Co a l iti o n Ag ain s t Is ra el i A part he id Labour for Palestine

A reader for unionists and activists in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israeli apartheid

Developed by the labour committee of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid

Labour for Palestine is an invaluable resource in the Palestinian people’s struggle for justice.

Packed with information, this reader provides historical background, political analysis of the current situation, and arguments in defense of the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. A must read for all unionists and social activists. B A l u o r

f o A publication of r

the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid P a

$15 s e l [email protected] N I T

www.caiaweb.org

Top: CAIA rally & march e Toronto February 2007 Revised 2008 Bottom: Nakba commemoration rally May 2008 Photos by Robert J. Allison

Labour for Palestine

A reader developed by the labour committee of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Labour for Palestine Revised edition, 2008 First edition published 2007 A publication of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid www.caiaweb.org

ISBN: 978-0-9782866-1-3

Design and layout: Sandra Sarner Front cover image: Courtesy of www.stopthewall.org Back cover photos: Robert J. Allison

Printed in Canada by JT Printing Ltd. Contents

Introduction...... 5

Section one: Background and Analysis...... 7 The Early History of Colonialism in Palestine: 1880-1967...... 9 The West Bank and Gaza Strip...... 11 Daily Life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip...... 12 An Abridged Timeline of the History of Palestine...... 16 Comparisons of South African and Israeli Apartheid...... 17

Section two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers...... 25 Zionism: False Messiah...... 27 The Histadrut and Settler-Colonialism: The Early Years...... 34 CAIA Welcomes Call from Palestinian Trade Unionists to Boycott Israel and the Histadrut.. 37 The Economics of Apartheid...... 39

Section three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid...... 45 CAIA Re-affirms Solidarity as Canadian Government Escalates Attacks on Indigenous People...... 47 Canada’s Colonial Present...... 48 Empire’s Ally: Canadian Foreign Policy...... 55 Israel, Racism and the Canadian Media...... 62 The Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA)...... 69

Continued Section four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions...... 73 Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel...... 75 Towards a Global Movement for Palestine...... 76 A Selected List of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Initiatives...... 82 FAQ about Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions...... 83-84 The Case for Boycotting Israel...... 85 Unpacking the Israeli Lobby’s Arguments...... 90 Lessons from the South African Experience...... 92 From South Africa to Palestine: Lessons for the New Anti-Apartheid Movement...... 96 Next Steps for the Palestinian Solidarity Movement...... 100

Section five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement...... 105 CUPE Ontario Resolution No. 50 ...... 107 Postal Workers Take Firm Stand to Support Palestinian Workers...... 108 Letter from the President of the COSATU to the President CUPE Ontario...... 109 CUPE Ontario Takes Important Step against Israeli Apartheid...... 110 CUPE ‘Boycott Israel’ Debate Rages On ...... 113 Building Labour Solidarity with Palestine...... 120 Statement by Labour for Palestine in Response to US Anti-Boycott Statement...... 124 US Labor and Gaza...... 128 A Reply to B’nai Brith Manifesto Denouncing CUPE-Ontario’s Boycott of Israel ...... 131

Campaigns and Further Resources...... 135 Introduction

n July 2005, over 170 Palestinian organizations active member-led committee that is beginning to urgedI the world to adopt a campaign of boycott, take up other international solidarity issues with divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel in similar energy. The campaign around Resolution 50 the manner of South Africa Apartheid. This call has demonstrated the main strategic significance of was signed by all the main Palestinian trade union union resolutions, as a tool to educate and mobilize federations, as well as refugee, women and student rank-and-file members, and build an appreciation organizations from across Palestine and the Arab of international solidarity as an integral component world. It represented the broadest political state- of a fighting labour movement. Resolutions mean ment in Palestinian history, precipitating a power- nothing if they are not linked to rank-and-file or- ful global solidarity campaign that has grown dra- ganizing. matically over the last few years. In April 2008 the BDS movement in Canada When this reader was first issued in March 2007, received another historic boost. The national con- the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions vention of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (BDS) against Israeli apartheid was still embryonic (CUPW) passed a resolution modeled on CUPE within labour circles in this country. The passing of Ontario’s Resolution 50. The CUPW resolution Resolution 50 by the Canadian Union of Public committed the union to conducting an education Employees (CUPE Ontario), the first BDS resolu- campaign similar to CUPE Ontario and expressed tion in Canadian labour movement history, was a support for the 2005 BDS call from Palestine. The recent occurrence. Although Resolution 50 inspired CUPW resolution was doubly significant: not only many activists and was a powerful awareness-rais- did it represent the first time a national union in ing tool among the broader public, its longer-term Canada had passed a BDS resolution, but CUPW impact was still unclear. Some detractors within the had also been the first Canadian union to pass a labour movement argued that the resolution was boycott resolution against South African apart- “too much, too fast” and that now was not the right heid. time to begin arguing for BDS. Others claimed that The CUPW and CUPE Ontario resolutions in- CUPE Ontario resolution was a one-off exception; dicate that solidarity with Palestinian workers, and unlikely to be replicated in other unions. the recognition that Israel must be isolated in the A little over one year later we can now begin manner of South African apartheid, is becoming to assess these arguments with confidence. Activ- an established principle of a progressive, principled ists in CUPE Ontario responded to the challenge, trade union politics. If we are to wage an effective leading an education campaign within union locals fight against neo-liberal policies such as privatiza- and committees that has been widely praised as the tion, lay-offs and union-busting here in Canada, most effective grassroots campaign in the union’s then we must also stand with workers struggling history. Literally thousands of rank and file CUPE against oppression internationally. The CUPE On- members have received material on Resolution tario International Solidarity Committee puts it 50 or participated in workshops on Palestine. The this way: “International solidarity is fundamental to work has revitalized the CUPE Ontario interna- a progressive and fighting labour movement. It is tional solidarity work, building a large, open and not an optional part of labour activism or a form of labour for palestine  charity. International solidarity goes to the heart of The last year has seen a series of horrific attacks what it means to be a labour activist. It means see- by the Israeli state on the Palestinian people. Over ing the struggle of our sisters and brothers in other 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip have literally countries as our own struggle. Their victories as our been imprisoned behind a military siege in one of victories.” the cruelest examples of collective punishment wit- We hope that this new edition of the Labour nessed in recent times. The year 2008 marks sixty for Palestine reader continues to strengthen this years since the original ethnic cleansing of the Pal- movement for solidarity with Palestinian workers. estinian people from their homes and lands. Yet de- The reader is aimed at providing labour movement spite these ongoing attacks, Palestinians remain as activists with the information needed to become determined as ever to resist and to win justice. The an effective organizer and defender of Palestin- last year has demonstrated unequivocally that our ian rights. The first two sections present the basic actions here in Canada make a significant and pow- history of the Palestinian struggle, the comparison erful difference to this struggle for freedom. And with South African apartheid, and the nature of when we make international solidarity a basic prin- Zionism and colonialism in the Middle East. Sub- ciple of trade unionism, then we also strengthen our sequent sections look at the role of the Canadian capacities to resist and fight back here at home. state both at home and abroad, the BDS move- ment globally, and the debates and lessons from the Labour Committee of the CUPE Ontario and CUPW experiences. Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid May 2008

 Introduction labour for palestine Section one Background and Analysis

This section provides the historical background and analysis necessary to fully understand the struggle against Israeli apartheid. The first few articles examine the history of colonization in Palestine from the 1880s to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. This is followed by some brief facts on the daily life of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and an examination of the similarities between South African apartheid and the practices of the Israeli state.

The Early History of Colonialism in Palestine: 1880-1967

n 1880, Palestinian Arabs lived in and cultivated constituted the overwhelming majority of the in- almost 100 per cent of Palestine between the habitants. IJordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. In 2008, Aside from the colonial powers, the main politi- the Israeli state controls 100 per cent of the same cal force behind the colonization of Palestine was territory. Palestinians have been pushed into small the Zionist movement. Zionists argued that Jews ghettos in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel itself, or would always be persecuted in Europe and that the live in refugee camps throughout the Middle East. only solution was to establish a Jewish-only state. How did this situation come to be? In this sense, Zionism accepted the basic premise In 1880, the total population of Palestine was of anti-Semitism: the inability of Jews and non- about 500,000. At this time, Palestinian Muslims, Jews to live together. At this time, Zionism was a Christians and Jews lived harmoniously in one so- minority current among European Jews. Most Jews ciety. The territory was part of the Ottoman Empire. in Europe supported left-wing, progressive groups Of the total population, around 27,000 were Pales- that struggled against anti-Semitism by fighting tinian Jews, most of who did not subscribe to the for revolutionary change and inclusion as equals in idea of a separate Jewish homeland in Palestine. Europe. But the Middle East region was a vital strate- To justify their colonial project, the Zion- gic area for British and French colonialism. In ad- ist movement claimed that Palestine was a “land dition to rich resources (such as cotton in Egypt), without a people”. This phrase is reminiscent of the the Middle East sat astride the world’s major trade ideology that always drives settler colonialism: an routes. For this reason, prior to the end of the First attempt to deny and erase the presence of the in- World War, the British and French made a secret digenous population and to replace it with the set- pact in 1916 (called the Sykes-Picot Agreement) to tler identity. divide the region between themselves in the event Between 1895 and 1945, millions of Jews emi- of their victory in the war. grated from Europe to escape anti-Semitism and At the end of World War I, the British and the Nazi Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews. French governments divided up their colonial spoils Most went to the United States, Canada and South by drawing ‘lines in the sand’ across much of the Middle East. Britain took over the administration of Palestine (called the British Mandate of Pales- Palestine population tine after 1920). In 1917, the British government 1880 1914 1947 made another secret agreement that promised Eu- Total population 500,000 689,272 1,912,112 ropean Jews a ‘homeland’ in Palestine. Once again, the British calculated that the establishment of a Palestinian Arab 473,000 629,272 1,303,887 dependent state in Palestine would strengthen their 94.5% 92% 68% control over the region. It was a remarkable prom- Jewish 27,000 60,000 608,225 ise considering that Palestinian Arabs (Muslims, 5.5% 8% 32% Christians and Jews) already inhabited the area and

labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis  America but - with the support of the Zionist Professor Ilan Pappe in his recent book, The Ethnic movement - about 400,000 went to Palestine. Cleansing of Palestine. In 1947, the US-dominated UN called for the During May 1948, this plan of expulsion rap- splitting of Palestine into a Jewish state, Israel (56 idly accelerated. About 85% of the Palestinians in per cent), an Arab state (43 per cent) and Jerusalem what is now Israel were driven from their homes (to be under international supervision). Palestinians and lands. More than 500 Palestinian villages were opposed this plan (called the Partition Plan) because razed or existing homes directly expropriated for it gave a majority of their land away (including the Jewish settlers; the rivers, hills and valleys were re- most fertile parts) to a minority of new colonizers. named and their Palestinian history erased. Pales- In 1947, the Jewish population was only 32 per cent tinians call this process of ethnic cleansing Al Na- of the entire population and owned only about 6 kba, or ‘The Catastrophe’. per cent of the land. The Canadian government was On 15 May 1948, Israel was founded on about a member of the UN Committee that drew up the 78% of historic Palestine. Those Palestinians who Partition Plan, and, ever since, has been a consistent fled ended up as refugees in neighboring Arab supporter of imperial interest in the region. countries (including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq In late 1947, Zionist militias began organizing and Egypt). In addition, around 150,000 Palestin- attacks against Palestinian villages and towns. These ians remained and eventually became citizens of the attacks included the murder of unarmed Palestinian new Israeli state, which, however, officially defined men, women and children, with the aim of creat- itself on the basis of one ethno-religious group ing a sense of fear and to drive the population from (i.e. as a Jewish State). This Palestinian minority their lands. From November 1947 - May 1948, was kept under strict military administration until prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, over 1966. 1/3 of the Palestinian population were driven from This situation remained until 1967, when Israel their homes and lands as a result of these system- occupied the remaining areas of Palestine: the West ❖ atic attacks against civilians. This period has been Bank and Gaza Strip. well-documented by Israeli historians, including

10 SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis labour for palestine TheW est Bank and Gaza Strip “Israel has created in the occupied territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on nationality. This regime is the only one of its kind in the world and is reminiscent of distasteful regimes in the past, such as the apartheid regime in South Africa.” B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights, an Israeli non-­ governmental organization, on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

ollowing its victory in the 1967 War, Israel oc- settlements. These settlements were built on Pales- cupied the West Bank (including East Jerusa- tinian land confiscated by the Israeli military and Flem), the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula other state bodies. and the Syrian Golan Heights. These occupations These Israeli settlements are not randomly- lo have shaped the lives of people in the region for cated but constructed in areas between major Pales- subsequent decades, particularly for the Palestinian tinian population centers, above water aquifers and population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. fertile agricultural land. In some cases, such as the In the West Bank, following a mere six days of West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli settlements were fighting, one-fifth of the Palestinian population built in the center of Palestinian towns. were driven from their homes and lands. The vast These settlements are connected to each other by majority of these people would be prevented from a road network that was clearly conceived as being ever returning. Palestinians call this second expul- “Israeli-only.” Not only do they avoid Palestinian sion (the first being in 1947-1948) the “Naqsa” (di- population centres but Israeli military vehicles pa- saster). trol them and stop, search and detain Palestinians at Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza will. Palestinians are forced to carry different colour Strip did not become Israeli citizens but came under ID cards at all times. During the 1990s this system Israel’s political, economic and military control. Is- of discrimination became even more explicit with rael declared a military government that controlled the introduction of different colour number plates every aspect of Palestinian life in the occupied terri- to identify Palestinian vehicles. tories. Over 2,500 military orders were passed that In 1993, the Oslo Accords were signed be- apply only to Palestinian residents in the area, not tween the Israeli government and the Palestinian to Israeli settlers who are governed by Israeli civil Liberation Organization. Many people believed law. This dual, discriminatory system of laws for two this agreement would lead to the end of the Israeli people living in the same area is one illustration of occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the apartheid-like system Israel has established in an eventual Palestinian state in these areas. While the West Bank. settlements were designated a “final status” issue, Beginning immediately after the 1967 occupa- the Israeli Labour government launched a massive tion, a series of settlement plans were adopted by settlement expansion immediately after the Oslo successive Israeli governments. These plans aimed Accords were signed. Through a policy of attracting at colonizing large swathes of land in the West settlers by offering large economic incentives, the Bank and Gaza Strip with Jewish-only Israeli number of Israeli settlers living in settlements in labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis 11 Daily life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Deaths According to the internationally renowned Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, 2340 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since January 2004 (figure to March 2008). In the same time frame, 209 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks (B’Tselem). According to the Palestinian Red Crescent (a full member of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), two Palestinians have been killed every day of the last eight years, on average, by Israeli forces. Imprisonment • As of May 2008, an estimated 11,000 Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers (B’Tselem). • Over 350 Palestinian children are in detention (Defence for Children International Palestine Section). • Over 1000 Palestinians are being held without trial or charge (B’Tselem). • Almost every Palestinian family has had a family member arrested or detained by the Israeli military. • Israel’s use of torture has been widely condemned by UN bodies and international human rights organizations including Amnesty International. Housing • Israel engages in a policy of house demolitions as a punitive measure, and also as a means of removing Palestinians from particular areas. • Since 1967, over 18,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished by the Israeli military, leaving 70,000 Palestinians homeless. In the Gaza Strip alone, 12, 712 people have been made homeless due to house demolitions since September 2000 (B’Tselem). Water • 75 percent of the Occupied West Bank & Gaza Strip renewable water resources are appropriated by Israel. • Three million Palestinians are allowed to use 250 million cubic metres per annum (83 cubic metres for each Palestinian per year) while six million Israelis enjoy the use of 2.0 billion cubic metres (333 cubic metre for each Israeli per year), which means that one Israeli consumes as much water as do four Palestinians. Each Israeli settler is allocated 1,450 cubic metres of water per year. • The World Health Organization’s recognized minimum of domestic water consumption is 100 litres per capita per day. The current domestic water supply for Palestinians is only 57 to 76 liters per capita per day. Economy • The Palestinian economy is completely dependent upon Israel due to Israeli control of movement and goods in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 2006, 56.8% of Palestinians were classified as living in poverty (OCHA 2008a). • The Israeli siege of Gaza has produced a humanitarian disaster. Around 80% of families in Gaza rely on food aid to survive (approximately 1.1 million people) (OCHA 2008a). The majority of Gazan households have power cuts of at least eight hours per day and there is a 60-­70 percent shortage reported in the diesel required for hospital power generators. (OCHA 2008b). Unemployment levels in Gaza exceeded 35% in 2007 (OCHA 2008a). Sources: B’Tselem Website www.btselem.org • Defence for Children International Palestine Section, www. dci-­pal.org • Palestinian Red Crescent, www.palestinercs.org/ • United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA 2008a) Socio-­Economic Fact Sheet, April 2008. http:// www.ochaopt.org • United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA 2008b) Electricity Shortages in the Gaza Strip: Situation Report 8 February 2008.

12 SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis labour for palestine the West Bank and Gaza Strip doubled from 1994 The failure of the Camp David negotiations in to the beginning of the year 2000. mid-2000 was followed by the provocative visit on In July 2000, US President Bill Clinton invited 28 September 2000 of Ariel Sharon to Haram Al Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) in Jerusalem. Sharon President Yasser Arafat to Camp David to conclude is a figure head of the Israeli right wing. Palestinians negotiations on the long-overdue final status agree- hold him responsible for the deaths of thousands ment. Barak proclaimed his “red lines”: Israel would of civilians during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in not return to its pre-1967 borders; East Jerusalem 1982 when he served as defence minister. His visit with its 175,000 Jewish settlers would remain un- to a Muslim holy site, accompanied by 1000 armed der Israeli sovereignty; Israel would annex settle- guards, provoked large Palestinian protests in Jeru- ment blocs in the West Bank containing some 80 salem. Israeli soldiers killed six unarmed protesters percent of the 180,000 Jewish settlers; and Israel during these demonstrations. would accept no legal or moral responsibility for These killings inaugurated the Second Intifada, the seven million Palestinian refugees. Palestinians which Israel has attempted to suppress through sought Israeli withdrawal from the vast majority of widespread collective punishment of Palestinian the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including East civilians, assassination of Palestinian militants, and Jerusalem, and recognition of an independent state mass arrest campaigns. in those territories.

Palestine Occupied The Wall before 1948 West Bank 2005 and Gaza 1967

labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis 13 The Wall ment plans to construct a further 500 km of Jewish- In November 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud only roads. These roads will connect Israeli settle- Barak announced approval of plans to build a “bar- ments to each other and population centers inside rier” in the West Bank. Construction of the Wall Israel. According to government plans, 98 percent began in June 2002 and consists of a network of of the Israeli settler population in the West Bank concrete walls and electric fences. The eventual will be included in areas that Israel plans to annex. length of the Wall will be 730 km, creating three The model for the West Bank can be seen in the Palestinian ghettoes in the West Bank and locking Gaza Strip. Only 45 km long and about 10 to 12 km thousands of Palestinians inside their towns and vil- wide, with over 1.5 million Palestinians crowded lages. In July 2002, the West Bank city of Qalqilya into shantytowns – Gaza is one of the most densely was completely surrounded by an eight metre high populated places on earth. Over 80 percent of the concrete wall, cutting off the 41,600 residents from Gazan population are refugees denied the right to the outside world. An Israeli military checkpoint return to their homes and lands from which they marks the only exit and entrance in and out of the were expelled in 1948. city. The unemployment rate in Qalqilya rose to 67 A massive electric fence surrounds the Strip and percent in the wake of the Wall’s construction and is guarded by the Israeli military. Israel has contin- 10 percent of the population were forced to leave ued to prevent movement in and out of the area the city in order to find livelihood elsewhere. while subjecting its residents to repeated military On July 9, 2004, the world’s highest court, the incursions, shelling, and house demolitions. The re- International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, ality of life in the Gaza Strip reveals the future of determined that the wall is illegal. The court ordered the Palestinian ghettoes in the West Bank. Israel to dismantle the wall and pay compensation This future can be described asbantustanization, to Palestinians, who have suffered devastating losses in reference to apartheid South Africa. From the of livelihood and agricultural land as a result of its 1950s onwards, the white South African govern- construction. Most importantly, the ICJ ruled that ment established pockets of ‘self-rule’ known as all nations have an “obligation…to ensure Israel bantustans in isolated and economically unviable complies with international humanitarian law.” areas for the rural black population. Apartheid was Nevertheless, Israel has completely ignored the sustained through a superstructure of laws and reg- ICJ ruling and continues to construct the Wall. In- ulations similar to those used by the Israeli occupa- dustrial zones to exploit cheap Palestinian labour tion; 87 percent of South African land was reserved are planned for the areas between the Wall and the by the Land Acts for exclusive white ownership 1967 armistice line. These zones – and high-tech and occupation. Millions of blacks were punished gates to monitor movement through the Wall – will for violating pass laws that controlled their move- be constructed with World Bank assistance. ments and required them to carry special identifica- tion passes. Bantustans It is less widely known that the bantustans and The end result of the process inaugurated by the pass laws integral to South African apartheid had 1967 occupation of the West Bank is the confine- their origins in Canada. The Canadian Indian Act ment of Palestinians to scattered population centers (1876) established reserves for native people, and divided from one another by Israeli settlements, codified in law the separate legal status of indigenous military checkpoints, walls and Israeli-only high- people and Canadian citizens. Any indigenous per- ways. The Wall, and its associated infrastructure son who wished to leave the reserves required a per- of settlements, military zones and roads, annexes mit from the “Indian Agent” – a person appointed some 48 percent of the West Bank. This will leave by the Canadian state as their proxy on the reserve. ­Palestinians living on approximately 12 percent of This permit system was directly transferred to 1950s historic Palestine. South African apartheid. Furthermore, the 1876 Act As part of the evolving system of apartheid made it illegal for indigenous people to sell or pro- mechanisms in the West Bank, the Israeli govern- duce goods without written permission of the Indian

