9700
276 Mallorca Way
San Francisco, CA 94123

The Consulate General in New York
Telephone: (212)759-7122 /  (212)759-7121 /  (212)759-7120
1110 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10022

The Consulate General in Chicago
Telephone:(312)828-9162 /   (312)828-9163 /  (312)828-9164
500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite # 1900
Chicago, IL 60611

The Consulate General in Houston
Telephone:(713)961-4916 /  (713)961-4915
5718 Westheimer, Suite # 1350
Houston, TX 77057

Send a Letter to the Egyptian Government!

Dear Mr. Omar Youssef, Mr. Ahmed Azzam, and the Government of Egypt,

I am appalled to learn of the “Wall of Shame” being built on the border between Egypt and Gaza, and further, that it is being constructed with U.S. funds and under U.S. military guidance. This wall is a mechanism of death and destruction for Palestinians in Gaza and only tightens the siege being faced by 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. Never in history have Arab countries been separated by walls. It is urgent that the Arab Republic of Egypt end this deeply damaging project.

Furthermore, the role that the Egyptian government is playing in refusing to allow the Gaza Freedom Marchers to enter Gaza, and the Viva Palestina 3 caravan to bring its urgently needed aid, is destructive and only strengthens the siege on Gaza.

I urge you to reverse some of your recent decisions that would add to the starvation and killing of 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza. I ask Egypt to:

1. Permit the entry into Gaza of all members of the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina. These members belong to world renowned human rights and humanitarian organizations. They reflect global support for people of Gaza. Egypt’s gesture will therefore be noticed at a global level.

2. We ask the government of Egypt to terminate its plans to build the “Wall of Shame” on the border between Gaza and Egypt. As detailed by numerous humanitarian groups, Egypt’s wall will cut off Gaza from desperately needed food, medicine and other essentials for the survival of its 1.5 million people.

3. End the blockade of Gaza that is already in its 4th year, the longest blockade since World War 2. Palestinians in Gaza are already reeling from the aftermath of the Israeli massacres during Operation Cast Lead. Stop adding to their misery with a blockade that denies them any chance of rebuilding and returning to normal lives. Instead, open the Rafah crossing on a permanent basis.

Millions of Palestinians around the world and tens of millions of their American, European and other supporters are looking towards Egypt to open its borders with Gaza to allow Viva Palestina and the Gaza Freedom Marchers to pass. On the one hand, if they are allowed into Gaza, it would encourage millions of their supporters to visit, support and understand Egypt, but on the other hand, denying them entry to Gaza will discourage tens of millions of human rights supporters from visiting Egypt.

Sincerely,

—————————————————————————

The US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) is a grassroots body for Palestinians in the United States, with an elected democratic leadership from over 20 cities. Visit our website, at www.palestineconference.org, for news, action alerts, key political issues and an updated calendar of events.

December 28, 2009

US Palestinian Community Network

US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
Coordinating Committee

Please email us with any questions or thoughts at sfmeeting@palestineconference.org.
********
USPCN National Planning Meeting – San Francisco, CA – January 15-17, 2010

The US Palestinian Community Network will hold its next national planning meeting in San Francisco, California, from Friday, January 15, 2010-Sunday, January 17, 2010. Book your tickets and make your travel plans today to join your fellow USPCN members to plan for a year of exciting action, organizing, and building in 2010!

This national planning meeting will be a working meeting addressing key issues:

* Planning for the Second Popular Palestinian Conference to take place in 2010
* Planning for Palestinian participation in the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit in 2010 (the USPCN is part of the USSF’s National Planning Committee)
* Building USPCN for the future – including fundraising plans and organizational development.

We invite all USPCN chapters and members, as well as new members and those members of our Palestinian and Arab community in the U.S. interested in developing new chapters and building USPCN for the future to join us in San Francisco January 15-17!

Pre-register NOW and book your travel plans today!

There is a Conference Special Rate hotel booking at the:

Red Roof Inn – San Francisco Airport
777 Airport Blvd.
Burlingame, CA

Double rooms are $55.00; King rooms are $59.99.  Please call the Sales department at 650-342-7772 to make your reservations, and specify the “USPCN Group rate.” There will be a registration fee of $50.00 for the meeting, payable at the meeting, to cover 3 meals and a snack.

Pre-Register Here!

*please note, this is a business and planning meeting, and is open to all USPCN members, as well as members of the Palestinian and Arab community in the U.S. who want to join USPCN or establish new chapters.

December 23, 2009

Issued by Labor for Palestine – http://laborforpalestine.wordpress.com – laborforpalestine.us@gmail.com

Sign the letter! + Donate to Labor for Palestine

Download PDF of letter for distribution

“Sanctions alone cannot eradicate apartheid; that task is ultimately left to the people of South Africa themselves. But economic pressure and political isolation of the South African government can hasten the day when justice and freedom reign in that troubled land.” –Richard L. Trumka, June 23, 1987

“We call on other workers and unions to . . . do all that is necessary to ensure that they boycott all goods to and from Israel until Palestine is free.” –Congress of South African Trade Unions, February 3, 2009

“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.” –Palestinian Trade Union Movement Unanimously Confirms Support for BDS, November 25, 2009

——————-

Dear Brother Trumka:

As labor and anti-apartheid activists, we strongly disagree with your October 27 speech denouncing the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

The BDS campaign was initiated in 2005 by Palestinian civil society — including its entire labor movement. Inspired by the international boycott that helped topple apartheid South Africa, it demands Palestinian self-determination, including an end to Israeli military occupation, the right of refugees to return to the land from which they have been ethnically cleansed since the Nakba of 1947-1948, and equal rights for all throughout historic Palestine.

Support for BDS has grown rapidly, especially since December 27, 2008, when Israel broke a truce with the democratically-elected Palestinian government and attacked Gaza. In the resulting massacre, Israel killed more than 1400 Palestinians, hundreds of them children; maimed and wounded thousands more; and utterly devastated Gaza’s infrastructure, including the Gaza headquarters of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions.

In the best tradition of labor solidarity, South African and Australian dockworkers responded by refusing to handle Israeli cargo, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) “call[ed] on other workers and unions to follow suit and to do all that is necessary to ensure that they boycott all goods to and from Israel until Palestine is free.”

Their action echoes the West Coast dock-workers who refused to handle cargo for Nazi Germany (1934) or fascist Italy (1935); those in Denmark and Sweden (1963), the San Francisco Bay Area (1984) and Liverpool (1988), who refused shipping for apartheid South Africa; those in Oakland who refused to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (1978); and those at all twenty-nine West Coast ports who held a May Day strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (2008).

Since Gaza, the 2005 BDS call also been endorsed or reaffirmed by numerous other labor bodies around the world, including the trades union congresses of Ireland, Scotland and the UK; UNISON (UK); Transport and General Workers’ Union (UK); L’Union syndicale Solidaires Industrie (France); Canadian Union of Postal Workers; Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario; six Norwegian trade unions; and Intersindical Alternativa de Catallunya.

It is no accident that South African workers play a leading role in the BDS movement. They remember that Israel was apartheid South Africa’s closest ally. They agree with Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s observation that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is “worse than apartheid.” They recognize that the Gaza massacre mirrors the infamous Sharpeville massacre of 1960, which gave birth to an international boycott against South African apartheid.

This rising tide of labor support for BDS has only been further vindicated by Israel’s rejection of the war crimes indictments issued against it by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN’s Goldstone Report and numerous other bodies — many of them Israeli.

The BDS campaign is particularly relevant to workers in the United States.

In the past ten years alone, U.S. military aid to Israel was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will be another $30 billion. As in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. aircraft, white phosphorous and bullets kill and maim on behalf of the occupiers, while both Democratic and Republican politicians condone the slaughter. Amidst deepening economic crisis, workers in this country pay a staggering human and financial price for U.S.-Israeli war and occupation throughout the region.