14 SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis labour for palestine Agent and permitted indigenous children to be re- • Recognizing the fundamental rights of the moved from the reserves to missionary schools. Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; It is for these reasons that in September 2001, and 3,000 non-government organizations at the World • Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights Conference against Racism in Durban, South Afri- of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and ca, adopted a declaration condemning Israel’s “sys- properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194. tematic perpetration of racist crimes including war Boycott, divestment and sanctions formed a crimes” and described “Israel’s brand of apartheid as critical part of global efforts to end South African a crime against humanity … characterised by sepa- apartheid. They were an expression of popular re- ration and segregation.” fusal to participate in and sustain the structures of In July 2005, over 170 Palestinian civil society racial discrimination and oppression. It was widely organizations called on the world to undertake a seen as morally repugnant to be openly associated global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanc- with South African apartheid. Today we have an tions as a form of non-violent pressure on Israel to opportunity to once again be part of a global move- comply with international law by: ❖ ment for justice. • Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

Landownership in Palestine and Palestinian villages depopulated in 1948 the UN Partition Plan, 1947 and 1967 and razed by Israel

Jewish-­owned land, 1947 Jewish-­owned land, 1947 Jewish state according to State of Israel according to the UN-­Partition Plan, 1947 Armistice Agreement, 1948 Arab state according to Palestinian villages depopulated in UN-­Partition Plan, 1947 1948 and 1967 and razed by Israel The West Bank and Gaza Strip

Haifa Haifa

Nazareth Nazareth

Nablus Nablus

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Jaffa Jaffa

Jerusalem Jerusalem

Hebron Hebron Gaza Gaza

Beersheba Beersheba

Maps courtesy the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA).

labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis 15 An abridged timeline of the history of Palestine

1516-­1918 Ottoman (Turkish) Empire controls most of the Middle East. During the 1880s, there is the beginning of an Arab movement for independence from the Ottoman Empire. 1881-­1903 First wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine in context of Russian pogroms; Dreyfus affair in France reflects widespread European anti-­Semitism. 1914-­1918 World War I; Britain makes secret agreement with France to divide Middle East into colonial spheres of influence (Sykes-­Picot Agreement 1916). The 1917 Balfour Declaration expresses British support for a “Jewish homeland” in Palestine. End of the Ottoman Empire. 1918-­1948 Britain controls Palestine through the British Mandate. 1947 Britain requests that the UN deal with the question of Palestine; UN General Assembly Resolution 181 calls for Palestine to be divided into a Jewish state (56 percent of Palestine), and an Arab state (43 percent of Palestine). Zionist militias organize attacks on Palestinian civilians including a bombing campaign against Palestinian villages and neighborhoods. These attacks accelerate in the lead up to May 1948. 1948 The British mandate ends and the state of Israel is established on 77 percent of British Mandatory Palestine, including some areas designated for a Palestinian Arab state; Jordan and Egypt hold the West Bank and the Gaza Strip respectively, Jerusalem is divided; Around 800,000 Palestinians are expelled from their homes and lands and are not allowed to return; U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 supports right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands. 1948-­1958 Large-­scale Jewish immigration to Israel from Europe, North Africa, and Asia. 1950 Israeli Law of Return and Absentee Property Law enacted; extensive confiscation of Palestinian property occurs in the new Israeli state. Palestinian citizens of Israel are placed under military rule until 1966. 1967 June (Six Day) War begins when Israel attacks Egypt, claiming it is acting preemptively; Israel occupies West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian Sinai, and Syrian Golan Heights, expands Jerusalem boundaries and extends Israeli law over East Jerusalem; U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 calls for withdrawal of Israeli troops from territories newly occupied. Palestinian population is placed under Israeli military occupation. 1968-­1970 Israel begins to establish Jewish-­only settlements in the newly occupied territories. 1987-­1993 Predominantly nonviolent (demonstrations, strikes) uprising known as the first Intifada launched by the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against occupation. 1993 Israel drastically restricts Palestinian movement between Occupied Palestinian Territories (except East Jerusalem) and Israel; Israel and the PLO sign Declaration of Principles (the “Oslo Accords”) on interim self-­government arrangements. 1995 Oslo II Accords establish three types of control in the West Bank (Area A: direct Palestinian control, Area B: Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security control, Area C: Israeli control). Israel retains military control of the vast majority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 1994-­2000 The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip doubles due to new settlement construction and attractive incentives offered by the Israeli government to relocate to these areas. Israel begins the construction of a network of highways that are off-­limits to Palestinians. 2000 Clinton-­led Camp David II summit and negotiations end in failure; new Palestinian uprising (the Second Intifada) begins in September 2000.

16 SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis labour for palestine 2001 Three thousand non-­government organizations at the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, condemn Israel’s “systematic perpetration of racist crimes including war crimes” and describe “Israel’s brand of apartheid as a crime against humanity … characterised by separation and segregation.” 2002 Construction of the Apartheid Wall begins in June. By July, the city of Qalqilya is completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the West Bank. 2004 The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, declares that the Wall is illegal and must be dismantled. Israel ignores the ruling and refuses to comply. 2005 Over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations call on the people of the world to undertake a global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions as a non-­violent measure to force Israel to comply with international law.

Comparisons of South African and Israeli Apartheid

Introduction Rapporteur for the United Nations on the situation The legacy of apartheid has led many South Af- of human rights in the Palestinian territories de- ricans to play a leading role in the struggle for Pal- scribed the situation in the West Bank as “an apart- estinian freedom. Prominent South Africans who heid regime ... worse than the one that existed in lived under apartheid have drawn the analogy with South Africa.” Israel: • Farid Esack, a South African writer, scholar and • Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize anti-apartheid activist, and currently William Hen- winner and Catholic Archbishop supported this ry Bloomberg Visiting Professor at Harvard Divin- analogy first in 1989 when he said “I am a black ity School, stated that “the logic of apartheid is akin South African, and if I were to change the names, to the logic of Zionism,” “life for the Palestinians is a description of what is happening in Gaza and the infinitely worse than what we ever had experienced West Bank could describe [past] events in South under apartheid,” and “the price they (Palestinians) Africa.” Later, in 2002, Tutu said that he was “very have had to pay for resistance much more horren- deeply distressed” by a visit to the Holy Land, add- dous.” ing that “it reminded me so much of what happened • Willie Madisha, President of the Congress of to us black people in South Africa” and that he saw South African Trade Unions stated, “As someone “the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints who lived in apartheid South Africa and who has and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white visited Palestine I say with confidence that Israel police officers prevented us from moving about.” is an apartheid state. In fact, I believe that some of Tutu also added that “Many South Africans are be- the atrocities committed by the erstwhile apartheid ginning to recognize the parallels to what we went regime in South Africa pale in comparison to those through,” and stated that a letter signed by “several committed against the Palestinians.” hundred other prominent Jewish South Africans” South African anti-apartheid activists have a had drawn “an explicit analogy between apartheid close connection with Palestine not only because of and current Israeli policies.” moral comparisons with their anti-racist struggle. • John Dugard, a South African professor of Israel was for many years one of the key support- international law and an ad hoc Judge on the In- ers of South African apartheid. Hendrik Verwoerd, ternational Court of Justice, serving as the Special former prime minister of South Africa and widely labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis 17 considered the architect of South Africa's apart- imposed upon it because of its racial policies.” Israel heid policies, stated in 1961 that “Israel, like South was also centrally involved in the transfer of nuclear Africa, is an apartheid state.” In 1976, Israel invited technology to apartheid South Africa. the South African prime minister, John Vorster – a There are, of course, differences between the former Nazi sympathiser who was interned during South African and Israeli Apartheid systems. In the Second World War because of his pro-Nazi South Africa, the black population constituted the views – to make a state visit. Israel was one of the vast majority of the population and was divided major arms suppliers to South Africa despite the from the white minority by laws based on skin color. international embargo and, by 1980, no less than 35 In Palestine, there are two different groups of Pal- percent of Israel’s arms exports were going to South estinians living under Israeli apartheid: Palestinians Africa. The head of South African military indus- who are citizens of Israel and Palestinians living try said in 1982, Israeli “technological assistance under Israeli occupation and military administra- permits South Africa to evade the arms embargo tion in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians

What is Apartheid? Apartheid is the Afrikaner word for “apartness” members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition and to most people describes the system of racial of mixed marriages among members of various racial discrimination that existed in South Africa until 1994. groups, the expropriation of landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof; The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, which “…. Exploitation of the labour of the members of a 101 states are a party to, defines apartheid as “similar racial group or groups, in particular by submitting them policies and practices of racial segregation and to forced labour; discrimination as practised in southern Africa … for “…. Persecution of organisations and persons, by the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, by one racial group of persons over any other racial because they oppose apartheid. group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” South African apartheid was an extension and These practices include “Any legislative measures and formalization of the southern African colonization other measures calculated to prevent a racial group project since the 18th century. Some of its policies or groups from participation in the political, social, were explicitly modelled on The Canadian Indian Act economic and cultural life of the country and the (1876), which established reserves for native people deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full and codified in law the separate legal status of “Indians” development of such a group or groups, in particular by and Canadian citizens. Any native who wished to denying to members of a racial group or groups basic leave the reserves required a permit from the “Indian human rights and freedoms, including the right to work, Agent” – a person appointed by the Canadian state the right to form recognised trade unions, the right as their proxy on the reserve. This permit system to education, the right to leave and to return to their was directly transferred to 1950s South African country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom apartheid. Furthermore, the 1876 Act made it illegal of movement and residence, the right to freedom of for native people to sell or produce goods without opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of written permission of the Indian Agent and permitted peaceful assembly and association; native children to be removed from the reserves to “…. Any measures including legislative measures, missionary schools. designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the

18 SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis labour for palestine living under occupation do not have citizenship in was the idea that labour was one of the ways to con- any country nor do they have voting rights in Israel, solidate Jewish hegemony in Palestine, and Pales- but they are subject to the laws and policies of the tinians were confined to jobs that the Jewish settler Israeli government and military. Palestinians who population refused to work in. For the first decades live inside Israel constitute around 20 percent of the after 1967, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza population. Although these Palestinians have Israeli Strip formed a cheap pool of labour concentrated citizenship, they are systematically denied equal in the sectors of construction and agriculture. Since rights with Jewish citizens. Furthermore, Israel re- the early 1990s, however, Palestinians working in fuses to allow the return of Palestinians (more than these sectors have been systematically replaced by three-quarters of the Palestinian population at the highly exploited short-term migrant labour. Cur- time) who were expelled or fled during the atroci- rently, Israel is constructing “industrial zones” with ties that accompanied the establishment of Israel the advice and assistance of the World Bank and and who have not abandoned any of their commit- other international bodies to utilize Palestinian la- ment to the land they lived on for generations. bour in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the South African case, the black population Despite these differences, the system of laws and formed a cheap and highly exploited working class policies implemented since 1948 in Israel, and 1967 in the mines, factories, fields, and in domestic work. in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, closely resemble Palestinians inside Israel were systematically exclud- South African apartheid. These are policies of seg- ed from participation in the labour force through regation and discrimination, designed to exclude policies that promoted “Hebrew Labour’” in order Palestinians from the “political, social, economic to provide more job opportunities for Jewish set- and cultural life” and create “separate reserves and v tlers. Underlying this notion of “Hebrew Labour” ghettos.”

Bilin, Palestine, December, 2006. The crowd, chanting slogans calling on Palestinian factions to unite in struggle against the occupation, continued towards the gate in the wall, carrying olive branches. On arriving, demonstrators found soldiers standing between them and the gate. Photo: Keren Manor/activestills.org

labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis 19 South African Apartheid Israeli Apartheid

South African apartheid was With the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, three-quarters of designed to uphold the rule of the the Palestinian population was expelled. These Palestinians and their white minority and its domination descendants are forbidden from returning to their homes and lands. over the black majority. The latter Palestinians now constitute the largest refugee population in the world. was systematically excluded from Yet, any person of Jewish background from anywhere in the world is able the political process, and subject to to automatically gain Israeli citizenship. This is called the “Law of Return.” racialized and discriminatory laws. Within its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish state. Nevertheless, Race laws touched every aspect of around 20 percent of Israeli citizens are Palestinian (distinct from social life, including a prohibition Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza of marriage between non-whites Strip). Palestinian citizens have the right to vote. Yet it is forbidden for and whites. anyone to run for the Israeli Knesset without supporting the Jewish character of the Israeli state. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians are subject to Israeli military law. Israeli settlers living in the same area are governed by Israeli civil law. Military law is highly discriminatory and controls every aspect of Palestinian life. There are laws that condemn Palestinians for up to 10 years in prison for carrying a Palestinian flag or attending an “unauthorized meeting.” Other laws define the age of a Palestinian child differently from an Israeli child so that Palestinian children are arrested and treated as adults. Palestinians are frequently arrested by the Israeli military for violating military laws and brought before military courts that are presided over by military personnel many of whom have no legal education or training. These courts are often described as “Kangaroo Courts.” In contrast, Israeli settlers are brought before civil courts with the usual safeguards of judicial process. In 2003, a law was passed that effectively forbids Israeli citizens from marrying Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In colonial and then apartheid Israel has reserved 93 percent of the land in Israel proper – most of South Africa, 87 percent of the it either belongs to Palestinian refugees or was expropriated from land was reserved for whites. Non- Palestinians - for Jewish development through state ownership, the Jewish whites were permitted access to National Fund and the Israeli Lands Authority. only 13 percent of the land. The Through dubious and discriminatory legal methods, Israel has declared apartheid South Africa Natives most of the lands in the West Bank as “State land”. This land is Land Act, No 27 of 1913 and mainly used for the construction of illegal Jewish-only settlements The Natives (Urban Areas) Act of and highways. Many Jewish-only settlements are built on private land 1923, made it illegal for blacks to owned by Palestinians. Around 50 percent of the West Bank will be purchase or lease land from whites annexed following the completion of the Wall and the absorption of except in reserves. Israeli settlements into Israel. Palestinians will thus be confined to areas constituting around 12 percent of historic Palestine.

20 SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis labour for palestine South African Apartheid Israeli Apartheid

In Apartheid South Africa, the Israel’s Palestinian citizens are subject to vast discrimination in funding government deliberately starved and access to services. In 1965, Israel declared the lands and homes of the black population of education, 100,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel as “unrecognized.” They still exist, but health and social services while are denied electricity, water, sewage and other basic services. They do not funding services for the white appear on maps. minority. In 1978, for example, In the 2002 budget, Israel’s housing ministry spent about $30 per person the average education expenditure in Palestinian communities inside Israel compared with up to $3250 per for black pupils was US$45 while person in Jewish ones. The same year, the health ministry allocated just it was US$696 for white pupils. 1.6m shekels ($433,700) to Palestinian communities of its 277m-shekel There was one doctor for every ($76 million) budget to develop healthcare facilities. 44,000 blacks where for the white population the ratio was 1 for every In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel has destroyed thousands of 400. homes, schools, and hospitals. Since 1967, over 12,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished by the Israeli military, leaving 70,000 Palestinians homeless.

Apartheid laws reserved jobs for the Palestinian citizens of Israel are prevented from working in specific jobs white and mixed-race population through conditions that cite “military service” as a prerequisite even though groups. these jobs have nothing to do with military experience. Palestinian citizens of Israel do not serve in the army while most Jewish citizens are required to serve by law. Discrimination is also sanctioned on the basis of those who are citizens due to the “law of return” (i.e. are Jewish citizens of Israel). Only five per cent of Israeli civil servants are Palestinian, and a high proportion of those are hired to deal with other Palestinians. The foreign and finance ministries employ fewer than a dozen Palestinian citizens of Israel between them, when their combined staff totals more than 1,700 Jews. Until recently, the Bank of Israel and the state electricity company did not hire a single Palestinian. Israeli companies and businesses are forbidden from hiring Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip except for a small number who are granted permits.

In 1950, the Population Palestinian citizens of Israel are required to carry ID cards that identify Registration Act required that all them as non-Jewish through an ID number and the way birth dates are South Africans be racially classified recorded. The information on these cards is linked to a central database into one of three categories: white, that provides further details (such as where they live, if they have ever black (African), or colored (of been arrested, etc). Movement and entry to specific areas can be restricted mixed descent). All blacks were through the use of these cards. required to carry “pass books’’ In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, all movement is tightly restricted and containing fingerprints, photos and Palestinians are required to carry different coloured ID Cards. Entry and information on access to non-black exit from the Palestinian ghettoes within the West Bank is impossible areas. without these cards and a further permission to travel that is granted by the military occupation authorities. Furthermore, Palestinians are forced to use different coloured license plates that identify their place of origin. There are many roads in the West Bank that Palestinians are not permitted to travel on because they have been declared Israeli-only. labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis 21 South African Apartheid Israeli Apartheid

In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Since 1967, Israel has pursued a policy of bantustanization in the West Act established a basis for ethnic Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians have been herded into isolated areas government in African reserves, divided from one another by Jewish-only settlements and highways, known as “homelands.’’ These military checkpoints and most recently the Wall. homelands were independent states Israel controls all movement into these bantustans, exports and imports, to which each African was assigned electricity, water, telephone lines and even the Internet. by the government according to the record of origin (which was Travel between the West Bank and Gaza Strip bantustans is forbidden for frequently inaccurate). All political Palestinians. rights, including voting, held by In the West Bank, travel between the bantustans is regulated by the Israeli an African were restricted to the military and requires ID cards and travel permission. designated homeland. Through this artificial mechanism they became All Palestinian “passports” must be approved by the Israeli military and citizens of a “homeland” that permission to leave the country is required from the Israeli government. many had never seen, losing their All border crossings are controlled by the Israeli military. rights in South Africa including any means of involvement with the In 2006, Israel adopted a policy of denying entry to the country of any South African Parliament which person of Palestinian descent even if they carry citizenship from another held complete hegemony over the country such as the US or Canada. homelands. From 1976 to 1981, four of these homelands were created, denationalizing nine million South Africans. Most homeland administrations refused the nominal independence, maintaining pressure for political rights within the country as a whole. Nevertheless, Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa – aliens in their own country.

Jerusalem, Jan 6, 2007. Photo: Freepal

22 SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis labour for palestine South African Apartheid Israeli Apartheid

In 1953, the Public Safety Act and As of mid-2008, 11,000 Palestinians were being held as political prisoners the Criminal Law Amendment Act in Israeli prisons and detention centers. These include a small number of were passed, which empowered the Palestinian citizens of Israel. government to declare stringent Israel regularly practices torture against prisoners and has been condemned states of emergency and increased by UN bodies and human rights organizations such as Amnesty penalties for protesting against International. or supporting the repeal of a law. The penalties included fines, Over 1,000 Palestinians are held as “administrative detainees,” meaning imprisonment and whippings. they are being held without charge or trial. These administrative detainee orders can be issued for up to six months and then renewed indefinitely. The penalties imposed on political Some Palestinians have spent more than six years in administrative protest, even non-violent protest, detention. were severe. During the states of emergency which continued Over 350 Palestinian children are being held in detention as political intermittently until 1989, anyone prisoners. could be detained without a In violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Palestinians from the hearing by a low-level police official West Bank and Gaza Strip are transferred out of the occupied territory for up to six months. Thousands into prisons in Israel proper. Most prisoners are prevented from receiving of individuals died in custody, family visits and are not allowed to make telephone calls even at times of frequently after gruesome acts of the death of family members. torture. Those who were tried were sentenced to death, banished, or Palestinian citizens of Israel are frequently harassed and spied upon by the imprisoned for life, like Nelson Israeli secret intelligence (Shabak). The Shabak places teachers in schools Mandela. in order to watch the activity of Palestinian teachers. A member of the Shin Bet (Israeli Security Service) sits on the committee that appoints v teachers.

labour for palestine SECTION ONE: Background and Analysis 23

Section two Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers

One of the many myths about Israel is the claim that Zionism is a left-­wing or socialist ideology. It is critical for trade unionists and workers to understand the real nature of Zionist ideology and its close relationship with colonialism and imperialism. The first article examines the context in which Zionism arose, and the strong support it received from Britain and the US in the colonization of Palestine. One of the key institutions of this colonization project was the Histadrut, the so-­called Israeli Trade Union Federation. The real nature of the Histadrut as an instrument of racism and exclusion is examined in the second article by Katherine Nastovski. In February 2007, all workers organization in Palestine re-­iterated a call to boycott the Histadrut which we reprint below. The final article, an interview with an activist in the Stop the Wall Campaign in Palestine, looks at the current situation of Palestinian workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the role of industrial zones in binding the Palestinian economy into a dependent relationship with Israel.