Despite all of this, however, many U.S. labor officials — often without the knowledge or con-sent of union members — have ignored Palestinian appeals for justice. Instead, they continue to collaborate with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation that not only supported Israel’s war on Gaza, but which has spearheaded — and whitewashed — racism, apartheid, dispossession and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians since the 1920s.

They have invested billions of our union pension funds and retirement plans in State of Israel Bonds. They have actively encouraged the U.S. to provide the money and weapons that oppress Palestinian workers, and to ensure Israel’s role as watchdog for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East.

The Jewish Labor Committee has exploited its carefully groomed “progressive” image by hurling false accusations of “anti-Semitism” against those who challenge racism in the U.S. labor movement, who support affirmative action for workers of color, who criticize notorious “AFL-CIA” support U.S. war and empire, and — above all — who oppose apartheid Israel.

Thus, it was the JLC that in July 2007 mobilized top AFL-CIO and Change to Win officials to condemn British union support for BDS. It is the JLC that seeks to deflect outrage over the Gaza massacres by launching Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine, whose stated purpose is to sabotage the BDS campaign, while demanding boycotts against Iran, which — unlike Israel — receives no U.S. aid and has no “weapons of mass destruction.”

In the 1980s, as president of the United Mine Workers, you rightly argued that, “economic pressure and political isolation of the South African government can hasten the day when justice and freedom reign in that troubled land.” Two decades later, the cause of “justice and freedom” for Palestinians requires no less of you as president of the AFL-CIO. As trade unionists, we must immediately and completely:

1. Divest from State of Israel Bonds.

2. Support workers’ refusal to handle Israeli cargo.

3. Break ties with the racist Histadrut.

4. Oppose U.S. military and economic aid for Israel.

Initial Signers
(List in formation – sign on below — *For identification only)

Monadel Herzallah, President, Arab American Union Members Council, California

Larry Adams, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, NPMHU L. 300*

Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, UAW L. 2325/ALAA*; Al-Awda NY; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network/Labor

Brenda Stokely, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, AFSCME DC 1707*; Co-Chair, Million Worker March Movement

Sam Weinstein, Former President, UWUA L. 132*; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network/Labor

Stanley Heller, AFT L. 1547*, Delegate, CT Central Labor Council*

Marty Goodman, Former Executive Board Member, TWU L.100*

Frank Rosen, General Vice President (retired), UE*

Steve Zeltzer, Producer, Labor Video Project

Anthony Arnove, National Writers Union/UAW L.1981*

Mike Gimbel, Chair, Labor-Community Unity Committee, AFSCME DC 37 L. 375*; Delegate, NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO*

Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council*

Lee Sustar, Chicago Labor Against the War

Timothy Kaminski, UAW L. 110* (ret.)

Janice Rothstein, AFSCME L. 3299*

Andy Griggs, UTLA*; LA Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee, Cafe Intifada

Emma Rosenthal, UTLA*; LA Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee, Cafe Intifada

Pete Nowicki, AFSCME L. 145*

Jim Crampton, 1199SEIU/UHWE*

Allan Fisher, AFT L. 2121, SF Community College*

Sharon Black, AFT L. 2*; Bailout the People Movement

Bill Balderson, Oakland Education Assn.*

Sarah Ringler, AFT L. 1936, PVFT*

Frank Pinto, UPTE-CWA L. 9119*

Steve Desavouret, TCU/IAM 6608*

Louis LaFortune, AFT L. 1936, PVFT*

Azalia Torres, Former Executive Bd. Member, UAW Local 2325/ALAA*

Patrick Langhenry, UAW Local 2325/ALAA*

Lucy Herschel, Delegate 1199SEIU/UHWE*

Carol Seligman, South San Francisco California Teachers Association*

International Endorsers

Rubina Jamil, Working Women Organization; All Pakistan Trade Union Federation*

Tony Leon, Secretary General, Venezuelan Union of Oil Industry Workers*

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Boycott Appeals from Palestinian Labor

Palestinian trade unions unanimously support boycott movement
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10915.shtml

A Statement by the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and the Palestinian Trade Union Blocs and Frameworks
http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/596