Zionism: False Messiah By Lance Selfa (reprinted from International Socialist Review Issue 4, Spring 1998)

ifty years ago in May, Israel’s first prime minis- to an upsurge of anti-Jewish racism (anti-Semitism) ter, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed the found- in Europe at the end of the last century. In Western ingF of the State of Israel. Immediately, Jewish com- Europe, the formation of openly anti-Semitic po- mandos in Palestine launched what Israel called its litical parties challenged the assumption of many “War of Independence.” When Israel concluded an middle-class Jews that they could simply blend armistice with the armies of Egypt, Transjordan and into (or “assimilate” into) non-Jewish society. In the Syria in 1949, more than 750,000 Palestinians had Russian Empire, where the majority of world Jewry been forced to flee from their homes. They became lived, Jews fell victim as the feudal order gave way to refugees from their own country, which the Jew- capitalist economic development. As feudalism col- ish Zionist armies now controlled. The founding lapsed, Jews lost the specific roles they had played as of Israel marked the culmination of a 50-year-long money lenders and organizers of commerce in the campaign, waged by political Zionists, to establish feudal economy. Forced out of the feudal economy, a Jewish state. Jewish artisans and shopkeepers fell into competi- The Zionists claimed that they expressed world tion with non-Jews (Gentiles). Meanwhile, capital- Jewry’s yearning for “national liberation.” Yet, if ist development destroyed the artisanal economy, Zionism was a movement for national liberation, turning artisans and craftspeople into wage workers. it was like no other. Rather than seeking to break These two processes – the destruction of the feu- free from imperialism, it actively courted patronage dal economy and the undermining of the artisanal from imperialist powers. Rather than promising economy – combined in less than 50 years to create self-determination to the people of Palestine – the a massive Jewish working class in Eastern Europe. vast majority of whom were Arab – it expelled them. These wrenching changes in the position of Jews in And rather than representing a widely popular ex- society impelled millions of Jews to emigrate from pression of the fight against national oppression, Eastern Europe. Those who stayed behind often Zionism counted as little more than a sect for most faced pogroms, anti-Jewish riots. Taking advantage of its existence prior to the Second World War. of rising anti-Semitism among the Gentile middle No doubt all sorts of distorted history and class and seeking to keep the Jewish working class ideological claptrap will accompany the media’s divided from its Gentile brothers and sisters, Tsar- “celebration” of Israel’s 50th anniversary. This is ist police stirred up pogroms against the Jews. understandable, if only because the real history of This atmosphere of despair and oppression Zionism and Israel is so sordid. stirred several responses in the Jewish population, among them a growing nationalism. Nathan Wein- What Is Zionism? stock emphasizes that “... Jewish nationalism, in Political Zionism, “a doctrine which, starting particular, its Zionist variant, was an absolutely new from the postulate of the incompatibility of the conception born of the socio-political context of Jews and the Gentiles, advocated massive emigra- Eastern Europe in the 19th century.” For centuries, tion to an underdeveloped country with the aim of the idea of a return to “Zion” (i.e., the “Holy Land” establishing a Jewish state,” developed as a response in Palestine) occupied a significant place in Juda- labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 27 ism, but this belief had no political significance. Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Passover’s ritual toasts to “next year in Jerusalem” Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. Two hundred delegates didn’t imply the desire to found a Jewish state with from 17 countries authorized the creation of the its “eternal capital” there. Jewish religious pilgrims World Zionist Organization to campaign for a emigrated to Palestine in the late 1800s to form “publicly recognized, legally secured homeland in religious communities, not to establish a state. Yet Palestine.” Later, Herzl modestly claimed: “If I were political Zionism had just that goal in mind. to sum up the Basel congress in a single phrase, I Political Zionism received its most powerful would say, ‘In Basel, I created the Jewish State.’” Yet statement in The Jewish State, an 1896 tract by Herzl found one major problem in building the Jew- Jewish Austrian journalist Theodore Herzl, con- ish state in Palestine. Very few Jews were interested sidered the “father” of political Zionism. Herzl, a in it. Between 1880 and 1929, almost four million widely traveled man, covered the 1894 Paris trial Jews emigrated from Russia, Austria-Hungary, Po- of Colonel Albert Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer land, Romania and other countries. Only 120,000 whom French military authorities framed as a spy. of them immigrated to Palestine. More than three The Dreyfus Affair brought out shocking displays million immigrated to the US and Canada. In 1914, of anti-Semitism from official French society. On there were only about 12,000 members of Zionist the other hand, it also spurred an international anti­ organizations in the US At the same time, there racist campaign led by the Gentile journalist and were as many Jewish members of the Socialist Par- novelist Emile Zola. Mass pressure – which the so- ty in the Lower East Side neighborhoods of New cialist movement helped to organize – forced the York’s Manhattan! French government to retry Dreyfus. The courts later found “extenuating circumstances” to lessen Socialism and the Fight Dreyfus’ sentence. The outcry against the Dreyfus Against Anti-Semitism trial dealt severe blows to the French right and in- Unlike Herzl, socialists defended Jews who stitutions like the army and the Catholic Church, faced persecution. Socialists also combated anti- which stoked anti-Semitism. One could have read Jewish racism as a poison to the workers movement. the Dreyfus case as an example of the potential for In this period, Auguste Bebel, a leader of the Ger- Jews and non-Jews to unite to fight anti-Semitism. man Social Democratic Party (SPD), denounced Herzl did not. As he later wrote in his Diary: “In anti-Semitism as “the socialism of fools” for di- Paris ... I achieved a freer attitude toward anti-Sem- verting workers from their true enemy, the ruling itism, which I now began to understand historically class, onto Jewish scapegoats. Karl Kautsky, another and to pardon. Above all, I recognized the emptiness ­German SPD leader, argued that the differentiation and futility of trying to combat anti-Semitism.” of the Jewish population into classes meant that the Herzl’s “pardoning” of anti-Semitism reflected a condition of the Jews would be bound up inextrica- core assumption of Zionism – a belief that all non- bly with the overall working-class movement. Con- Jews are anti-Semites. Anti-Semitism is “like a psy- necting the fight against anti-Semitism to the fight chic affliction, it is hereditary and as a disease has for workers’ power became the Marxist approach to been incurable for 2,000 years,” wrote Leo Pinsker, fighting anti-Semitism. Because socialists stressed a Zionist contemporary of Herzl. If persecution the need to fight anti-Semitism in the countries or death awaited Jews who tried to assimilate into where most Jews lived, the socialist movement re- largely Gentile societies, then the only solution to cruited Jews in large numbers. the “Jewish problem” would be the physical separa- Many Jews played active roles as founders, leaders tion of Jews and non-Jews. It followed that only a and activists in the socialist parties in Europe. Count Jewish state could provide a haven from persecu- Witte, the Tsar’s finance minister, once complained tion. On this point, the Zionists and anti-Semites to Herzl that Jews “comprise about 50 percent of converged. Both believed Jews to be a “foreign” the membership of the revolutionary parties,” while presence in Gentile society. And both believed that constituting only five percent of the Russian Em- Gentile society would be better off without Jews. pire’s population. One such party that earned Witte’s

28 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine hatred was the General Jewish Workers League, affairs of the workers’ state and to win the Jewish known as the Jewish Bund. The Bund, launched in masses to socialism. The revolution’s early years saw 1897 – the same year as Herzl’s Zionist Congress an unprecedented flowering of Yiddish and Jew- – became Russia’s first mass socialist organization. It ish cultural life. In 1926-27, over half of the Jew- bitterly opposed the Zionists’ calls for a Jewish state. ish school population attended Yiddish schools and Over the course of the next decade, the Bund grew 10 state theaters performed Yiddish plays. By the among Jewish workers, swelling to 40,000 members late 1920s, nearly 40 percent of the Jewish working in Russia during the 1905 Russian Revolution. In population worked for the government. the revolutionary period, Jewish socialists – both Thus, by the 1920s, the Zionists had been mar- in the Bund and in the other socialist parties – as- ginalized on all sides. The majority of the world’s sumed leadership of the working-class and commu- Jews clearly showed their desire to emigrate to nal organizations in Jewish communities. Western countries. And thousands of Jews who The Bund opposed political Zionism, but it ac- remained in Eastern Europe fought for a better commodated to Jewish nationalism. Because of this, life, winning solidarity from many of their Gentile Lenin and other Russian revolutionaries engaged brothers and sisters. By 1927, as many people left in fierce polemics with Bund leaders. In the 1903 Palestine as migrated to it. The entire Zionist en- founding congress of the Russian Social Demo- terprise seemed in doubt. cratic Labour Party (RSDLP), Bund leaders argued for the official right to represent and to speak for Appealing to Imperialism Jewish workers inside the broader Russian social- When they embarked on their campaign for a ist movement. Lenin and prominent Jewish social- Jewish homeland, the Zionists didn’t let any ideo- ists such as Martov and Trotsky opposed the Bund. logical attachment to Palestine stand in their way. In Lenin argued the Bund was wrong to “legitimize fact, in the first years after Herzl formed the World Jewish isolation, by propagating the idea of a Jew- Zionist Organization, Zionists debated a number ish ‘nation’ .” Socialists’ task was “not to segregate of alternative targets for colonization: Uganda, An- nations, but to unite the workers of all nations,” gola, North Africa. In 1903, Herzl accepted a Brit- Lenin later wrote. “Our banner does not carry the ish government proposal to colonize Jews in Ugan- slogan ‘national culture’ but international culture.” da, a decision which proved controversial in Zionist The Bund lost the vote to represent Jewish workers ranks. Herzl’s death in 1904 put an end to coloni- and subsequently left the RSDLP. zation schemes outside of Palestine. Yet the debate The 1917 October Revolution showed what the on alternative sites for the Jewish state exposed the socialist strategy for Jewish emancipation meant in Zionist enterprise in two respects. First, it showed practice. In a country where the Tsar and his hench- that political Zionism placed the colonizing project man used anti-Semitism to divide workers, Russian ahead of any 2,000-year longing for Jewish people workers elected to leading roles in the revolution- to “return” to Palestine. Second, it showed that, from ary government Jewish Bolsheviks like Trotsky, its inception, Zionism depended on European pow- Zinoviev, Kamenev and Sverdlov. The revolution ers’ sponsorship of its colonial-settler aims. declared freedom of religion and abolished Tsar- Early Zionists made no secret that they hoped ist restrictions on education and residence for Jews. the Jewish state to be what Herzl called: “a portion During the 1918-1922 Civil War against counter- of the rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost revolutionary armies which slaughtered Jews by the of civilization as opposed to barbarism.” Herzl’s thousands, the revolutionary Red Army meted out writings abound with praise for the leading imperi- stern punishment – including execution – to any alist powers in Europe. Herzl admired the German pogromists in its ranks. In the workers’ govern- Kaiser’s dictatorship: “To live under the protection ment, Yiddish was given equal status with other of a strong, great, moral, splendidly governed and languages. A Commisariat of Jewish Affairs and thoroughly organized Germany is certain to have a special Jewish Commission inside the Bolshevik most salutary effects upon the national character of Party simultaneously worked to involve Jews in the the Jews.” In 1902, he wrote to Lord Rothschild, labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 29 a British Zionist with connections in the highest Winston Churchill, then a Tory Cabinet Minister, reaches of the British state: “So far, you [the British later explained Britain’s motivations in meeting Zi- empire] still have elbow room. Nay, you may claim onists’ expectations: “a Jewish state under the pro- high credit from your government if you strengthen tection of the British Crown ... would from every British influences in the Near East by a substan- point of view be beneficial and would be especially tial colonization of our people at the strategic point in harmony with the truest interests of the British where Egyptian and Indo-Persian interests con- Empire.” Chief among those interests was stopping verge.” Zionism’s founders exuded pro-imperialist Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky’s “schemes of a racism against what they considered the “backward world-wide communistic state under Jewish domi- peoples” of Asia and Africa. nation.” Thus, Churchill showed himself to be both When it came to seeking imperialist sponsors, an ardent Zionist and a rabid anti-Semite! the Zionists had no scruples about dealing with any regime, no matter how rotten or anti-Semitic. Herzl Zionism: Left and Right himself negotiated for increased Jewish emigration Under the Balfour Declaration, Britain prom- to Palestine with Vyacheslav von Plehve, the Rus- ised the Zionists both Palestine and Transjordan sian Tsar’s Interior Minister and architect of one (modern-day Jordan). Pressure from Arab countries of the worst pogroms in history at Kishinev in the forced Britain to renege on the promise of Transjor- Russian Empire in 1903. During the First World dan in 1922. The Zionist movement’s mainstream, War, leading Zionists ingratiated themselves to led by David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizman, British imperialism. They hoped that Britain would accepted Britain’s decision. Later, they agreed to reward them after it defeated the Ottoman Empire, accept British decisions to limit Jewish immigra- which controlled Palestine. They achieved their goal tion into Palestine. This provoked a major split in with the 1917 declaration by Tory politician Lord the Zionist movement as a minority, led by Polish Balfour. The Balfour Declaration proclaimed Brit- writer Vladimir Jabotinsky, protested Ben-Gurion’s ish support for “the establishment in Palestine of a and Weizman’s realpolitik. Jabotinsky argued that national home for the Jewish people” under Brit- Zionists should insist on capturing “both sides of ish protection. That Balfour had sponsored legisla- the Jordan” and refuse to abide by any limitations tion to bar Jewish immigrants from Britain in 1905 the British imposed. To placate Arab opinion, the didn’t faze the Zionists. World Zionist Organization called its colony in The Balfour Declaration grew out of discussions Palestine “a homeland.” But Jabotinsky insisted that between France and Britain over the carve up of the Zionists speak openly of their goal to build a Jewish Ottoman Empire’s lands following the First World state in Palestine. Jabotinsky’s program amounted to War. In 1915, British Cabinet Minister Herbert a call for revising the World Zionist Organization’s Samuel proposed that Britain establish a Jewish strategy, thereby earning his followers the descrip- protectorate in Palestine. The Cabinet majority op- tion “Revisionists” in the Zionist movement. posed the plan. “Curiously enough, the only other Jabotinsky wrote bluntly in his 1923 essay, “The partisan of this proposal is Lloyd George, who, I Iron Wall”: need not say, does not care a damn for the Jews or “We cannot give any compensation for Pales- their past or their future, but thinks it will be an tine, neither to the Palestinians nor to other Arabs. outrage to let the Holy Places pass into the posses- Therefore, a voluntary agreement is inconceivable. sion or under the protectorate of ‘agnostic, atheistic All colonization, even the most restricted, must France,’” wrote Samuel. Yet two years later, Britain continue in defiance of the will of the native popu- issued the Balfour Declaration. What had changed lation. Therefore, it can continue and develop only in Britain’s calculations? One clue comes from the under the shield of force which comprises an Iron fact that Britain issued the Balfour Declaration days Wall which the local population can never break before the October Revolution in Russia. Both Brit- through. This is our Arab policy. To formulate it any ain and the Zionists saw a Jewish state as a bulwark other way would be hypocrisy.” of imperialism against the spread of Bolshevism. Jabotinsky posed the first major challenge to the

30 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine dominance in mainstream Zionism of the ideol- strategic plan of Zionist settlement. The “strategic ogy of “Labour Zionism.” Labour Zionism, which consideration which had underlain the plan of Zi- traced its roots to the Eastern European Poale Zion onist settlement, decided, in large measure, the fate movement in the early 1900s, dominated all of the of many regions of the country” because Haganah major institutions of Zionism and of the yishuv, the militia detachments attacked Palestinians from Jewish settler community in Palestine. If the Bund kibbutz bases. represented socialists who caved in to nationalism, Until 1977, when self-described terrorist Men- the Labour Zionists represented nationalists who achem Begin became Israel’s first Revisionist prime used socialist-sounding rhetoric to win supporters minister, the Labour Zionists effectively represented away from genuine socialist parties. “Zionism” in most people’s minds. But Labour – the The defining institutions of Labour Zionism Zionist “left” – and the Revisionists – the Zionist in pre-state Palestine were the Histadrut “trade “right” – differed on means, rather than ends. Both union,” the General Confederation of Workers in supported an exclusively Jewish state. Like apart- the Land of Israel, and the kibbutzim, a network of heid South Africa’s rulers, the Revisionists were communal settlements which some have compared willing to employ the native Palestinian population. to utopian socialist communities. Both of these in- Labour sought to replace Palestinian workers with stitutions carried over into the state of Israel. Many Jewish workers. Both looked for support from im- supporters of Israel even point to them as evidence perialism. Labour Zionists oriented towards Brit- of “socialism” in the Zionist enterprise. Yet this is ish and the U.S. imperialism. The Revisionists made another part of the Zionist story where myth col- overtures to the Italian and German fascism. lides with reality. When it was launched, the Histadrut strictly Colonizing Palestine limited its membership to Jewish workers. Only in The Zionists tried to convince themselves that 1960 did it it officially allow Israeli citizen Palestin- Palestine was an unoccupied land. Yet for more ian Arabs to join it. One year after its founding, it than 1,300 years, a Muslim Arab majority – living owned a holding company and a bank. The capital side by side with Jews and Christians – had resided for these ventures came not from the Histadrut’s in the Ottoman province. In 1882, Palestine held a original 5,000 members, but from the international population of 24,000 Jews and 500,000 Arabs. By Zionist movement’s Jewish Agency. In other words, 1922, after more than two decades of Zionist-spon- the Histadrut subsisted (and continues to subsist) sored immigration, the country had a population of on its role as a conduit for investment from world nearly 760,000, 89 percent of it Palestinian Arab. Zionism. The Histadrut formed the backbone of Zionists purchased land – and a foothold in the Jewish “state-in-waiting, controlling the main- Palestine – from absentee Arab landowners in the stream of Zionist colonization efforts, economic 1920s. Later, in the 1930s, rich Palestinians sold production and marketing, labour employment and their land to Zionists. Individual Jewish “pioneers” defense (the Haganah).” One of its early leaders didn’t buy the land. Zionist organizations like the (and later Israeli Defense Minister) Pinhas Lavon Jewish National Fund bought land to provide a described it this way: “Our Histadrut is a general foundation for Jewish settlement in the country. organization to the core. It is not a workers’ trade Zionists drove Palestinian peasants off their land, union although it copes perfectly well with the real forcing them into destitution. British authorities needs of the worker.” assured the Zionists privileged access to water and Kibbutzim also restricted membership to Jews other essential resources. only. Kibbutz land was defined as being the posses- After establishing themselves in Palestine, the sion of “the nation,” which in pre-state and Israeli Zionists proceeded to set up a separate Jewish law was defined as being the property of the “Jew- economy and government under the noses of Brit- ish people.” Therefore, no Arab can hope to join ish mandate authorities. They called their economic a kibbutz. What is more, in the pre-state period, policy “the conquest of Jewish land and labour,” a kibbutzim served as forward military bases in the flowery description for expelling the Palestinians labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 31 from the country’s economic life. Under the slo- The Road to al-Nakbah gan, “Jewish land, Jewish labour, Jewish produce,” Without the Holocaust, the state of Israel prob- the Histadrut, the kibbutzim and the moshavim ably wouldn’t have been founded. Zionists recruited (agricultural cooperatives) proceeded to drive Pal- immigrants to the state of Israel from among the estinians out of their jobs and their livelihoods. thousands of Holocaust survivors whose communi- Histadrut members acted as goon squads against ties in Europe were destroyed. Perhaps more impor- Palestinians: tantly, the Holocaust provided a convincing justifi- Members of the Histadrut would picket and cation for a Jewish state. The Holocaust proved that stand guard at Jewish orchards to prevent Arab Gentiles were inherently anti-Semitic, the Zionists workers from getting jobs. Squads of activists argued. Jews living in Gentile societies, therefore, stormed through market places, pouring kerosene faced the constant danger of extermination. By the on tomatoes grown in Arab gardens or smashing end of the war, most Jews agreed with the Zionists. eggs that Jewish housewives might buy from Arab What was more, the Nazis’ physical elimination merchants. of alternative political currents in Jewish society The Palestinians fought back against their dis- ­increased support for Zionism. While the Nazis possession. In 1936, Palestinian organizations willingly dickered with Zionist leaders throughout launched a general strike against increased poverty, the 1930s and 1940s, they made sure to kill every the Zionists and the Zionists’ British sponsors. The communist, socialist or Jewish resistance fighter strike and subsequent armed uprisings lasted for they could get their hands on. three years before collapsing under the weight of The war forced the British to evacuate much Zionist and British repression. The Zionists’ role in of their empire, including Palestine. Britain left to the Palestinian Revolt clearly showed that Labour the United Nations the task of deciding Palestine’s Zionism had nothing in common with genuine fate. In November 1947, the UN agreed to a par- workers’ solidarity. The Histadrut organized scab- tition plan. The plan granted the Zionists control bing against the strike. It worked with the British of 55 percent of Palestine (although they repre- to replace Arab strikers with Jewish workers in the sented only one-third of the country’s population). Port of Haifa and on Palestine railroads. The British The Palestinian majority was left with 45 percent also armed Zionist militias to crush the Palestin- of their own country. Jerusalem was to be an “in- ian uprising. “With two divisions, squadrons of air- ternational city” with equal access granted to Jews, planes, the police force, the Transjordanian frontier Christians and Muslims. forces, and 6,000 Jewish auxiliaries, British troops Zionist leaders accepted the UN Partition Plan outnumbered the Palestinians ten to one.” Yet it in public. In private, they planned a military assault still took three years to crush the Revolt. to seize as much Palestinian land as possible. Judah The Revolt’s intensity derived from the fact that L. Magnus, president of Hebrew University of Je- the Zionist threat to Palestine was becoming clear rusalem and supporter of a bi-national Arab and in the 1930s. Throughout the 1930s, the Jewish Jewish state, explained the Zionists’ logic in 1947: population in Palestine exploded. Thousands of Jews “A Jewish state can only be obtained, if it ever fleeing persecution in Central and Eastern Europe is, through war ... You can talk to an Arab about – and denied admission to Britain, the U.S. and oth- anything, but you cannot talk to him about a Jew- er Western countries – made their way to Palestine. ish state. And that is because, by definition, a Jewish Between 1931 and 1945, the Jewish population in state means that the Jews will govern other people, Palestine swelled from 174,000 to 608,000. While other people who are living in this Jewish state. Jabo- Jews accounted for only one-third of the popula- tinsky knew that long ago. He was the prophet of the tion of Palestine on the eve of the state’s declara- Jewish state. Jabotinsky was ostracized, condemned, tion in 1948, they were a well-armed and powerful excommunicated. But now we see that the entire Zi- minority. As the Jewish population increased, so did onist movement has adopted his point of view...” ­Zionist provocations against the Palestinians. As Magnus predicted, the Zionist “right” and “left” united to hijack the country. They used terror,

32 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine psychological warfare and massacres to instill fear Palestinian land. More than 750,000 Palestinians among Palestinians. In the most well-known mas- were expelled from their homes, with Jews mov- sacre, the Revisionist Irgun and the Fighters for ing into them. Palestinian society was destroyed. the Freedom of Israel militias – whose chief lead- For this reason, the Palestinians refer to 1948 as al- ers were future Israeli prime ministers Menachem ­Nakbah (“the catastrophe”). Begin and Yitzhak Shamir – murdered the entire In 1949, a kibbutz welcomed members of the Palestinian village of Dir Yassin. The commandos “socialist” Hashomer Hatzair from the U.S. and “lined men, women and children up against walls Canada to colonize a Palestinian village seized and shot them,” according to a Red Cross descrip- in 1948. One of the kibbutz’s first acts was razing tion of the massacre. After Dir Yassin, Zionists the village’s mosque. A Hashomer member wrote used the threat of massacre to compel Palestinians in his/her diary: “It had to be done. It would have to flee their homes, including those in cities like been useless to preserve this symbol of a popula- Haifa and Jaffa. tion which showed itself to be, when one views the Israeli military commander and future Prime thing factually and unsentimentally, our hardened Minister Yitzhak Rabin oversaw the expulsion of enemies whom we have no intention of permitting the Palestinian population of Lydda. He described to return. It’s now a mass of ruins, and yet most of the events: us agree it’s better this way. The hovels, the filth, “Yigal Allon asked Ben-Gurion what was to the medieval atmosphere – it’s gone now for the be done with the civilian population. Ben-Gurion most part. Bring on the bulldozers and let’s plant waved his hand in a gesture of “drive them out.” trees.” “Driving out” is a term with a harsh ring. Psycho- On a foundation of war and murder, the Israeli logically, this was one of the most difficult actions state was built. Zionism gained its longstanding aim we undertook. The population of Lydda did not – a Jewish state. But as the 100-year history of polit- leave willingly. There was no way of avoiding the ical Zionism and the 50-year history of the state of use of force and warning shots in order to make the Israel shows, this is nothing to celebrate. Members inhabitants march the ten or fifteen miles to the of the Israeli Socialist Organization, a revolutionary point where they met up with the Arab Legion.” socialist organization, said it best in 1972: For years, Zionist history asserted a number of “Zionism promised national awakening and “facts” about the 1948 war: that little Israel faced fraternal solidarity; it has produced a society of in- overwhelming Arab firepower; that Palestinian creasing inequality and of racist discrimination and leaders encouraged Palestinians to leave the coun- cultural oppression. Zionism promised indepen- try; that there was no Zionist plan to drive the Pal- dence; it has produced a society in which the Prime estinians out; that Palestinians rejected partition Minister must periodically affirm to the people that and started the war. Yet recent historical research the existence of the nation depends on the delivery – based on formerly top secret Israel Defense Force of fifty or a hundred Phantom jets from the United documents – prove that all of these assertions are States. ... Zionism promised physical security to the lies. When the war ended, the Zionists held more Jews; Israel is the most dangerous place on earth to- than 77 percent of Palestine, including 95 percent day for a Jew, and it will remain so as long as Israeli- of all the good agricultural land in the country. The Jewish society retains its colonial character and its v state of Israel stole 80 percent of privately owned function as an instrument of imperialism.”

labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 33 The Histadrut and Settler-Colonialism: The Early Years By Katherine Nastovksi In February 2007, Palestinian unions issued a joint statement calling for the boycott not only of the Israeli State but of the Histadrut, citing its long history of support for the occupation, racist policies against Palestinian workers, and silence in the face of Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. This builds on the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society for an International campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

What is the Histadrut? The Histadrut was an exclusively Jewish organi- The Histadrut, founded in 1920 by the major zation until 1959 when it began to admit Palestin- Zionist parties in Palestine was from its inception ian members. Palestinians were then only allowed a nationalist organization with a purpose of be- to vote in union elections in 1965. This applies ing a vehicle for the colonization of Palestine. The only for Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Those Histadrut did not come together as a federation of without Israeli citizenship such as Palestinians unions but as a settlement organization, with prior- from the occupied territories and migrant workers ity to national goals over class solidarity. from Thailand and elsewhere are still barred from The organization was made up of three primary membership. sections: enterprises, services and unions. It was the owner of an economic empire that included the Why the Histadrut is Not largest bank, construction companies, and indus- Fundamentally a Workers’ or tries. It also operated like a state in its function as Working Class Organization an employment agency for settlers, as a provider of health care and pension funds and its control over Relation to capital and capitalism the Hagana, which would later become the Israeli The Histadrut, in contrast to the ideological Defence Forces. And lastly, it served as a central or- claims of some of its founding leaders, was from ganization that oversaw and largely led union activ- its inception a friend of capital and a vehicle for ity. capitalist development in the region. It was able to In a short time the Histadrut became the largest establish companies and provide services only with employer in the country, controlling 25 percent of the help of private capital through the World Zi- the economy by 1948. From 1948 until the early onist Organization (WZO). Its very structure was 1980’s the Histadrut was a key player in a corpo- based on and only made possible through this re- ratist system and very closely tied to the Israeli lationship with private capital. From its founding, state and business. After the 1980’s its role has di- the Histadrut embodied and operated on the ideal minished as its membership fell from 79 percent of ‘constructivism,’ which was a strategy of collect- in 1981 to 49% in 1996 in 2000 it declined to 45 ing funds to finance the “organizing and settling of percent as the Histadrut faced restructuring that significant numbers of immigrant workers.” Asa meant the privatization of many of its companies dependent on the funds of private capital and as and the dismantling of its services, like the health an investor and entrepreneur itself, the Histadrut program. It remains one of the largest employers in never posed a threat to capitalist development in Israel next to the Israeli state itself. the region and remains one of the largest employers in Israel today.

34 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine Harmony with the boss: when your union pension provider of the settler community in Pal- rep is your employer (or buddies with your estine. There were challenges to this structure and employer) the integration of a workers’ organization with its The Histadrut’s structure revealed the abandon- employer in the early years of the Histadrut mostly ment of the principles of class solidarity and class by communist parties. These parties were either struggle. Its membership was not based on class, or expelled or marginalized by the end of the 1920’s sector or workplace but on nationality irrespective when the Histadrut’s role as a vehicle for Zionist of class. The organization’s structure meant that was fully consolidated in the merger of the two workers appealed to an organization of which their main Zionist parties into MAPAI (later to become employer was also a member. The highest governing the labour party) who maintained control over the body in the Histadrut makes ultimate decisions on Histadrut from then onward. Histadrut policy was strikes and job actions at the same time as they serve from that point often set in MAPAI party forums as the owners of many of companies that workers and later through corporatist structures dominated were employed in. Some might refer to this type by members of the Israeli leadership. of relationship as akin to that of company unions, where employers set up unions to restrain workers Histadrut in action: securing apartheid and prevent them from organizing independently. ‘The railway workers forget that the mission of the He- An early Secretary-General of Hevrat Ovdim brew workers who are part of the movement for settling (the enterprises section of the Histadrut) captures Palestine, is not to be bothered by mutual assistance to the Histadrut labour-management philosophy… Arab workers, but to assist in the fortification of the Zi- “Management sees the workers viewpoint much, much onist project on the land’ better, and like the workers, we absorb this viewpoint This quote by early Histadrut leader David Ha- without even concentrating on it. The result? Strikes choen captures the racism that underlies the foun- in our enterprises are few and far between. Labor and dation of the organization. It was based on an ex- management exist in much greater harmony.” plicit rejection of class solidarity and a call for the The philosophy behind the trade unions section strengthening of the colonial project. In the 1920’s of the Histadrut was the idea of “conquest of la- there was a struggle within the Histadrut over bour” and not of class struggle which was seen as the nature of struggle, class struggle or national detrimental to the Zionist project on the land. This struggle as embodied in the idea of the ‘conquest meant restraint of workers’ demands and of work- of labour’? The demand for class solidarity and class ers’ control. Israeli Historian Michael Shalev argues struggle was brought to the Histadrut most force- that “the Histadrut leadership exerted considerable fully by the railway workers in the early 1920’s who efforts to restrain workers’ pursuit of their immedi- sought the inclusion of Palestinian workers into ate interests in the context of the employment rela- the Histadrut. The Histadrut governing committee, tion.” This was done via centralized decision making led by David Ben-Gurion responded to the railway by the Histadrut leadership, control over the func- workers by arguing that Palestinians would have tioning of workers’ councils, expulsion of militants, to form their own separate organizations that the and control over the authorization of strike or other Histadrut would then work alongside. The railway job actions that was sometimes enforced “by open workers rejected this proposal and declared itself an or implicit threats of cutting off medical services to International union in 1924 and began to organize wildcatters.” to change the nature of the Histadrut’s structure, These kinds of tactics in restraining workers’ challenging not only its racism toward Palestinians militancy showed the strength of the Histadrut’s but also its cross-class nature calling for having an control over Jewish workers lives in the pre-1948 independent trade union organization. context. The very nature of the Histadrut created a This attempt at changing the nature of the His- great dependence by workers on the organization as tadrut was defeated at the Histadrut’s third con-

it was the employment agency, health insurance and gress in 1927.The rejection of class solidarity with labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 35 Palestinian workers was to become fully consolidat- entrenchment of the Yishuv and its efforts at ter- ed in the campaign for ‘Hebrew Labor’ that began ritorial segregation.” with pickets displacing Palestinian workers that The picket campaigns, organized and authorized same year. at the highest levels of the Histadrut are key ex- The campaign for “Hebrew Labor” was a means amples of the Histadrut’s function as an engineer of legitimizing and furthering the exclusionary of apartheid in Palestine and of how the Histadrut’s aims the Histadrut and a war of position for the union arm was used to secure nationalist ends. This Zionist project more generally. These pickets took campaign and labour strategy was very directly in- place in the late twenties and early to mid-thirties spired by the model of South African apartheid. In and were focused on displacing Palestinian workers an essay in 1927, Hayyim Arlosoroff, a co-founder who worked on groves in Zionist settler colonies. of Ha’poel Hat’zair which was a leading party in the These pickets were to mark a shift from the early Histadrut in the 1920’s, argued that South Africa’s Histadrut years where there was, at least rhetori- conditions most closely resembled those confront- cally, a commitment to some debate around soli- ed by Jewish workers in Palestine. He argued that darity with Palestinian workers. These pickets were joint organization would never overcome the dy- sporadic and often degenerated into attacks on namics of the capitalist labor market therefore with Palestinian workers, grove owners and included the the competition from low wage Palestinian workers destruction of property and led on a number of oc- the only solution was to “devote its resources and casions to intervention of British forces. Historian energies to developing a separate high-wage, high- Steven A. Glazer argues that this aggressive cam- productivity, and exclusively Jewish economic sec- paign for economic segregation, was one prong of tor, which would coexist with an unproductive and v an overall strategy of the “political and economic low-wage Arab sector.”

Hebron, January 2007. Once a jewellery market, this street has been closed by the Israeli occupying forces for six years. Photo: ela g

36 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine 15 February 2007 – Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) Statement CAIA welcomes call from Palestinian trade unionists to boycott Israel and the Histadrut

On 11 February, 2007, a historic declaration came Trade Unions (PGFTU) did not support boycott, from Palestine, signed by all Palestinian trade unions, divestment and sanctions. These claims have now vocational and professional unions. The declaration been demonstrated to be unfounded. CUPE Ontario expresses complete support for the global campaign has clearly worked consistently within basic principles of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. It of international solidarity expressed in the BDS calls upon international trade union federations, the campaign and deserves the support of all Canadian ILO and other worker organizations to boycott and trade unions. divest from Israel -­ and thanks those across the world The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) who have already heeded this call. welcomes this call from Palestinian unions and Most significantly, the Palestinian declaration calls pledges to do its utmost to support and strengthen on all trade unionists and international union the growing movement across the world to isolate federations to boycott the Histadrut, the Israeli Israel in the manner of South African apartheid. trade union federation, in order “to pressure it to Palestinian unions have set up a picket line and called guarantee rights for our workers and to pressure the on workers across the world not to cross. It is time government to end the occupation and to recognize for Canadian labour movement activists to take the full rights of the Palestinian people.” up this call and show real support for their fellow workers in Palestine. In the wake of the March 2006 CUPE Ontario resolution, individuals in the Canadian labour The original copy of the declaration, the English movement attempted to use ties with the Histadrut translation (reprinted below), and a report from the as grounds for condemning the CUPE Ontario press conference announcing the call in Palestine is decision. Attempts were made from some quarters available at: http://www.stopthewall.org/boycott/bds/ to claim that the Palestinian General Federation of cupe.shtml

Statement in Occasion of the Workers’ Boycott Call Today, 11th of February 2007, we, the Palestinian labour federations, vocational and professional trade unions, and the grassroots Palestinian Anti-­Apartheid Wall Campaign, have convened a press conference to announce a call for solidarity with our workers and the Palestinian people endorsed by the General Union of Palestinian Workers, Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, the Coalition of Independent Democratic Trade Unions and other professional unions. This call addresses the Arab and International Trade Unions and, in particular, the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, the Arab League, the Arab Labour Organization, the International Labour Organization, the International Trade Union Confederation, the Organization of African Trade Union Unity, the Palestinian people and the international community. We call upon all the above to: • Boycott and divest from Israel • Work towards sanctions upon Israel Until Israel stops its crimes against our people and implements international law safeguarding human rights for all. This call from the Palestinian workers movement is part of our struggle against the Occupation and for Freedom, Self-­determination, the Right of Return, Social Justice and a Palestinian independent state with its capital as Jerusalem and to end the racism against our people inside the Green Line. continued ...

labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 37 Statement in Occasion of the Workers’ Boycott Call Continued

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and next year will mark 60 years from the Nakba. In the meanwhile, the Palestinian people still yearn for their right to live free in their homeland, and 6.8 million refugees scattered all over the world strive for their right (as enshrined in international law, including UN resolutions) to return to their homes, villages and cities. It is imperative to recognize that since its inception, the Histadrut has supported the Occupation and enacted racist policies against our workers, denying them their rights. It has kept silent in front of Israel’s crimes against our people throughout the decades of occupation. We are thus asking the international trade unions to boycott the Histadrut to pressure it to guarantee rights for our workers and to pressure the government to end the occupation and to recognize the full rights of the Palestinian people. Since July 2002, the Occupation is creating a new reality on the ground via construction of the Apartheid Wall. It turns the West Bank into ghettos, escalates the confiscation and isolation of our lands and water and increases racist policies against our people, eventually destroying the dream of a Palestinian state. On top of this, the Occupation continues with the policies of “targeted assassinations”, home demolitions, expulsion of non-­Jews from Jerusalem and destruction of homes and historical monuments there, attacks on holy sites, and destroying our industries and entire economy then exploiting our workers, starving our people in order to force the Occupation’s projects upon us so that we will eventually surrender. Today, we initiate as the Palestinian Labour Movement a Workers’ Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to build upon the United Palestinian Call for BDS against Israel to the International Community. This call has been signed by more than 170 Palestinian organizations and political parties from the West Bank, Gaza and the Diaspora. We thank and express our gratitude to the movements, unions and organizations all over the world that in the last two years have taken up the call for boycott and launched campaigns in their countries. They challenged the Zionist lobby and have shown steadfastness in the face of attacks instigated against them. We thus ask the international trade unions to grant their support to these initiatives in their countries, to organize their own boycott campaigns and to coordinate international efforts to effectively implement boycotts, divestment and sanctions in order to: 1. Stop the crimes committed against our rights, above all occupation and the expulsion of our people; 2. Tear down the wall of silence built up by the international community in order to finally shun the crimes of the Occupation; 3. Keep the conscience of the world alive and nurture respect for international human rights law while promoting its implementation; 4. Reach a just and comprehensive solution for the Palestinian cause. Greetings to the Liberation Struggle of our Workers. Greetings to those around the World Standing in Solidarity and Struggling for the Palestinian Cause. Eternal Glory to Martyrs for Freedom Everywhere. Signatories General Union of Palestinian workers: Haidar Ibrahim (General Secretary) Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions: Amneh Rimawi / for: Shaher Sa’ad (Steering committee) Coalition of Independent Democratic Trade Unions: Muhammad al Arouri (Coordinator) General Union of Palestine Labor Vocational Associations: Hassan Sharake (General Secretary) Palestinian Farmers Union: Adel Abu Ne’meh (General Secretary)

38 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine The Economics of Apartheid The following interview is abridged from an interview conducted by Stefan Christoff from Tadamon! Montreal with Daoud Hammoudi, from The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-­Apartheid Wall Campaign (stopthewall.org). It was published in The Electronic Intifada, 10 March 2008 and was first produced for the Fighting FTAs Project (fightingftas.org).

Stefan Christoff:Can you first speak about the impact of-millions of dollars through siphoning money from on the Palestinian economy of the apartheid wall being the Palestinian economy. Can you explain in specifics constructed in the West Bank, and can you describe the how this is happening? current status of the wall’s construction? DH: For example, there was a proposal from the Daoud Hamoudi: In 2002 the Israeli government World Bank in 2005, to build between nine and started building a wall in the occupied West Bank. twelve industrial zones throughout the West Bank. It’s a 700-kilometer-long wall that Israel claims is Each Palestinian ghetto will have two or three indus- a security wall to separate the Palestinians from Is- trial zones to which Israeli factories will be moved. rael. However, the path of the wall splits Palestinian Palestinians will become the cheap labor force for lands, creating small ghettos, closed ghettos with Israeli industry. Also, these industrial zones will be a limited number of exit and entry points that are built along the border, so they will not be part of controlled by Israeli military checkpoints. Israel’s Israel or Palestine and the labor force will not be wall has had many severe impacts on Palestinians, officially working in either Israel or Palestine. including major economic impacts. Palestinians will be forced to work in areas where Each kilometer of Israel’s wall costs an estimated Palestinian [and] Israeli labor laws don’t apply. In $2.5 million at minimum, while there is a great deal this context, if a Palestinian worker has a problem of infrastructure, high-tech military equipment with an Israeli factory owner, the worker can’t use that additionally lines the wall, costing an estimated the Israeli court system or Palestinian regulation to $400 million. It has been very, very expensive for address the labor issue. Israel to build this wall. Also within this proposal, the announced salary After completion, the wall will include an esti- for Palestinian workers within the industrial zones mated 35 checkpoints that will cost additional mil- will be $300 US a month, a fraction of the mini- lions. Given this economic reality, Israel launched mum for Israeli workers inside Israel. For the first a parallel economic plan to coincide with the wall’s time, Israeli industry or factory owners are openly construction, a plan to control the Palestinian econ- talking about competing with Asian productions omy in order to fund the wall’s construction. Israel’s within European and North American markets. parallel economic plan started in 2005, approved by Another example is a project funded by the Jap- both the US government and the EU; now Israel is anese government, an agro-industrial zone, built on attempting to force this economic plan on Palestin- Palestinian land in the West Bank that today has ian society. become a closed Israeli military zone, in which the agro-industrial areas will be launched, based on the SC: I understand you are documenting an economic same conditions for Palestinian workers proposed plan put forward by Israel, to compensate for hundreds- in the industrial zones. labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 39 SC: Can you expand on the examples that you put for- Already land has been confiscated in differ- ward, both the agro-industrial zone and the industrial ent Palestinian districts in the West Bank to build zone project in the West Bank? Could you expand on these industrial zones, which will be funded ini- the economic implications for the Palestinian people tially by different governments internationally. To and Palestinian economy? explain, one in the north will be funded by the German government, one in the northwest of the DH: To build any state you need to have an in- West Bank will be funded by [the US development dependent economy, which in turn fuels national agency] USAID, one in the south will include in- development. Today, if the West Bank became free frastructure funded by the World Bank and Turk- from the Israeli economy, this break would have a ish government and finally one in the eastern West major negative impact on the Israeli economy, as Bank will be funded by the Japanese and US gov- the Palestinian territories are the second largest ernments. market for Israel after the US. For example, Israeli Supporters of this industrial zone project hope gas companies generate around 40 percent of their that eventually half-a-million Palestinian work- income from the West Bank and Gaza markets ers will be working in these industrial areas. Again alone. it’s important to remember that the Palestinian Today, Israel is attempting to impose conditions workers will not be working in either Israel or a on any future Palestinian state, [over] which Israel potential Palestinian state, so no labor laws can be will continue to control economic trade, [the] na- implemented on these industrial or agro-industrial tional economy, the borders, all to secure economic zones. benefits for Israel from any future Palestinian state. Israelis will maintain control [over] the exports A group of economic agreements ... under nego- over these industrial zones, as all the supervisors tiation since 2005 include the establishment of the will be Israeli, so Israel will have total economic industrial zones. [The] issue behind this project is control over the zones. the fact that, internationally speaking, Israel’s labor force maintains extremely high standards in rela- SC: Based on your reading of the proposal to establish tion to international wage standards. these industrial zones, can you describe the potential Israel can’t compete with industrial production conditions for thousands of Palestinian workers who costs in South Asia, Latin America or China, in- would fill this labor vacuum for the industrial zones cluding clothing, food and other production. Israel that you have described? is attempting to build the national economy through DH: First, it’s important to recognize that to enter these industrial zones, through moving Israeli fac- these industrial zones you will need a permit from tories into these areas, then bringing in cheap Pal- Israeli authorities; if at any point in your history estinian labor to work in slavery-like conditions at you were considered an activist against the Israeli the lowest wages possible, in order to allow Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, you will industry to compete in the world market. never receive the permit to enter and work at the Now these economic projects are promoted as factories in the industrial zones. So these industrial “peace-building” projects internationally. These in- areas will remain under strict Israeli control. dustrial zones will be placed along the border, so Now looking at Gaza, the area has been a ghetto they will not be considered either Israeli or Palestin- since 1994, as a wall has been surrounding Gaza ian. However, the companies operating within the since that time. Already two industrial zones have zones will be Israeli companies or multi-national been built where thousands of Palestinians worked. corporations, like Turkish or US-based companies. As the intifada started in 2000, Israel simply start- Israelis will own the factories [and] also will su- ed closing the entrance to the factories, collectively pervise the Palestinian workers. Israel will addition- punishing Palestinian workers. Finally in 2004 Is- ally control the export of products created within rael closed the industrial zones in Gaza. the industrial zones. Estimates project that there Also it’s important to note that the Israeli per- will be 40,000 Palestinian workers within the in- mits to enter the zones are considered tourist visas, dustrial zones.

40 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine not working visas. Now if a Palestinian worker Once the intifada started and the PA was per- wanted to travel to work in Canada, for example, I suaded [by] the grassroots [organizations] ... that would need a work visa not a tourist visa. In Can- Israel was offering the Palestinians nothing, most ada, if I worked while on a tourist visa I would be of these industrial projects were stopped, while a considered an illegal worker -- in the legal sense, a movement against economic cooperation with Is- worker without any rights. raeli spread throughout the Palestinian territories, Now within these industrial zones, they are on even up to the highest levels of the PA. This move- the border areas, so under Israeli law a Palestinian ment against economic cooperation with Israel also working on a tourist visa within the zones would be promoted the idea of developing economic alter- considered an illegal worker. So in these conditions, natives to cooperation with Israel for the Palestin- the Palestinian workers are unable to create a union. ians. If a conflict or dispute happens ... between the Pal- This movement continues. In 2004 Israelis be- estinian workers and the Israeli factory owners, the gan seeking independent economic partners within Palestinian workers would have no recourse within Palestinian society, attempting to negotiate direct either the Palestinian or Israeli legal system. agreements with different Palestinian businesspeo- No labor rights would exist, no health insurance ple. Israel targeted the most important 50 Palestin- for workers. If a Palestinian worker becomes sick, or ian businesspeople, attempting to persuade these is injured within one of these factories, the Pales- Palestinians to co-launch these industrial zones tinian would simply be thrown out of the industrial directly with Israel and without the approval of the zone without compensation or anything. Palestinian Authority. [The] first step was an Israeli At this time, these industrial zones are being military order to confiscate the land from Palestine promoted as peace-building projects, which Israel for the industrial zones, then Israel surrounded this argues the international community should sup- territory by the wall and also by checkpoints, then port. Each industrial or agro-industrial zone will they pressured Palestinians to buy these confiscated be funded by international governments or interna- lands. tional funding agencies, such as USAID. The Palestinian Authority managed to block this In promoting these industrial zones as peace- project in cooperation with grassroots organiza- building projects, Israel is attempting to ensure tions and civil society organizations, including ours, support from the European Union and other states which was active in this effort. Palestinians man- around the world. Through the free-trade agree- aged to block the project [for Israelis] to sign direct ments that Israeli maintains internationally with deals with Palestinian businesspeople. different countries in Europe [and] Canada, a mar- In 2005 the World Bank managed to re-open ket exists for the goods that would be produced debate on the industrial project, presenting through within these industrial zones by Palestinian work- research the zones as the only solution for the Pal- ers. estinian economy. Since this time Israel and the World Bank managed to collect funding for these SC: Can you talk about the role of the Palestinian Au- projects, mainly from the IMF [International thority in the creation of these industrial zones? What Monetary Fund], USAID, the US government, the has been the position of the PA? Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Turk- DH: [When] the Oslo Agreement was signed and ish government and the German government. the Paris Protocol, an economic agreement that was At the recent summit in Annapolis in the US, signed between the Israelis and the PA, Palestin- these industrial zone projects were jointly approved ian politicians thought that they could really benefit by the PA and Israeli officials, at which time they from these projects. So throughout the early 1990s announced that they will attempt to finalize these the PA promoted such projects internationally, in- projects by the end of 2008. Now in Palestine, cluding the two industrial zones that were built through civil society networks, we are trying to raise around Gaza. In the West Bank, no industrial proj- the level of pressure on the PA to stop all Palestin- ects were built during the Oslo period in the end. ian cooperation in these industrial zone projects, for labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 41 the PA to cancel the approval they made at An- on terror. napolis. Also Bush stated clearly that this trade strategy involved bring[ing] Israel into the Middle East as a SC: Can you speak about the grassroots reaction to the fully recognized country, as a Jewish country living PA agreement to participate in the establishment of in- next to its neighbors in peace. So trade agreements dustrial zones in collaboration with Israel? On a grass- were presented as the path for the US push for nor- roots level, what are people in Palestine saying about malization with Israel. In this same period, Robert these projects? Zoellick traveled to the Middle East in [his] capac- DH: [The] launching of a grassroots campaign ity [as] US Trade Representative. In a talk, Zoellick took different dimensions; a key dimension is stated clearly that the goal for this agreement was rooted in our appeal for boycott, divestment and to have Israel recognized in the region, as part of sanctions against Israel, which is led by different the effort to combat the Arab boycott of Israel. organizations world-wide. Also, there have been As the US started negotiating these agreements, many meetings between activists in Palestine and the first countries that they targeted were the small- different officials within the PA. Also, we are push- est or weakest countries in the Middle East. In an ing to include an anti-Israel-cooperation position attempt to create an opening in the Arab boycott within the mandate for Palestinian trade unions for against Israel, the US targeted Jordan, Bahrain the upcoming five years. [and] Morocco. At this point many politicians in Palestine have At the same time, US Congress representatives been persuaded to work against the creation of these announced that the US would peruse a free trade industrial zones within the framework of the PA. agreement with Saudi Arabia only if the monarchy Also at [the] grassroots level, we have been organiz- officially recognized Israel. In signing these agree- ing demonstrations and events next to the locations ments, for example with Jordan, the US now allows for the industrial zones and outside of PA build- exports in to the US without taxes if the product in- ings in the West Bank, led by the people with land cluded a minimum of ten percent Israeli material. confiscated by Israel in order to begin establishing SC: Can you discuss the current situation in Palestine these industrial zones. Many efforts are taking place in terms of the economic context of Israel’s occupation? to stop these industrial zone projects. DH: If you look back to history, it’s clear that many SC: Let’s talk about the way that economics is used colonial projects were started for economic reasons throughout the Middle East to push normalization and came to an end when the price of occupation with Israel. Clearly, the issue of economic and political became higher than the profits gained from the oc- normalization with Israel is contested throughout the cupation or colonization project. For example, in region. Currently a number of trade agreements are be- Algeria, the French greatly benefited from Algerian ing negotiated between the US and different countries agricultural production, especially grapes which in the Middle East, agreements that include points were used in the French wine production. of economic normalization with Israel, an issue that British colonization in India was greatly con- gained a great deal of attention from Jordan to Bah- nected to the spice trade and to cotton production. rain. Can you talk about the regional context? Also, British colonization in Egypt was connected DH: An important point concerning recent history to cotton production. Each example of coloniza- on this issue was a presentation made by US Presi- tion in history was connected to economics, ending dent [George W.] Bush at a conference at Colum- when the human and financial price became higher bia University in which Bush stated that the US’s than the profit the colonizers could gain by con- goal was to have a free trade agreement between the tinuing colonial policies. Middle East and the US. Also within this address, Today, Israel’s occupation controls all of Pales- Bush stated that the agreement would be about es- tine’s resources, [including] water resources [and] tablishing US political control within the Middle tourist resources, as Jerusalem and the West Bank East, linking the trade agreements to the US war are rich in Muslim, Jewish and Christian tourist

42 SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers labour for palestine sites. At the time that Israel’s occupation began, a occupation of Iraq. central goal was to control the economic resources People throughout the Middle East are attempt- of Palestine. However, today the price of this oc- ing to build a movement against the economic side cupation is becoming higher and higher. of the war. However, unfortunately, the majority of In examining the current economic situation the people in the region live under dictatorships, facing Israel today it’s clear that the occupation will which makes it extremely difficult to create the collapse unless Israel creates new ways to benefit space to build a movement against these economic from the occupation. In the face of this crisis arrives policies. the industrial zone projects or the free trade agree- Major demonstrations against these US-driven ments as a solution. trade agreements have taken place. However, these Robert Zoellick, the US Trade Representative, demonstrations face serious repression. Many so- explained it best at the Doha meetings of the World cial activists who have been involved in fighting US Trade Organization in 2001, [by] saying that the trade policies have been arrested, detained or inter- US is pushing free trade agreements throughout rogated. Despite this, our movement continues: a the global south in order to force the US politi- movement against US trade policies throughout v cal agenda, which translates in the Middle East to the Middle East. accepting Israel’s occupation or accepting the US

A sign hanging adjacent to the Sawahre Checkpoint announcing the confiscation of Palestinian land for the construction of an Israeli road to surround Jerusalem. 16 January 2008. Photographer: Neta Efroni www.machsomwatch.org/

labour for palestine SECTION two: Zionism, the Israeli Labour Movement and Palestinian Workers 43

Section three Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid

The standard history of Canada obscures the historical genocide and continued marginalization and colonization that takes place against indigenous peoples. The history of colonialization, confrontations with white-­settler societies, and displacement provides a common linkage between First Nations in Canada and Palestinians. They are both struggling for traditional lands, rights of self-­determination and formation of independent political institutions. These common experiences and political struggles have fostered important linkages of solidarity between activists for Palestinian rights and many First Nations communities in Canada. These historical legacies, and indeed the present inequities internal to the Canadian state, continue to frame Canadian government approaches to foreign policy and the Middle East.

Zainab Amadahy looks at the real record of Canadian colonialism, and shows how the land and resources of First Nations people have been subsidizing the Canadian economy for generations. The second article in this section, by Greg Albo, looks at the latest “turn” in Canadian foreign policy and its role in the US-­led reordering of the global economy. This shift has been fully backed by the Canadian media. Dan Freeman-­Malloy looks at how the Canadian media has continued to whitewash and mystify the real record of Israeli apartheid and its treatment of the Palestinian population. The concluding article looks at the Canada-­Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) and how this agreement helps to sustain the economy of Israeli apartheid.

CAIA Re-affirms Solidarity as Canadian Government ­Escalates Attacks on Indigenous People

19th September 2007.

The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) affirms its unequivocal solidarity and support to the struggle of indigenous people for sovereignty, dignity and self- determination across North America (Turtle Island). We strongly reiterate this support given the climate of repression and escalating attacks by the Canadian government on the indigenous population of this country.

Last week, the Canadian government once again demonstrated its utter contempt for indigenous people when it voted against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. CAIA is not at all surprised by this vote given the history of Canadian colonialism. The stark reality of this colonialism -­ and the fact that the profits of transnational corporations largely depend upon the continued theft and dispossession of indigenous resources -­ was made clear by those who joined the Canadian government in this vote: Australia, the US, and New Zealand. By their decision to oppose the UN Resolution, these governments have merely confirmed the ongoing reality of colonialism.

Furthermore, this vote comes at a time of escalating attacks against those struggling to defend their lands. In Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory at the Bay of Quinte, a scant 17,000 acres remain of the original 92,700 acres of Mohawk land. For 200 years, the Canadian government has facilitated the theft of these 70,000 acres of land by settlers, private land developers, and companies such as CN Rail. In the fall of 2006, Tyendinaga Mohawks renewed efforts to regain part of their land, the Culbertson Tract, a 923-­acre piece of land that had been stolen in 1832. Despite the fact that even the Canadian government acknowledged that the Culbertson Tract was Mohawk land in 2003, private developers have continued to expand their use of the land. In March 2007, members of the Tyendinaga community reclaimed a gravel quarry operated by Thurlow Aggregates, rightly noting that it was impossible to ‘negotiate’ over the land when 10,000 truckloads were being carted away each year. Actions around the reclamation of the quarry, and others in solidarity with the ongoing struggle by Six Nations people near Caledonia, have led to the arrest of Tyendinaga Mohawk and spokesperson, Shawn Brant, and a lawsuit against members of the Tyendinaga community.

The repression against Tyendinaga Mohawks comes in the context of the ongoing subjugation of native people. We note that 1 in 3 indigenous people are living in poverty -­ more than double the non-­native rate. The percentage of First Nations people in Canadian prisons has increased by more than 20% over the last 10 years and the incarceration rate is almost nine times that of non-­native people. Three quarters of native reserves have water supplies that are considered ‘at risk’. And the native youth suicide rate is more than 5 times that of the non-­native population. This small snapshot of indigenous life indicates that any pretension of Canada as a ‘fair’, ‘tolerant’ or ‘just’ society is simply a lie designed to hide the odious reality of colonial dispossession.

CAIA extends its full support to all indigenous people in their struggle on this land. As a Palestinian solidarity organization, we recognize and support indigenous sovereignty, and see the direct parallels between the Palestinian struggle and that of indigenous people on Turtle Island. The illegal occupation of land, forced dispossession, restrictions of movement, military force and the systematic destruction of culture and livelihood are familiar colonial strategies that Palestinians have endured for decades. We are absolutely confident that the indigenous people of this country will win justice, as shall the people of Palestine.

labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 47 Canada’s Colonial Present by Zainab Amadahy

irst Nations people are the original inhabit- Though the relationship between First Nations ants/caretakers of the land we refer to as Turtle and European settlers has a longer history, we can Island,F which includes all of North America. Our only briefly review some of that here in an effort to languages, cultures and very identity are intimately demonstrate how the colonial past has shaped our connected to/rooted in this land. To separate us colonial present. from the land either ideologically or physically is an act of genocide. The very concepts of Canada, The Indian Act Mexico and the US (not to mention every so-called In 1876 Canada passed the Indian Act which nation in the Americas) are premised on this geno- imposed the band council system of government cide and the concurrent seizure of land and the on the indigenous people of Turtle Island (North resources within the land. The standard of living America). Among other things, this law: we enjoy in North America (some of us more than • Deposed already existing leadership to estab- others) is founded on genocide, stolen land, stolen lish band councils and the areas over which they resources and stolen African and indigenous people had jurisdiction. The Indian Act was passed without who were enslaved (stolen labour). These original consultation with any indigenous leader, usurped thefts were committed in the past but their legacy the treaty process (nation to nation agreements) impacts us all in the present. and made First Nations (FN) governments null and This does not mean that indigenous people don’t void, despite the fact that these governments had recognize other forms of oppression on which capi- served our ancestors for millennia before Europe- talism depends. We want and need to make alli- ans arrived on Turtle Island. This is akin to the US ances. But we need allies who recognize and take government passing a law that disbanded the cur- responsibility for their history as settlers on this rent Canadian government, determined what type land (albeit we do not generalize about the settler of government Canada must have and designated experience and settler power in Canadian society; the limitations of its power. we know that not all settlers enjoy the stolen wealth • Made First Nations Communities economi- of this land equally.) We need allies who wrestle cally dependent on Ottawa. The federal govern- with the implications of being a settler on anoth- ment controls the only sources of revenue for social er’s land while they wrestle with the fact that set- programs, economic development projects or job tlers are not equally empowered due, in large part, creation in FN communities. Ottawa determines to Canada’s historic and current role in displacing through a variety of legal and financing mecha- people globally. nisms what band councils can and cannot do for

Zainab Amadahy is a writer, activist, community worker and an active member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. Her achievements include contributing to the anthology, Strong Women’s Stories: Native Vision & Community Activism, co-edited by Bonita Lawrence and Kim Anderson (2004, Sumach Press) as well as author- ing Moons of Palmares (1998, Sister Vision Press). Zainab is a founding member of the Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty, is a Board member of the Association of Native Development in the Performing & Visual arts and is the Executive Director of Community Arts Ontario.

48 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine their communities. Even the process of pursuing a designed to divide and disempower First Nations land claim is legislated by Ottawa, funded (or not) families and communities. Non-status Indians are by Ottawa and decided ultimately in Canadian those who are not recognized by Ottawa as First courts. Land usage on FN territories is determined Nations. They cannot live in their communities, by Ottawa. There are many examples in history do not enjoy benefits or treaty rights and are not when the federal government leased or sold First permitted to participate in band council elections. Nations lands or resources and consequently reaped Again, this is akin to the US determining who huge profits that did not accrue to the community. could be a Canadian and who could not, as well Clearly, the poverty that exists in First Nations as who could live here and vote in Canadian elec- communities is, and always has been, by Ottawa’s tions. design. Initially through the use of Indian agents with • Blatantly discriminated against women by sweeping powers and more recently through purse recognizing Native descent through the male line strings, Ottawa has controlled band councils, band so that First Nations citizenship rights for women chiefs and the Assembly of First Nations. Whether were recognized only through their fathers’ lineage this current control is perceived of as friendly or and husbands’ status, and by prohibiting them from hostile is irrelevant and sidesteps the basic assump- voting or running for office in band elections. This tion that First Nations people are children who was in complete contradiction to traditional First cannot manage their own affairs. To recognize that Nations practices, in which descent for many com- some band councils, their chiefs and police are sin- munities was reckoned along the female line, and cerely interested in serving their communities while where women had significant authorities in politi- others are corrupt may be true but fails to recognize cal, economic and social life. While there were many that the band council system is itself inherently cor- nations and many practices, it is safe to generalize rupt, paternalistic and racist. and say that women held positions of leadership di- rectly and/or appointed male leaders and held them Establishment of Reserves in Canada accountable. This was completely overturned by the To provide more insight into some aspects of Indian Act. Canada’s colonial foundations, the following is Although women now have the right to vote excerpted from a presentation I made on the “Es- and run for band office, almost a century of being tablishment of Reserves in Canada” (delivered on excluded from political, economic and social deci- February 3, 2006 during Anti-Apartheid Week at sion-making has left First Nations women on and the University of Toronto, organized by the Arab off reserve in very vulnerable situations. Women Students Collective and edited and updated on are among the poorest in First Nations commu- January 17, 2007) nities. They have been targeted through various It is important to address the establishment of amendments to the Indian Act and thousands were reserves in the context of the overall genocide proj- stripped of their status along with their homes, ect on Turtle Island. benefits and any treaty rights they may have had. Today we estimate that about half of all status The hundreds of women who are missing from our Indians in Canada live off reserve. So “status In- communities, dead and murdered, is a direct result dians” are people who are actually registered and of a deliberate and calculated attack on the rights recognized by the federal government as “Indians” and authorities of First Nations women by the Ca- under the Indian Act. When you include non sta- nadian government. tus Indians, you see that the vast majority of indig- • Determined who could call themselves an enous peoples in Canada live off reserve and have “Indian” and live in First Nations communities. The been living off territory for some generations. Indian Act established an Indian registry and with Despite the stereotype that Native people live on subsequent amendments there has emerged a com- reserves or come from a reserve, the reserve experi- plex set of legal categories (status and non-status ence is only one part of the North American in- Indians, Treaty Indians, Bill C-31 Indians, etc.) digenous experience and it’s a minority experience labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 49 among indigenous peoples. Even so, it is still inte- after, specific reserve territories were negotiated in gral to understanding the larger picture of where we treaties. So it’s important to understand that not all find ourselves today as indigenous people and it’s First Nations signed treaties with the government, important to understanding the history and strug- particularly on the west coast or in the far north, gles of First Nations communities because they are which means that not all “status Indians” or First of course linked to all of our other struggles as in- Nations bands recognized by the feds have reserves digenous peoples. or territories that the settler government recognizes. By the way, the politically correct way of refer- Even though they may have lived on, cared for and ring to reserves these days is First Nations commu- held ceremonies on that land for millennia before nities, which is the term I’m going to be using from European arrival it doesn’t give them legal right to here on. it. That’s why we have, for example, disputes in BC There are so many legal terms and categories of where a corporation has the support of the police indigenous people in Canada its mind boggling. To and the courts to bulldoze over people’s homes and name a few we have status, non status, treaty Indi- sweat lodges so it can expand a ski resort. ans, Bill C31 Indians, and many, many more. In addition, there are examples of people whose The way one got registered initially under the leaders signed treaties that allocated land to the Indian Act was to line up in front of the govern- community but the community never moved onto ment-appointed Indian agent’s table whenever he those lands and thus their descendants fell from came to your community and register with him. So the band rolls and never had status. One example, if you were off hunting the day he was there or you which I learned about when I was helping someone were sick or injured or had just given birth or you with research for a publication, is a community of were too elderly to make what might be a long trip Algonquins in the Ottawa valley who were urged or you didn’t give a shit about registering or what- by one of their chiefs not to move off territories ever, and you didn’t make it to register, you and all their ancestors had lived on for generations in favor of your descendants to this day are not “status In- of relocating onto Golden Lake Reserve. So to this dians,” regardless of your ancestry or how long your day we have people who live on these territories, ancestors have lived on Turtle Island. carry Algonquin names, still do the ceremonies, still This is important because it is only status Indi- hunt and fish, still care for the wild rice beds but do ans who were originally supposed to live in First not have status and do not want status (as they have Nations communities. There were mechanisms, said in their interviews) and in recent years have through amendments to the Indian Act, by which issued their own Algonquin identity documents, indigenous people who had status – and the benefits hunting licenses, fishing licenses, selected their own that came with it – lost status over the years. (One leaders, established councils to address their com- must understand that the so-called benefits were munity’s needs and so on. Sometimes local officials – and are – only available to the extent the govern- try to curtail their inherent rights by challenging ment lived up to the terms of its own legislation them in court over the hunting and fishing licenses, or negotiated treaties and provided benefits.) We or they’ve tried to sell off the wild rice beds to cor- can’t talk about that much because it’s not the topic. porations or whatever, but to this day the non-sta- But the benefits on paper include health care, hous- tus Algonquin have prevailed. ing, education and so on. But these commitments Back to reserves. So, treaties created reserves. weren’t kept in whole or in part – or the services And keep in mind that indigenous leaders who were carried out in such a way that they did more signed treaties did so under duress of one kind harm than good – and today we still find attempts or another. In some cases, they signed treaties in by the feds to extinguish these benefits completely. return for protection from the Americans or be- The first thing I want to address is where re- cause settler incursion on their lands had resulted serves come from. They were made possible under in dwindling food supplies and they were facing legislation enacted in 1850 to set aside tracts of starvation or whatever. Nevertheless, no indigenous land reserved for indigenous communities. There- leader ever surrendered their nation’s sovereignty;

50 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine never gave up their right to self government. Trea- measures were deliberate, premeditated strategies to ties were nation to nation agreements. disempower indigenous women in order to satisfy Then the Indian Act came along in 1876, which the objectives firstly, of causing such disruption to usurped the treaty negotiation processes and made indigenous social organizations that settlers could the assumption that the settler government had an more easily access the land and the resources within inherent right to make laws and govern people who and secondly, satisfied the objective of assimilat- already had fully functioning governments of their ing indigenous peoples – i.e. cultural genocide. So own. And those governments, by the way, were far women were very specifically and deliberately tar- more democratic than anything the Euro-Canadi- geted in legislation and other repressive measures. ans insisted they adopt. Under the Indian Act, the settler government as- While the traditional governments of the many sumed what are called “fiduciary responsibilities” for hundreds of indigenous nations differed from each Indigenous peoples. They could hold land “in trust” other in various ways, we can still generalize about for indigenous people and were supposed to make some things. For example, we never voted but had decisions regarding the resources of First Nations consensus decision making processes that involved communities that were in the best interest of those everyone in the community. Decision making and communities. So we were looked on as children leadership didn’t exclude women. In fact, we didn’t who were incapable of managing our own financial even exclude children from decision-making. affairs. But of course, we have numerous examples Basically it’s the Indian Act that to this day gov- of First Nations lands being sold and leased and so erns every aspect of life on reserves and has certainly on where the extraordinary profits that resulted did impacted as well on off reserve indigenous people. not accrue to the First Nations communities at all The Indian Act decided who was an “Indian” and but lined the pockets of settlers. who wasn’t – who could live in First Nations com- For example, the Whitefish Lake band just re- munities. It laid the basis for the residential school cently received $37 million in compensation for a system, it completely undermined indigenous sys- deal in 1886 where the band was paid only $399 tems of governance and imposed a band council for their timber rights and a year later the feds sold system which was modeled on the parliamentary those rights for $43,000, a huge profit that never system, it blatantly discriminated against women accrued to the community. That’s a somewhat hap- by denying them the right to vote or run for band py ending but there are many bands still awaiting council office, and, because it is still an active law, some form of justice in Canadian courts or haven’t affects us in many, many other ways. gotten to Canadian courts. The Indian Act completely contradicted and un- The feds even today control how First Nations dermined the authorities that indigenous women lands are developed, which is the main reason why had in their communities prior to European arrival. unemployment rates in First Nations communities While, as I mentioned, practices varied across Tur- is and always has been high. Today unemployment tle Island, we can generalize and say that women rates are between 50 and 80 percent (Assembly of had significant political roles and responsibilities: First Nations’ website: hyyp://www.afn.ca/). There in some cases they directly assumed positions of are few jobs, many seasonal, because there is no leadership, in other cases they appointed and held commercial or industrial activity unless the feds leadership accountable. In some cases it was a bit make it possible and when they do make it possible of both of these. But whatever the system, women there are often conditions or situations that result held significant authorities in government as well in jobs going to people outside the community, to as economic, family and community life. This was non-Natives. There’s a lot of disparity among- re completely overturned by the Indian act. serves but, by and large, we’re certainly not talk- Recent scholars like Kim Anderson and Bonita ing about wealthy communities. So the impover- Lawrence have demonstrated that this wasn’t just ishment of those communities was created and is the result of patriarchal attitudes that coincidental- maintained by design (as is most poverty). ly undermined women’s authorities, but that these Early on, life on reserves was very much charac- labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 51 terized by the arbitrary abuses of power of Indian federally run school closed in 1988, so we’re not agents. Indian agents were appointed by the feds, talking about ancient history here. assigned to each First Nations community and giv- • Made decisions concerning the use of reserve en extraordinary powers to enforce the Indian Act lands. For example, he could decide to lease lands and control every aspect of life. The Indian Agent: out to pulp and paper mills or mining companies. • Could depose traditional leaders and replace In Kahnawake in 1954, the Indian agent, without them with band council chiefs. consultation, ceded a huge tract of territory for the • Was not elected but could overturn elected construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. band council decisions and remove elected chiefs In the passage below, Dan Ennis of the Tobique from office. First Nation gives a first hand account of life under • Could withhold food rations or use them to the Indian Agent’s authority (from Sharing our Wa- coerce people to sign documents or whatever else banaki Perspective by Dan Ennis, http://www.unb. was wanted. In fact they could force or coerce the edu/web/bruns/0001/issue5/oped/wabanaki.html). signing of land treaties and other agreements with “In 1940, when I was a child, I experienced the impunity. poison of the racist mindset firsthand. It was a trau- • Were the arresting officer, prosecutor and matic experience for a boy of three or four to watch judge in the community. as my dad was taken away from our small family to • Had the power to determine who qualified as jail because he tried to keep his family warm. It was a Status Indian. As I mentioned, they did the origi- cold and we needed wood for heat so my dad went nal count for the Indian registry that was basically out to the woods to cut firewood for his family. He a complete farce. They also interpreted the amend- did it without asking permission from the Indian ments to the Indian Act that further defined status, agent because the Indian agent was away on vaca- which I’ll speak to later. tion. As it was winter, my father could not wait to • Upon the death of a band member, the Indian ask for permission. He knew he had to take care of Agent dispersed property and valuables (that often his family and that wouldn’t wait for the return of ended up in their own pockets). the Indian agent. My dad did what had to be done. • Had the power to determine who could live “When the Indian agent returned from vaca- on reserve and who could visit. So when a woman tion, he was immediately informed about my dad’s lost status due to the discriminatory aspects of the wood cutting. My father was summoned to the Indian Act, the Indian Agent could evict her and Indian agent’s office where he confirmed that he deny her the right to return to live or even visit had, in fact, cut the wood for his family. The Indian her family and friends. An amendment addressing agent tried him and found him guilty of an offence trespassing allowed for the Indian Agent to arrest and imposed a sentence of five days in jail to teach anybody visiting a reserve after dark. him a lesson. Within the span of just a few minutes • Anyone who wanted to work for wages off re- from leaving his home, my father was in jail for cut- serve had to obtain the permission of the Indian ting wood to keep his family warm. Agent who, if he approved, would issue a pass stat- “In those days, the white Indian agent was god ing where one could go and for how long. on the reserve. He was accountable to absolutely • Was complicit in coercing or forcing par- no one and certainly not in any way to the Indian ents to send their children to residential schools. people. The irony of this particular situation is that And they weren’t above kidnapping children and the wood cut by my father at that time was located handing them over to school officials. (Residential on Indian reserve land and there was no such legis- schools, contracted out by the feds to the churches, lation to charge my father with this offense. It was were places where children as young as four were simply the white Indian agent’s way of asserting his subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse; power, control and authority over my father and our where they were forced to work in fields, shops people. My dad had to be made an example to en- and laundries; where some children, because of the sure no other Indians would get similar ideas about treatment they received, ended up dead.) The last doing anything without the agent’s permission.”

52 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine So that gives us some taste of the kind of cor- matrilineal indigenous practices where the mother’s ruption that was enshrined in the government and nationality and clan membership determined the justice systems imposed on First Nations commu- child’s. nities. It really makes me laugh bitterly when I hear Some men and their families as well lost status of Canadian officials these days charging First Na- and the right to live in First Nations communities tions bands or band members with being corrupt. when they enlisted in the military or in some cases The system itself is corrupt and settler authorities when they enrolled in secondary educational insti- and Christian clergy over the years have hardly ever tutions or, until 1960, when they wanted to vote in been role models of integrity and honesty. federal elections. Sometimes whole communities Through various amendments to the Indian Act, were declared non status so that their land could be we also saw over time an erosion in the total amount taken, and that affected everyone. Blood quantum of territory allocated to First Nations communities. became an issue at various times and enabled the In some cases, reserves were dissolved or relocated eviction of people from reserves because they were to allow for the expansion of towns and municipali- deemed to not have enough Indian blood (From ties, like Edmonton, for example. A 1911 amend- “Real” Indians and Others: Mixed-Blood Urban Na- ment allowed portions of reserves to be seized by tive Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood by Bonita municipalities for roads, railways or other public Lawrence. University of Nebraska Press. 2004). In purposes. A couple of amendments prohibited First 1951 an Indian Act amendment made provincial Nations from contesting in court decisions where law applicable in First Nations communities to cov- all or parts of their territories were taken. The law er gaps in federal legislation and this paved the way for a crucial time very blatantly prohibited Indian for what we now call the “60s scoop” because it gave people from hiring lawyers, filing court papers and provincial child welfare agencies the power to seize even raising money with the intent of contesting hundreds of First Nations children and place them a land claim. In 1936 the Department of Indian in non-indigenous foster homes, again furthering Affairs was transferred from the Department of the genocide project. the Interior to the Department of Mines and Re- There are many stories of the experiences of sources, which made it even clearer what the settler what happened to people after they were stripped government was really concerned about. of their status. The traumatic implications of having As reserve territories were being stolen, exploit- to leave your home and family for often urban set- ed or encroached on by settlers there were also In- tings where you may not have spoken the language, dian Act amendments that were designed to strip where there was no community, family, financial or people of their status (particularly women) and emotional support of any kind are huge. Increas- force them off reserves. The rationale for this was, ingly non-status communities have been organiz- as I mentioned, assimilation – or cultural genocide ing. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of time to – another form of genocide. discuss that now but Bonita Lawrence’s book, Real So women who married non-status men, wheth- Indians and Others, speaks to the history of non- er they were white or not, lost their status, benefits ­status, mixed race indigenous communities and and treaty rights and had to leave their communi- some of the struggles people have faced over the ties and families. It was a completely discrimina- generations. tory process, not in the least because, when men According to some analyses, amendments to did the same thing, they were allowed to keep their the Indian Act since 1951 are considered friendlier status and, in fact, status would be granted to their to indigenous peoples because they were made in white or non-status wives and even step children consultation with indigenous organizations or were that pre-existed the marriage. So you had white set- made in response indigenous activists who lobbied tlers with status cards and the right to live in First for the changes. Bill C31, another amendment to Nations communities while there were full blooded the Indian Act passed in 1985, falls into this cat- indigenous women who couldn’t set foot on their egory of being a “friendly amendment.” C31 ad- territories. This was in complete contradiction to dressed the concerns of women who had lost their labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 53 status, housing, benefits and access to their com- economy for generations. The basis of the wealth munities through marrying non-status men. C31 and standard of living that we enjoy on Turtle Is- allowed them to apply for status and something land is premised on the theft of land and resources like 120,000 women have had their status reinstat- from the First Peoples, a process that continues to ed. What is often not mentioned however is that this day. 107,000 women did not have their status reinstated While First Nations children were being abused after applying. The federal government of course in residential schools and foster care, the colonizers determined all the criteria and conditions regard- were reaping huge profits exploiting the resources ing who could have their status reinstated. of First Nations territories. While First Nations The C31 amendment has been criticized about, people were being jailed for hunting and fishing among other things, the “second generation cut- without a license or for working off their reserves off,” which prohibits reinstated women from pass- without a pass from the Indian agent, the settlers ing status on to their children. So it doesn’t address passed laws that said, for example, that “Indians” the genocide issue at all. Basically if we accept the could not sell their produce in Toronto’s St. Law- definitions of status offered by the Indian Act, it’s rence market (because white farmers didn’t want been predicted that First Nations people will cease the competition). to exist in a few generations. Not because the actual Nevertheless our communities across Turtle people have ceased to exist but because the legally Island continue to struggle with great courage for defined category of “Indians” (i.e., First Nations their very survival as well as the inherent rights of people) won’t exist and everybody will be unregis- future generations. While most media like to focus tered, non status and assimilated. We’ll all be Cana- on dramatic events like the Oka Crisis, the murder dians with no land rights and no recognition of our of activist Dudley George at Ipperwash Provincial inherent rights as Aboriginal peoples generally. Park or the current Six Nations land reclamation Of course sovereigntists question the right of (all important struggles), anti-genocidal activities the Canadian parliament now or at any other time are practiced in all communities and include things in history to make laws that govern our nations, in- as basic as cultural and language programs. cluding laws that define who is and is not a member In this struggle, our Elders, cultural leaders and of our nations, where our territorial boundaries lie warriors talk about a paradigm shift that recognizes and so on. our relationship to the land on which we depend * * * for life; recognizes our roles and responsibilities to So, that’s a very brief synopsis of how reserves each other in a community that includes other spe- were established and it should give the reader in- cies besides human beings as well as those yet to sight into the history of some of the struggles be- be born. They speak of spiritual development, dig- ing waged today by First Nations people on Turtle nity and peace. In their wisdom we find a system of Island. It should also help people question the myth values that challenges political, economic and social commonly referred to as the “Canadian history.” The institutions of Canada. In the wisdom of Elders we simple truth is that the land and resources of First find encouragement to share, trade, learn, grow and v Nations people have been subsidizing the Canadian create something new and wondrous.

54 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine Empire’s Ally: Canadian Foreign Policy by Greg Albo (Socialist Project Bulletin No.37, November 24, 2006. Updated May 2008. www.socialistproject.ca)

ince the coming into power of the Stephen though the NDP initially backed the Conservative Harper Conservative government in January Party Parliamentary resolution on the Kandahar Sof 2006, there has been much gnashing of teeth mission), and the bypassing of multilateral institu- over the foreign policy stance of Canada. In par- tions to support unilateral U.S. policies to remake ticular, Canada’s relation with the U.S. on a phalanx the global order. The NDP is now taking a position of fronts has been at the centre of controversy. One against the Afghan deployment, largely on the ba- has been the softwood lumber deal cut by Ambas- sis of an inappropriate mix of development, peace- sador Michael Wilson, which limits Canadian lum- keeping and military objectives. ber exports to the U.S. and allows the Americans to While the Chretien government manoeuvrings keep $1 billion in duties ruled by trade tribunals as to allow some Canadian distance from U.S. poli- illegal. This has been judged by the government as a cies should not be naysayed, none of these views necessary step to re-establishing ‘good’ bilateral re- come to grips with the way geopolitical alliances lations to secure and deepen economic integration. have shifted during the current phase of neolib- A second has been Canada’s Middle East policy, in eralism. Nor do they address the particular role of terms of the deployment of Canadian troops into imperialist ally of the U.S. that Canada has long oc- a major combat position in southern Afghanistan, cupied, and the way Canadian foreign policy has and the uncompromising support for the Israeli and been transformed – particularly with respect to the U.S. positions on the 2006 assault of Lebanon and Middle East – with the changed geo-political con- continuing siege Gaza by Israel. These stances have text since 2001. been celebrated by the Right, especially the cynics who dominate the national media in defending U.S. American Geo-Political Strategies policies at every turn, as bringing a new ‘ethical re- Since the military defeat of the U.S. in Vietnam alism’ to Canadian foreign policies. and the economic turmoil of the1970s, the geo- Liberal commentators have lamented the break political context of the world market and North from the approach of the Chretien regime (quiet- American relations have undergone enormous ly ignoring the Martin interregnum). Indeed, the transformations. Although this can now be seen as Liberal leadership troika of Stephen Dion, Michael a period of the formation of neoliberal globalization Ignatieff and Bob Rae have been in unison with under American hegemony, it has also been marked respect to the ‘balance’ of sending troops to Kabul by different phases, contradictions and rivalries in to defend the new U.S. puppet Karzai regime and the world order and inter-state relations. The early the navy into the Arabian Gulf, but not directly 1980s, for instance, were dominated by the ‘second participating in the ‘coalition of the willing’ in the cold war’ military build-ups in the old U.S.S.R. and U.S. invasion of Iraq or openly adopting the ballis- the U.S., and the rising trade and competitive ca- tic missile defence system. For their part, the social pacities of Europe and East Asia. The emergence of Left and the NDP have cursed the drift away from the neoliberal policy framework in the late 1970s a ‘peacekeeping’ role for Canada’s armed forces (al- was a means to reassert U.S. primacy in the world

Greg Albo teaches political economy at York University. labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 55 order and address questions of American economic ber 2001 geo-political context intensified rather decline. than transformed the developments that had been The cold war division began to shred at the end evolving over the 1990s. The attacks on the World of the 1980s, as the Soviet bloc collapsed and China Trade Centre in New York City gave the U.S. state made an explicit turn toward capitalism. The con- the opportunity to place its post-Cold War objec- struction of a new system of regional alliances and tive of American primacy in the world order in a international policy developments – notably the new set of security doctrines. It also paved the way European Union (EU), the North American Free for the extension of its overseas military capabilities, Trade Agreement (NAFTA), East Asia trade and most importantly over varied contested oil supply production networks encompassing China, and the routes in the Middle East and Asia. The new U.S. World Trade Organization (WTO) – gained mo- agenda became enshrined in the September 2002 mentum through the 1990s. These alliances both U.S. national security statement laying down the responded to and fostered the internationalization Bush doctrine of pre-emptive deterrence (although of capital. The relations of cooperation and com- in practice it has been one of preventive interven- petitiveness between the advanced capitalist coun- tion without any serious possibility of imminent at- tries became redefined, as did the relations between tack of the U.S. to pursue American imperial strate- the dominant countries of the centre and the domi- gies). This doctrine claimed the right for the U.S. to nated countries in the peripheries of the world. As act on its own apart from sanction from multilat- these processes of ‘globalization’ moved to the cen- eral institutions, namely the United Nations (UN) tre of political debate and government calculation, Security Council (that it in any case dominated), or neoliberal policies became widespread as few states concerns for cooperative security as negotiated with and their ruling classes dared break from the world its NATO allies. market and the ‘Washington consensus’ pushing The recasting of American foreign policy in economic liberalization. terms of a globally assertive national interest meant It is a striking fact of this phase of neoliberal- an even greater willingness to act unilaterally than ism that the end of the cold war did not lead the had been the case in the past, when cold war poli- U.S. to dismantle its military empire and regional tics compelled nominal consultation with key allies. alliances. Indeed, it extended them and added addi- This was the basis for the U.S. bullying the UN to tional overseas military deployments under both the support the intervention in Afghanistan in 2001, Bush-Republican and Clinton-Democratic admin- and the decision to attack Iraq, under publicly stat- istrations. It became common across the political ed specious grounds, without UN approval. It has spectrum to speak of a ‘new imperialism’ (with the also meant that the U.S. has become more aggres- political Right in both the U.S. and Canada actively sive in the governance of the world market, as in the endorsing the project), given U.S. assertiveness over scuttling of the Doha round WTO negotiations. It global security and economic issues in a unipolar has been willing to sacrifice the purity of neoliberal world of a single global superpower. Universally, doctrines of free markets in pursuit of its own trade inter-state relations in the world order became de- interests and currency policy. fined, in the first instance, by particular relations to Even with the Republican defeat in the Novem- the global hegemon. This was the case even in the ber 2006 congressional elections, with its indirect context of deep historical and geographical rela- rejection of the American intervention in Iraq, it is tions apart from American state interests. A new necessary to be quite sceptical that this will mean a American empire had emerged out of the debris turn in American primacy objectives as they have of the Cold War system. It is a particular empire evolved over the last decades. The bipartisan Iraq of global capital, operating through the hierarchy Study Group under the leadership of James Baker, of the nation-state system dominated by Western former central advisor to the earlier Bush presidency, capitalist interests, and the economic, military and was essentially an effort to retain the primacy strat- diplomatic hegemony of the U.S. egy. It would reposition the American intervention It needs to be underlined that the post Septem- in Iraq in a way that would allow engagement with

56 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine a wider set of states in the region, that neoconser- through the institutions of NAFTA and the North vative dogmas blocked. This would shift some bal- American security complex. These institutions sus- ances of power in the region, but not deliver a fatal tain Canada as a subordinate ally of U.S. imperial- blow to American positions. These are themes that ism, but with Canada’s own imperial interests also have continued into the Presidential campaigns of being advanced within them. both the Republican and Democratic parties. Second, the world market under neoliberalism It needs to be underlined that both Iran and Syr- has been characterized by asymmetries in trading ia want to normalize their relations with the global relations and an explosion of financial capital. This capitalist order and not at all to withdraw from it. has meant a growing interpenetration of capital The ruling classes in these states would be quite across states. New forms of global economic gov- happy to have greater freedom to pursue neoliberal ernance and regional trade blocs foster and sustain strategies with the support of the international eco- these economic processes. The preferential trading nomic agencies. Even the continuance of the chaos arrangements of NAFTA, as well as the numer- in Iraq, or a messy withdrawal, would only initially ous other trade agreements guiding economic re- signal a specific defeat for American strategy in the lations across the Americas, are meant to support Middle East region. The American position in the the internationalization of capital as much as to greater Middle East would still likely be ahead of free cross-border trade. This has built up material where it was pre-1990s in terms of alliances and as well as ideological support for projects of ‘deep military bases; such a defeat would not mean a re- integration’ amongst capitalist and state interests in casting of the overall objectives of the American Canada. Canadian foreign policy positions defend primacy strategy or its operational modalities (and the institutions of NAFTA and these material in- both American parties are initiative will forward terests even when NAFTA blatantly fails, as in the proposals to re-establish this on other fronts); and case of the continual U.S. usage of countervailing the European Union and China are still far away measures against Canadian lumber exports in the from being able to offer any alternative (capitalist) face of NAFTA dispute settlement rulings. Indeed, world order to the American one (the ruling blocs defence of the general economic interests of Cana- in these zones remain quite interdependent with dian capital, which necessarily includes the Ameri- the U.S., although they are competitive rivals for can capital invested in Canada and Canadian in- market shares). vestments in the U.S., has recast the entire foreign policy apparatus of the Canadian state. Canada, the U.S. and the World Order This raises a third point: to sustain global ac- The U.S. remaking of inter-state relations over cumulation, foreign policy, as well as the defence the period of neoliberalism has posed several key is- and security arms of the state, increasingly become sues for Canada, in both its immediate relationship drawn into defending economic and geo-political with the U.S. and place in the world order. This must interests. Indeed, the period of neoliberalism has first be understood not in the details of the policy seen a consistent increase in the relative power of the shifts that have taken place in the Department of international and coercive apparatuses of the state Foreign Affairs and International Trade, but in the in support of capitalist market interests domesti- dynamics of global power relations. First, capitalism cally and internationally. The ‘economic security’ of is a social order in which a basic contradiction re- NAFTA for business interests has become directly sides in the institutional separation of territorially- linked to ‘North American security’ and thus ‘impe- based sovereign states and the global accumulation rial security’. This has steadily made more untenable of capital that systematically traverses international the small independent space for foreign policy that borders. The geopolitical relations between states Canada had opened up for itself during the post- manage this contradiction, and maintain the hierar- war period. At that time, Canada’s foreign policy chy between them in particular institutions such as projected itself as a middle-level power. This meant the WTO or NATO. For Canada, this is foremost working as an ally of the U.S. through multilateral the bilateral relationship with the U.S. maintained institutions, pushing for cooperative negotiation of labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 57 security amongst the capitalist powers, and carving ‘Fortress North America.’ out space for particular international positions with Second, the architecture of the Canadian state third world countries (although the last was hope- was significantly re-designed so that security and lessly both imperial and cooperative in nature). military capacities, over and above increased bud- An attempt was made to re-invent this orien- gets, were given increased prominence. The list is tation in the late 1990s under then External Af- sweeping: strengthening the security and defence fairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy and his ‘soft pow- committees and secretariats in the PMO and Privy er’ proposals for human and collective security as Council Office; raising the profile of Canada-U.S. the central focus of Canadian foreign policy. But relations in Parliament and giving the Canadi- this agenda was dead even as the ideas were being an Ambassador to the U.S. cabinet access; a new drafted. Neoliberalism and the American empire Public Safety Act (2004) and a New Ministry of swept aside any such attempts at embedding ethi- Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, paral- cal norms in international relations and expanding leling and co-ordinating with the U.S. Department autonomy in foreign policy positions. The signing of Homeland Security; an Integrated Threat -As of the initial Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. in sessment Centre under CSIS; under the RCMP, 1989 had effectively already killed this orientation Integrated Border Enforcement Teams and Inte- on a bilateral basis. grated National Security Teams, coordinating with U.S. policing agencies; new coordinative relations Reorienting Canadian Foreign Policy between CSIS and the CIA; extending the capaci- Since September 2001 Canada has substantially ties for coordination at the Canada-U.S. border via re-organized its security and international policies shared data-bases, joint screening, ‘safe third coun- to support the new geo-political context established try’ provisions sending refugees back to the U.S. if by the U.S. The Canadian state has had the support that is the first country they reached, and plans for of key economic interests – notably the Canadian biometric screening; and extensive interdepartmen- Council of Chief Executives and all the business tal co-operation between Canada and U.S. for all think tanks like the C.D. Howe Research Institute departments having either a security or borders di- – in doing so. It fits their common project of deep- mension in their mandates. This reorganization of ening integration with the U.S. the state strengthened the role of the security and First, the immediate response after 9/11 was policing apparatuses in all dimensions of Canadian to develop parallel tracks between a new security foreign policy. The Harper government has sought agenda to keep pace with U.S. developments and only to tighten these structures administratively, maintaining North American integration. This make the PMO the fulcrum for security and for- included: a new Cabinet National Security Com- eign policy decision-making, and to push ahead the mittee; budgetary increases for all the agencies Fortress North America agenda, notably adding se- involved in policing, anti-terrorism and security curing the Arctic to the mix. work; extension of funds and powers for policing Third, a new strategic framework for foreign borders and airports, linked to a new Smart Bor- policy has been evolving. The Chretien govern- ders Act; new legislative powers in the form of an ment’s Securing an Open Society: Canada’s Na- Anti-Terrorism Act, which widened the definition tional Security Policy (2004) moved away from of terrorism and scope for investigation, allowed for Axworthy’s human security agenda, and also took preventive detentions and issuing of security cer- distance from the most vociferous dimensions of tificates, and extended the range of the Official Se- the Bush Doctrine. But it also aligned Canada with crets Act; and an immediate increase in the military American security concerns and committed Cana- budget, particularly for the JTF2 special forces for da to meeting the new U.S. security requirements. rapid deployment and to deploy troops to the Gulf The International Policy Statement (2005) released and Afghanistan as a direct contribution to the U.S. by the Martin government and the NAFTA lead- War on Terror. These measures set in motion wider er’s Waco Declaration on a Security and Prosper- negotiations between Canada and the U.S. over ity Partnership of North America (2005), however,

58 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine more strongly aligned Canada with U.S. security Canada and the Middle East and economic concerns. The Harper government The Middle East has, literally, been the battle- has largely left these documents to the side, but he ground where Canada’s new foreign policy has been has pushed even more strongly in the direction they foremost tested (although the Western and Cana- point of more closely defining Canadian foreign dian intervention against democratic processes in policy interests as tied to U.S. security concerns and Haiti is just as telling). Canada has long toed British imperial agendas to ensure Canadian capitalists ac- and then American positions on the Middle East, cess to U.S. markets for their goods and capital. notably as part of the majority opinion of the 1947 Finally, the Canadian military has been system- eleven member United Nations Special Committee atically renovated in its operational capabilities and on Palestine that argued for partition into Jewish its flexibility for overseas deployment. Canada has and Arab states. Canada adopted some very minor depleted its peacekeeping missions to almost nil, measures in support of Middle East democracy and and has become by many tallies the third largest Palestinian rights over the 1990s. This was the so- contributor to the ‘War on Terror’ after the U.S. called ‘balance’ of Canada’s position. But the previ- and Britain. The Chretien budgets had begun to ous Liberal government of Paul Martin had already expand military budgets; Martin had pledged in started to tie Canada closer to American policies in 2005 almost $13 billion over five years; and the the region and Israeli positions. This could be seen first Harper budget of 2006 pledged an additional in the Martin government endorsing Canadian $5 billion beyond committed defence outlays, and military deployment into a combat role in southern real expenditure increases followed the next year as Afghanistan, and breaking with the Chretien policy well. The 2008 budget went further, and proposed of ‘peacekeeping’ in Kabul. But it could also be seen a ‘Canada First Defence Strategy’, and raised the in the Martin government shifting UN General defence budget for 2008-09 to $18.8 billion. This Assembly votes, after extensive lobbying by Zionist included an automatic annual defence spending forces in Canada, to side with the U.S., Israel and escalator guaranteeing an increase in the defence a few other American vassal states in resolutions budget of 2 per cent. This is to say that the defence before the United Nations on Israel’s failure to up- budget will increase by a guaranteed 2 per cent ev- hold United Nations resolutions on Palestine and ery year. This is estimated to add an additional $12 other human rights issues. The most revealing was billion to the defence budget over 20 years, and the July 2004 Canadian abstention on a General increase Canadian military expenditures to some Assembly resolution calling for Israel to abide by of the highest levels since the second world war. the International Court of Justice ruling on the il- Canada now ranks sixth among NATO countries legality of Israel’s apartheid wall barrier in the West in terms of military spending. Bank. In November 2005, Martin put this before These expenditures have also been for expand- the United Jewish Communities as “Israel’s values ing troop levels, their operations in the ‘field’, and are Canada’s values.” new armaments. It is also matched by a shift in These were symbolically significant shifts,- ac Canadian military doctrines toward ‘networked knowledging the break with what had been the joint capabilities’ and ‘inter-operability’ for ‘multi- precepts of Canadian international stances. Rather force, multi-country’ operations. This essentially than continuing with Canada’s historical support means improved capacity to support U.S. military for multilateralism and international rule of law, operations in pursuit of its – and Canadian – impe- Canada now openly defended the right to exercise rial ambitions. The increasing role of the Canadian unilateral military measures for the U.S. and Israel, military in southern Afghanistan – and the general and also separate international rules on a host of belligerence of Canada over the last months on the issues for the two major ‘rogue’ states from the rules need for wider NATO mobilization in the war ef- and laws binding others. (At the same time, Cana- fort against traditional docile Canadian stances on da has hypocritically followed the U.S. in claiming NATO – is a key symbol of the shift of Canadian only to want to hold North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, military agendas. and others to international rules and norms in pur- labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 59 suing various sanctions and measures against these the Palestinian right to self-determination, and with states.) According to Canada’s new foreign policy the Oslo Accord to allow that a Palestinian state position on the Middle East, some states have the might result from negotiations. It was only with right to extra-territorial sovereignty, while other UN Security Council Resolution 1397 of 2002 that states can exercise their sovereign rights only at the outlined a ‘two-state solution’ that Canada came discretion of the major powers. to recognize Palestinian statehood, although con- This is where the Liberals had already moved tinuing to define Israel as a religious-ethnic Jewish Canadian foreign policy (and through the minor- state. It is these embarrassingly small steps toward ity Parliament had received only minimal dissent recognition of the rights of the Palestinian peoples from the NDP) before their defeat. Harper’s Con- that the Martin and then Harper governments have servatives have taken these positions up even more had Canada back off from. Harper has more con- vigorously than the previous Liberals, continually sistently aligned Canada’s UN votes on Palestinian invoking all the American clichés of how the world rights in line with the three key dissenters – Is- has changed since 9/11. On the fifth anniversary rael, the U.S. and Australia. These have included of the atrocity, Harper went so far as to term it an abstaining on UN resolutions on the Palestinian attack on Canada, and the various interventions in right to self-determination, Israel assenting to the the Middle East as measures to prevent terrorism in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Israel not Canada. Indeed, this has become the government’s exploiting the natural resources of the Occupied principal justification for the extension of the Ca- Territories. The Harper government has, moreover, nadian mission mandate in southern Afghanistan. retreated in its diplomatic language on Palestinian And it was also invoked as the reason for the Sep- statehood, preferring now only to speak of Palestin- tember 2006 decision to increase Canadian com- ian ‘aspirations’ within the region. bat troops and to deploy a new level of arms in The policy realignment is also evidenced by the the form of additional fighter jets and tanks with Canadian government’s relation to the Palestin- long-range firing capacities. Additional calls by Ca- ian Authority. In 2006, Harper made Canada the nadian generals (and virtually the entire military- first nation to place sanctions on the newly elected industrial establishment in Canada) for increasing Hamas government in the Palestinian territories. Canadian troop levels and weapons purchases have This included ending direct aid to the Palestinian continued, including through the redeployment of Authority (in practice, some projects have ended, Canadian troops to Kandahar province in a combat some restructured, and some channelled through position and the extension of the mission to 2012. multilateral organizations), ending support by Ca- The Harper government inherited the Afghanistan nadian government departments to the PA and a mission but they have defined it as a centre-piece of review of all partnership projects, and limiting con- their government, partly on its own terms and partly tact of Canadian officials with Palestinian counter- in embracing the American geo-political vision. parts. Canadian aid to Palestine is tiny (about 1 A similar realignment of Canadian foreign poli- percent of aid donated, one of the least generous cy under Harper can be seen with respect to policies of major donors), but the sanctions added to the on Israel and Palestine. Canada had only begrudg- pressures leading to the escalation of hostilities ingly recognized the right of the Palestinian peoples in the Gaza, and the return of Israeli occupation. to self-determination. Even after supporting Unit- Canada has subsequently worked closely with the ed Nations Security Council Resolution 242 after U.S., Britain and Israel to isolate Hamas in Gaza, the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and while attempting to work with the West Bank cen- the Gaza, Canada only diplomatically expressed tred emergency Fatah government, effectively split- concern for a ‘just settlement’, particularly with ting the Palestinian Authority. As part of this ef- reference to refugees. Through the 1980s, Canada fort to divide Palestinians, Canada has restored its avoided referring to a Palestinian state, preferring assistance to the West Bank authority. In doing so, to speak only of a Palestinian ‘entity’ or ‘homeland’. Canada continues to ignore the construction of the The first intifidah forced Canada to acknowledge apartheid wall, the humanitarian disaster in Gaza,

60 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine and the continued Israeli development of illegal endorses: closer integration into U.S. foreign policy settlements in the West Bank. positions, including the doctrine of the right of the Finally, the Canadian government response to U.S. and Israel alone to use military ‘pre-emptive Israel’s aggressive assaults on both Gaza and Leba- intervention’, apart from any sanction by the UN non in summer 2006 indicated the openly partisan Security Council; uncritical alignment with U.S. embrace of American and Israeli positions. Israel’s and Israeli military interventions, including more interventions in Lebanon clearly violated interna- active Canadian military deployments; and politi- tional law in the ‘collective punishment’, wholesale cal and bureaucratic disregard for Canadians who destruction of civilian infrastructure and killing of might get in the way of these foreign policy posi- innocents. Israel’s actions faced the condemnation tions, whether this is Canadians stranded in Leba- of world opinion, and the vast majority of states of non, Canadians illegally extradited in the U.S. ‘war the world. But Harper lined up Canada with the on terror’ sweep, or Canadians arrested and detained U.S. at the July 2006 G8 meetings in defence of the on feeble charges of terrorism in Canada.. Israeli bombardments. Indeed, Harper became – There is a growing contradiction between the and has remained – the most vociferous defender of desires of the Canadian people for an ‘independent the ‘proportionality’ of the ferocious Israeli attacks foreign policy’, and the alignment with American terming them a ‘measured response’. Even after imperialist and security objectives. This desire is also Canadian civilians were killed by Israeli bombard- at odds with the openly imperialist agenda that has ments, Harper refused to condemn Israel for the formed in Canadian capitalist and state elites. This large number of civilian casualties and continued to has made Canada one of the Empire’s strongest al- defend its use of force, including the blanket aerial lies. The new Canadian imperialist agenda can be bombings. (Then Liberal leadership contender and seen in the work of the North American Competi- now deputy leader, Michael Ignatieff, went even tiveness Council, where leading North American further in defending Israel’s actions defending Isra- capitalists and political elites have been strategizing el’s bombing of civilian buildings as part of a ‘ kind on furthering the Security and Prosperity Partner- of dirty war you’re in when you have to do this and ship of North America; and in the October 2006 I’m not losing any sleep about that’.) Indeed, at the report of the influential Parliamentary Standing September 2006 Francophonie meetings Harper Senate Committee on National Security and De- vetoed a resolution deploring the impact of the war fence calling for Canada to join the U.S. ballistic on Lebanese civilians. Not surprisingly, Canada was missile defence programme and closer military and absent from the list of donors struck at the end of economic integration to secure North American the conflict to rebuild Lebanon, and has remained interests around the world. The political orientation a very minor aid donor. In Canada’s foreign policy of Canadian foreign policy and the ruling classes under Harper, there appear to be no legal or moral have parted with any popular efficacy of democracy limits of acceptable international conduct being in Canada. able to be breeched in the case of Israel. Popular social forces in Canada do not face this alone. It is a reflection of a deeper antagonism of the Dissent and Democracy current world order. The U.S. objectives of re-estab- It is clear that a majority of Canadians are in- lishing its global primacy and unilateral authority creasingly uncomfortable with Canadian foreign contradicts the liberal promises of a world order policy positions. Half of the population consistently based on a community of equal sovereign nations dissents from Canadian troops being in Afghani- governed by international legal and policy norms. stan. This is even with the national media keeping The Bush doctrine and the imperial interventions critical voices of the Canadian intervention mar- across the Middle East, supported by Canada and ginal. And even higher poll numbers time and again the other Western powers, is the most visible sym- register opposition to American policies more gen- bol of this geo-political strategy. One of capitalism’s erally. They are rejecting the reckless and morally most powerful fictions is – not for the first time – ❖ troubling foreign policy position that Canada now being laid bare for what it is: naked self-interest labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 61 Israel, Racism and the Canadian Media by Dan Freeman-­Maloy (reprinted from Znet, 21 July 2006)

n the Canadian media, Israel is provoked, and killed several Lebanese villagers. But one could then responds. For the military attacks on the barely begin to consider this on the basis of infor- IGaza Strip in late June and early July, 2006, we are mation provided by Canadian media. No attacks on told that the provocation was the June 25 operation Israel can have been provoked. All of Israel’s attacks by Palestinian resistance fighters against a military must be provoked and defensive. outpost near Gaza, and specifically the capture of On July 13, Prime Minister Stephen Harper re- an Israeli tank gunner. vealed the extent to which this logic has come to The Palestinian operation, according to most dominate Canadian diplomacy. With the Israeli Canadian media, was unprovoked – it could not military intensifying its assault on the Lebanese have been provoked by the Israeli attacks leading population and on critical civilian infrastructure, up to the operation, though in June alone these Harper described the massive attack as a “measured” had already killed 49 Palestinians. Nor could it exercise of Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Main- have been provoked by the imprisonment of 359 stream media joined in the chorus: “Faced with Palestinian children, 105 Palestinian female adults such aggression, Israel had no choice but to strike and another 9000 plus Arab males (mostly Pales- back,” a July 15 Globe and Mail editorial declared. tinians) in Israeli jails, or by the mass starvation of The next day, several Canadians were added to the Gaza. As a June 30 editorial in The Globe and Mail sky-rocketing death count from Israeli massacres. put it, “the onus for resolving the confrontation lies Israel’s massacres in Gaza and southern Lebanon with Hamas,” and while Palestinians must quietly coincide with a shift in Canadian foreign policy. endure tank shelling, air strikes and starvation, “Is- Under the past two regimes (Martin’s Liberals and rael is within its right to respond to terrorism and now Harper’s Conservatives), Canada has rapidly violence.” Without pause, Israel has since gone on shed any pretense of having an independent for- to invade Lebanon, killing hundreds of Lebanese, eign policy and has aligned itself completely with while Gaza continues to starve. In the Canadian the United States, Israel’s chief financial backer and media, Israel was provoked to do so, in this case by arms dealer. Where past Canadian regimes would the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah. have settled for silent complicity in war crimes, Hizbullah has not been provoked in the same Harper actively cheers and participates in them. way the Palestinians have been. So what prompted This drastic realignment of Canadian policy hap- their action? An obvious possibility is that they pens at a time when the US and Israel are embark- were moved to action by the Israeli assault on Gaza. ing on aggressive, criminal wars involving major By the time Hizbullah carried out its July 12 attack, human rights violations. the Israeli escalation following June 25 had already For Canadians to accept this, they will have to claimed another 67 Palestinian lives. More direct consume an equally drastic dose of racism, dehu- grievances with Israel include the continued Israeli manization, and distorted understanding. Getting imprisonment of many Lebanese, particularly Hiz- them to do so may be somewhat of a challenge. bullah supporters, and the Israeli live ammunition The Canadian media have taken up the task with training on the Lebanese border which recently gusto.

62 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine Aggression and Defense a prisoner of war. “No nation would stand by while its enemies The Palestinian resistance thus had one Israeli bombarded its towns and cities.” detainee, as against some 10,000 prisoners on the The Globe and Mail Editorial, July 15, 2006 Israeli side. The resistance group offered a limited exchange. They would release the tank gunner if Israel freed Palestinian child prisoners, female pris- Of course, the Globe’s editors were not talking oners, and approximately 1,000 “administrative de- about the Palestinian nation. The Palestinians are tainees” currently in Israeli prisons without charge. expected to stand by while Israel bombards its towns A negotiated settlement reached through condi- and cities, as it has been doing continuously for the tions of reciprocity and dignity could well have seen past six years, with a sharp escalation in June – well the soldier released. But Israel had a different plan. before June 25, by which time of the month 49 Pal- estinians had already been killed. But when Pales- As former Israeli intelligence director Shlomo tinians resist through armed struggle, we read on The Gazit explained, the situation served as a “pretext” Globe and Mail’s editorial pages that Israel’s “right for escalating military operations in Gaza. Israeli to respond to the latest Palestinian provocations is forces began a series of forceful incursions, destroy- beyond question.” We cannot expect “superhuman ing critical civilian infrastructure though air strikes, effort” from Israel, the editors explain, and this is shelling Palestinian communities, and instituting a what would be required “to resist retaliating.” comprehensive siege on the territory. These esca- Through most of June, the situation was quite dif- lations quickly revealed the Israeli goal as regime ferent – but then it was only Palestinians who were change. The Israeli military rounded up -and de being killed, only Palestinians who were starving. tained 64 political leaders from the occupied West This was, in the words of the Toronto Star’s Mitch Bank and Gaza, including elected legislators and Potter, a period of “relative calm.” For disturbing a third of the Palestinian Cabinet. It began aerial this calm, Palestinians bear a double responsibility: bombardment of central civilian structures housing for aggression against Israel, and for forcing Israel the Palestinian Authority. to attack Palestinians in response. As Potter insists The Israeli regime responsible for these attacks on repeating, the ongoing Israeli assault was itself enjoys thorough support from the Canadian gov- “sparked initially by the June 25 capture of an Is- ernment. Its Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, visited raeli soldier by Palestinian militants.” Canada little more than a year ago. During the visit, In fact, if the notion of self-defense was ap- he received a pledge from the federal government plied with any consistency, the operation of June 25 that it would maintain preferential trade policies would be beyond reproach. Following an economic towards Israel. Olmert also visited Ontario Premier siege and recurring air strikes on their communi- Dalton McGuinty at Queen’s Park, where he helped ties, Palestinian fighters based in the Gaza Strip to set up a parallel provincial trade arrangement. initiated an attack against the Israeli military. This Joking with reporters as he presented McGuinty is no small feat, since Gaza’s airspace and borders with a gift, Olmert asked: “Do you want us to hug?” are under tight Israeli control, and it is difficult for (www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=6122&s=1) a lightly armed popular resistance to bring down Olmert and Canadian officials did everything but. F-16s. Nonetheless, the fighters managed to tun- The Harper government strengthened links with nel their way underground for hundreds of me- Israel further, making Canada still more complicit tres, deep beneath Israeli fortifications, to reach a in ongoing Israeli crimes. As Israeli attacks ravaged military outpost for their raid. Two Israeli soldiers Gaza, journalists with concern for “balance” ought were killed in the fighting, as were two Palestinians, to have paid attention to who was doing the killing creating a very rare symmetry in the death count. and who the victims were. Palestinian fighters also destroyed an Israeli tank, Instead, Canadian media continued shifting fo- likely one of those that regularly shell Palestinian cus to Palestinian culpability and encouraging the communities from such outposts. They captured government’s pro-Israel partisanship. The spin in the tank gunner and brought him back to Gaza as news coverage was spelled out explicitly on editorial labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 63 pages. The Toronto Star’s editors called attention to whom the resistance was demanding be released “the folly of what [Palestinians] wrought by elect- – children, women and “administrative detainees” ing a Hamas government,” while staking limited alike – as “fanatics now justifiably languishing in optimism on “the hope of a chastened Palestinian Israeli prisons.” Authority.”( June 29) The editors of the National Canadian media thus followed the Israeli lead, Post and The Globe and Mail held Palestinians di- prizing the sanctity of every Israeli life while hold- rectly responsible for Israeli attacks. “That there is ing Palestinian lives in utter contempt. a humanitarian tragedy afflicting the Palestinian people there can be no doubt,” a July 29 National Dehumanizing Palestinians Post editorial conceded, “but in the current context, “It is our duty to prevent any danger of losing it is a tragedy entirely of their own making.” On a Jewish majority or creating an inseparable June 30, The Globe’s editors hammered away at the bi-national reality in the Land of Israel.” same theme: “The main responsibility for the death Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and destruction that has followed [ June 25] lies June 20, 2006 (Speech to the with Palestinian militants and leaders.” 35th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem) The capture of a tank gunner as a prisoner of war was translated into an act of aggression, a “kidnap- As disturbing as it is, contempt for Palestinian ping.” Within a couple of weeks, the three leading life on the part of Israel and its supporters is un- Anglo Canadian dailies – The Globe and Mail, the surprising. It is, in fact, a necessary cornerstone of Toronto Star and the National Post – had published the ideology of political Zionism, which guides the the name of the captured (“kidnapped”) soldier Israeli political establishment and determines the more than 100 times, often alongside his age and core of Israeli policy. other personal information. The Globe’s Shira Her- This policy is based on the determination to es- zog, reflecting a broad journalistic consensus, ex- tablish and maintain a state with a Jewish majority on plained that strong Israeli retaliation was necessary: lands that have long been home to a predominantly Israel “is a country that takes collective pride in the non-Jewish native population. Pursuit of this goal sanctity of every life, an ethos that comforts Israeli has involved expelling Palestinians from these lands, soldiers in combat who know that no human effort prohibiting their right to return to their homes, and will be spared to rescue even a single one of them encouraging large-scale Zionist settlement from from enemy territory, dead or alive.” abroad. This is a recipe for perpetual crisis and vio- As for the apparent contradiction given Israel’s lence. Israeli forces effectively control all of historic approach to the lives of Palestinian prisoners, the (mandatory) Palestine, the territory stretching from issue could not be ignored entirely. On the thorny the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. And de- issue of child prisoners, the Globe referred readers spite Israel’s forced exile of millions of Palestinians to a front-page article on the topic it had published from these lands, the present inhabitants of this ter- on June 19, titled “Getting locked up to get away ritory are in the majority not Jewish. from it all.” The piece argued that Palestinian chil- For Canadians to support Israel, they must adopt dren view imprisonment in Israeli jails as “a dream the Israeli perspective regarding the native popu- vacation” and are getting themselves imprisoned lation of this land, the view that the Palestinian willfully as part of a Palestinian cultural trend. Re- population is an ethnic imbalance to be corrected, garding female prisoners, the paper published a a problem to be dealt with, a “demographic threat” June 27 report titled “Palestinian female prisoners to a state which must be made “Jewish” at all costs. have ‘blood on their hands’.” The title was based on This thoroughly racist position frames mainstream a quote from the Israeli prison authority, and the ar- Canadian debate. ticle assured readers that those Palestinian women It is hardly worth quoting the National Post on convicted in Israeli military courts were quite guilty this, given that the paper is operated by CanWest and very bad. The Post, for its part, ran an editorial Global, a media conglomerate founded by two of referring without distinction to all the Palestinians Canada’s leading Israel lobbyists (Israel Asper and

64 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine Gerry Schwartz). But the position holds firm on that basic principles of human and national rights the liberal wing of the Canadian mainstream. must be sacrificed on the altar of political - Zion Consider, for example, the work of Mitch Potter, ism, and that defending the rights of Palestinians the Toronto Star’s leading Israel-Palestine pundit in (particularly those in exile) amounts to anti-Jewish recent weeks. Potter is aware that Gaza is not the racism. The point was put clearly in a July 3 column planet’s most densely-populated area by accident, but in The Globe and Mail: “it’s anti-Semitic to call, as largely as a result of the mass expulsion of Palestin- CUPE did (see The Bullet #22), for an uncondition- ians from the 78 percent of historic Palestine occu- al right of return of all Palestinian refugees, since pied by Zionist forces in 1948 (when Zionists took such a massive demographic change would mean their first real stab at achieving a Jewish majority). the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.” Some 700,000 Palestinians were then expelled from TheGlobe thus tells us that Palestine’s indigenous the territory claimed as the State of Israel, forced population is not only inferior and troublesome, but into either neighboring countries or the 22 percent also oppressively racist by its very presence. of Palestine still outside of Zionist control (the West From this perspective, contempt for Palestinian Bank and Gaza Strip). With respect to the Israeli life comes all too naturally. On June 29, the Nation- settlement of Ashkelon, for example, Potter offers al Post, ever a mouthpiece for Israeli diplomacy, ad- the following background: “The modern city was dressed the issue through an interview with Israeli formed by Jewish immigrants to Israel in the site of foreign and deputy prime minister Tzipi Livni. For the Arab town of Al-Majdal, whose 11,000 residents Livni, as reporter Douglas Davis uncritically relayed were mostly driven into Gaza after the 1948 war.” to readers, international contempt for Palestinian Potter does not even feel it necessary to explain life is still insufficient: “She is particularly irritated why those driven out cannot return to their homes by the equivalence given to the deaths of Palestin- in accord with the basic, inalienable rights of ref- ian and Israeli children ... ‘Only when the world ugees displaced during wartime. Instead, Potter sends the right message to the terrorists will they automatically assumes the Israeli perspective. He understand that it’s not the same’.” Canada’s lead- correctly explains that the Israeli “disengagement” ing journalists have already gotten the message. from Gaza was simply an outgrowth of Israel’s Consider, again, the work of Mitch Potter, who agenda of ethnic and national discrimination. For in his recent position as the Toronto Star’s leading obvious reasons, Israel has been finding it difficult Israel-Palestine pundit is a canary in the mineshaft to deny the indigenous presence on the land it has of liberal Canadian racism. On June 30, just one day conquered. This difficulty, Potter explained, was- ad after the publication of Livni’s anti-“equivalency” dressed through an effort to permanently exclude plea, Potter made the following assertion: “Despite the Palestinian refugees of Gaza from dominant five days of international headlines there has been settler society: “Analysts spoke of an emerging Is- but a single death – that of kidnapped 18-year-old raeli consensus that understood a bitter pill had to Israeli hitchhiker Eliyahu Asheri.” be swallowed once and for all in order for Israel to Apparently, it was not worth counting the two cure itself of the demographic realities of the bur- Palestinian children, aged 2 and 17, who were killed geoning Palestinian birth rate.” on June 28 by an unexploded Israeli shell in the This is unabashed racism: the native majority Gaza community of Khan Yunis (though this had population is described as a disease to be treated by even been reported in the New York Times). Nor was state policy, though even conceding Palestinians a it worth retracting or correcting Potter’s statement stretch of land to starve on is a “bitter pill.” None of in light of the Israeli military’s killing of a Palestin- the leading Canadian newspapers published a seri- ian in nearby Rafah at 2 a.m. on the morning of the ous challenge to this racism. 30th, or of another in the West Bank city of Nablus Instead, they repeatedly published the flimsy a little more than 3 hours later (already by 6:13am, argument that such a challenge would itself be rac- Agence France Press had reported the Nablus kill- ist. In a rhetorical sleight of hand that has become ing). There were reports of other deaths during this quite familiar, commentators repeatedly suggested period, which Potter or his editors could easily have labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 65 investigated if they took Palestinian life seriously. weeks after the seizing of another soldier by mili- Evidently, they do not. As the Palestinian death tants at the other end of the country, it looks like a toll mounted in the following week, denying the coordinated campaign of intimidation.” fatalities outright became untenable. Instead, Pot- The imputed “coordinated campaign of intimi- ter reduced Palestinian resistance to stubborn stu- dation,” which Globe editors disapprove of, is not to pidity and described the fallen fighters as animals: be confused with Israel’s “ratcheting up the pressure “Another batch of Palestinian militants drawn out on the civilian population,” with which the Globe lemming-like and falling by the dozen to higher- raises only strategic objections. calibre Israeli fire, just like their predecessors.” [For As Israel continued to kill and starve Palestin- Potter to call Palestinians lemmings is certainly ians, and as the Lebanese death toll from Israeli ironic]. Falling, he might have added, to US weap- massacres mounted into the hundreds (with several ons, with the support of Canadian foreign policy Canadians killed in the indiscriminate bombard- and its loyal pundits. ment), Mitch Potter explained that Palestinians now shared blame for the violence – with Hizbul- Whitewashing Collective Punishment lah: “The words Hamas and Hezbollah may sound “Hezbollah and Hamas ... triggered the current equally foreboding to most Western ears. And the crisis by staging guerrilla raids into Israel” militant merger of the two has brought the Middle Toronto Star, July 19 East to the brink of regional war.” (July 16) (reporter Less Whittington) Even for the killing of Canadians, Israeli culpa- bility was sidelined: “Lebanon terror hits home,” On July 12, Hizbullah, for decades the main read a Toronto Star headline on the topic for July 17; southern Lebanese group in resistance to Israel, “Canadians were killed in crossfire of fight with -He captured two Israeli soldiers and killed two more on zbollah,” read another headline, this one from the the Israel-Lebanon border. That day, Israel not only July 18 issue of The Globe and Mail. In much of the killed 23 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but also began coverage, it was as if Canadians were fleeing a natu- to bomb Beirut. Israeli military action against Leba- ral disaster, not a campaign of collective punishment non swiftly escalated. On July 15, for example, Re- fully condoned by the Harper government. uters reported that Israel used loudspeakers to order The reliance on Israeli sources became almost Lebanese civilians to leave the village of Marwaheen. comical. By July 19, the Lebanese death count from 20 people, including 15 children, got in a van to leave. Israeli massacres had reached 312, with more than Israel then bombed the van, killing them all. 100,000 civilians displaced. As Canadians scram- Of all of Israel’s international allies, including bled to leave Lebanon amidst the Israeli assault, the the United States, the Harper government was public relations line of the chief Israeli diplomatic widely regarded as the most outspoken diplomatic to Canada received the widest possible circulation supporter of escalating Israeli attacks. For Canadi- through a story printed by the Canadian Press. Draw- an media, fully accustomed to whitewashing Israeli ing entirely from unsubstantiated claims, the piece atrocities, this was only appropriate. Massacres and ran with the headline “Canadians fleeing Lebanon the war crime of collective punishment were sani- could be Hezbollah targets: Israeli ambassador.” tized and reduced to offhand euphemisms: “As in Israel has since pledged to continue its invasion the Palestinian territories,” the Globe’s Orly Halp- of Lebanon for weeks to come, and both the Cana- ern reported, “Israel is ratcheting up the pressure dian government and Canadian media are lining up on the civilian population in an effort to push the in support. The Toronto Star’s Mitch Potter contin- Lebanese to reject Hezbollah tactics.”( July 14) ues to get front-page attention for his articles, led And as in Palestinian territory, the attacks were by prominent cover references to Lebanese “terror” a matter of defense. On July 15, the Globe editori- ( July 18) and the suggestion that Hizbullah leader alized: “The kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah could be the “next Osama in a small country that holds the life of every sol- bin Laden” ( July 19). Potter’s journalism is shallow dier dear, was a grievous provocation. Coming just public relations, most recently for Israeli assassina-

66 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine tion efforts against Nasrallah. Potter has described As the Canadian government opts instead for the leader as an eloquent, strategic figure with a open rejection of the rights of Palestinians (and mass base for regional resistance to Israel. From his Lebanese), “Israel advocacy” groups like the Cana- vantage point in “the corridors of power” in Israel, da-Israel Committee take comfort in support from Potter notes that “the strategies for Israeli victory the mainstream press. When the Harper govern- are converging on Nasrallah’s head.” ment became the first of Israel’s allies to support Israel, while pledging a prolonged attack on renewed suffocation of the Palestinian economy Lebanon, has continued its atrocities in Gaza and (in March 2006), CIC communications director escalated attacks on the West Bank, with incursions Paul Michaels commented happily that the “deci- into the Palestinian towns of Nablus (where the Is- sion was greeted positively on the editorial pages raeli military took over the municipality building, of most Canadian newspapers.” Again in late June, smashed cars and shot indiscriminately at residents’ Canadian media indifference to attacks on Pales- houses), Tulkarem, Bethlehem and Jenin. tinians occasioned the expression of satisfaction on The Harper government’s nearly unconditional the part of the CIC: “While events on the ground support for this Israeli aggression is scandalous, included several Israeli air strikes in which civilians matched only by the media’s support for Harper. were injured or killed, this week’s media coverage On July 20, The Globe and Mail’s editors reaffirmed was fairly light.” this. The title of the editorial in “Canada’s national With support from the government and the cor- newspaper,” which praised Harper for his “refresh- porate press, Israel’s allies pretend to near universal ing” pro-Israel diplomacy, conveys the general tone Canadian representation. They are in turn able to of coverage: “Harper is right on the Mideast.” depict Palestine solidarity as a rejection of the pop- ular consensus: “This week,” aGlobe article on July 8 Mounting a Challenge declared, “public opinion was inflamed again when, There are indications that the Canadian popula- contrary to the outrage [against CUPE for its Pal- tion may be lagging behind the political establish- estine work], the Toronto Conference of the United ment in its contempt for Palestinians. At the end Church of Canada commended CUPE Ontario for of 2004, the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) re- its stand, and echoed the union’s call for a boycott leased polls which offer some hope in this regard. of Israeli goods.” They found that prior to the recent intensification There is no denying the real strength of Canada’s of support for Israel, official Canadian pro-Israel institutional base of support for Israel. However, partisanship was opposed by majority public opin- there is good reason to believe that this does not ion. The polls found that the more Canadians learn flow from “popular opinion.” Rather, it results from about the Israel-Palestine conflict, the more they the eagerness of the Canadian government to har- sympathize with the Palestinian cause. monize its foreign policy with the US, the support of In recent months, this sympathy has found in- corporate Canada for this agenda, and the strength creasingly organized expression. The July, 2006 mas- of Canadian “Israel advocacy” groups which draw sive demonstrations in Montreal come on the heels support from corporate organization, the United of various important displays of regional solidarity States and Israel itself. Mainstream media are re- with the Palestinian struggle. Prominent among flecting and shaping the pro-Israel consensus deter- these is the decision by the Ontario wing of the Ca- mined by these powerful interests. But they have yet nadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-Ontar- to bring a real public consensus behind them. io), Canada’s largest union of public sector workers, In this context, opportunities for a successful to identify Israel’s regime of systematic ethnic and challenge to Canadian support for Israel remain national discrimination as apartheid, and to join the very real. But it is only outside of the political estab- call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against lishment that this challenge can be built, and only Israel until apartheid is dismantled. This movement through alternative information systems that it can is continuing to spread, and is picking up momen- be sustained. In any event, it is clear that while gen- tum within the United Church and elsewhere. uine awareness of the Israel-Palestine conflict may labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 67 translate into Palestine solidarity, the mainstream Canadian consensus on this issue that is so disturb- press, far from the solution, is quite near to the core ing, the recent conduct of the CanWest media of the problem. empire requires special attention. This year, Can- West has been celebrating its renewed expansion, Addendum (May 2008) including the initiation of a national news service This article was originally published by ZNet on run from Ottawa. Meanwhile, it has continued to July 21, 2006. Since then, Canadian officials and consolidate its hold in Western Canada, particular- mainstream media alike have not lost the oppor- ly in Vancouver, a city which has been described as tunity of intensifying Israeli assaults in Gaza to ex- “Canada’s media concentration capital.” From this press continued contempt for Palestinians and their base, CanWest has recently launched a startling basic rights. political attack on long-time respected community 2008 opened with the siege on Gaza reaching activist, particularly with respect to Palestinian soli- increasingly genocidal proportions, the outcome of darity, Mordecai Briemberg. a policy of “economic warfare” (read: collective pun- Briemberg is presently facing a major lawsuit ishment) which was upheld by the Israeli Supreme from CanWest. Formally, this relates to a parody of Court. The extraordinary act of popular mobiliza- the local CanWest paper, the Vancouver Sun, which tion which saw Palestinians force open the Rafah was circulated in satirical criticism of the paper’s crossing on January 23 found Canadian officials skewed coverage of Israel/Palestine. The satirical and most commentators as complicit as ever. On publication included headlines such as “Celebrating January 22, the Globe and Mail ran yet another 40 Years of Civilizing the West Bank” and “Study editorial holding Palestinians responsible for the Shows Truth Biased Against Israel.” Encounter- crimes committed against them, under the blunt ti- ing the publication at a local event, Briemberg was tle “Blame it on Hamas.” On January 24, the Unit- amused, picked up a few copies, and reportedly ed Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) voted handed a few out. CanWest has now singled him to demand that Israel lift the blockade on Gaza. out for retaliation through the courts. The resolution passed with 30 votes in favour, 15 As the Seriously Free Speech Committee, or- abstentions, and Canada alone opposing it. ganized in Briemberg’s defence, explains: “While In persistent support of the Harper govern- ostensibly centering on a commercial violation of ment’s deteriorating diplomacy, Canadian media trade mark, the charges read like a political attack.” have continued to line up behind Israel. The threat Including broad references to Briemberg’s alleged made against Palestinians on February 28 by Israeli “anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian media activities,” deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai – that “they CanWest submissions “demand a sweeping variety will bring upon themselves a bigger Shoah” – pro- of remedies including an injunction restraining the voked no real criticism here, even though the He- defendants from ‘publishing injurious falsehoods brew term “Shoah” refers almost exclusively to the by way of newspapers or other publications, on the Nazi genocide. CanWest media outlets (drawing internet or otherwise.’” from Reuters) referred to “the strength of the lan- This attack is symptomatic of an effort to pre- guage” used by Vilnai, while other media chose to vent free and critical discussion of Israel/Palestine, ignore the issue entirely. Over the next week, Israeli and to maintain Canadian official and media prac- military operations killed 120 Palestinians in Gaza tices which are both unpopular and unjust. Further (34 of them children), and wounded 269. And at details on this case are available at www.seriously- the March 6 meeting of the HRC, with little criti- freespeech.ca. cism at home, Canada was once again the only CanWest media outlets do enough political member state to vote against a resolution criticizing damage by the direct force of their skewed cover- Israeli atrocities. age. The additional effort to silence independent ❖ While it is precisely the breadth of the dominant voices cannot be taken lightly.

68 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine A Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Briefing: The Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA)

CIFTA by the Numbers Israel-Canada: Bilateral Trade • The Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement 1996 - 2005 (CIFTA) was concluded on 1 January 1997, liber- 1000 alizing trade arrangements between the two coun- 400 900 373.6 tries. Within the first three years of the agreement Canadian exports 900 800 855 bilateral trade grew some 93 percent (according to Israeli exports 297.4 700 figures provided by the Israeli Embassy in Cana- 600 da). Currently the bilateral trade volume stands 404.9 600 562.8 at roughly 1-billion Canadian dollars, with 2005 500 231.1 475.5 a record year in terms of bilateral trade between 400 the two countries. It should be noted that Can- 300 180.4 240 ada and Israel are relatively small trading partners 200 210.1 in global terms given that trade between the two- Millions of Canadian dollars ($C) 100 163.2 n/a n/a countries accounts for less than one percent of their 0 respective trade volumes. However, this relation- 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 ship is expanding rapidly, particularly in a number of strategic sectors for both economies and states Israel-Canada: Total Bilateral Trade (for comparative data and total trade volumes see 1996 - 2005 graphs below). 1000 While Canada concluded a Joint Canada-Pal- 1000 • 900 936.4 estinian Framework on Economic Cooperation and 900 855 Trade with the Palestinian Authority in 1999, Israel 800 772.9 ultimately controls the nature of this relationship. 700 600 The agreement’s impact on growth and develop- 606 ment in the Palestinian Bantustans has been mini- 500 471.1 mal. Currently there is an almost complete freeze 400 on Canadian economic activity in the West Bank 300 343.6 and Gaza (with the exception of some minimal 200 Canadian economic activity on Israeli settler-based Millions of Canadian dollars ($C) 100 infrastructure development, construction, and agri- n/a n/a 0 cultural projects). According to DFAIT’s own web- 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 site, “the current political and security climate has all but eliminated bilateral commercial activity Sources: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT); [between the PA and Canada]” (this was written Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics; Israel-­Canada Chamber of Commere (ICCC) prior to Harper’s aid cut). • Major industries that account for most of the bilateral trade between Canada and Israel include:

labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 69 diamonds, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, communica- Canada-Israel Industrial Research and tions, plastics, machinery, electrical equipment and Development Foundation (CIIRDF) agricultural products. Electronics and machinery, • One of the key bodies for consolidating the in particular, account for roughly 25 to 30 percent growing partnership between Canada and Is- of Israeli exports to Canada and roughly 40 to 50 rael is CIIRDF, initiated by both governments in percent of Canadian exports to Israel. While many 1994 as a mechanism to provide seed-money for BDS campaigns have focused on agriculture (in- firms engaged in Israeli-Canadian R&D partner- cluding wines), it should be noted that trade in ships in cutting-edge technologies. Over the past this sector accounts for only 5-10% of the bilateral three years CIIRDF has partnered 200 firms and trade volume between the two countries. has brought in considerable returns for both Israeli and Canadian companies. The CIIRDF is modeled CIFTA and the Expansion of Israeli- on similar agreements that Israel has with a num- Canadian High-tech Trade ber of other countries, including: Austria, Belgium, • Israel’s global exports are mainly dominated by Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong- three key sectors: cut-diamonds, high-technol- Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, the Nether- ogy equipment and agricultural products; which lands, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the UK are essentially the three key economic sectors that and USA. It has also concluded sub-national agree- should be targeted in any BDS campaign. Major ments with the State of Maryland (USA), the State exports include machinery and equipment, soft- of Victoria (Australia) and the Province of Ontario. ware, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemi- • The CIIRDF was renewed for another 5 year- cals, textiles and apparel and the main consumers period during an April 2005 visit by then deputy of Israeli goods are the United States, Belgium and premier and current Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Hong Kong. Olmert. During the visit Olmert also concluded • A key realm of expanding trade and invest- a separate Ontario-Israel Science and Technology ment under CIFTA is focused on high-tech. The Agreement with Ontario Premier Dalton Mc- Israeli economy has increasingly become depen- Guinty, thereby initiating an R&D exchange with dent on its high-tech industry, which constitutes the province under the auspices of CIIRDF. It over 50 percent of Israeli exports (some put the should be noted that CIIRDF is now also exploring figure closer to 60 percent).There are roughly 3000 potential partnerships with R&D players in New- high-tech firms operating in Israel and it has the foundland that are involved in developing oceanic second largest concentration of high-tech startups and sea-based technologies. in the world (second only to California’s silicon- • The success of CIIRDF has inspired the Cana- valley). Israel’s high-tech sector has benefited from dian government to pursue an International Science close linkages to the Israeli and US military-indus- and Technology Partnership Program starting in trial complexes, the influx of highly skilled Russian June 2005. This program seeks international part- immigrants, liberalization of its economy, and in- nerships with key emerging R&D players, includ- creasing trade-agreements with partners in Europe ing Brazil, China, Israel and India. Under the terms and North America that opened unprecedented of this initiative Israeli firms are eligible for further opportunities for the Israeli economy. However, funds from the Canadian government. this has also left the Israeli economy “particularly vulnerable to global economic swings,” according CIFTA and Human Rights to an analysis of regional economic trends pro- • The CIFTA agreement includes the liberaliza- duced by DFAIT. This makes the Israeli high-tech tion of trade in a number of areas, including stra- sector an important target for any successful BDS tegic military and dual-use sectors that include campaign. Targeting Israeli R&D is particularly the high-tech industry, weapons manufacturing, important because high-tech is seen as the main explosives, nuclear technology, strategic raw ma- source of Israel’s economic growth-potential in the terials and agricultural trade. Unfortunately, the 21st century. CIFTA agreement includes no safe-guards to ensure

70 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine that human-rights provisions are followed and se- heavily on the on-going theft of Palestinian water cured. In fact certain provisions in the agreement fly supplies and arable lands in direct contradistinction in the face of established international legal norms. to the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention. • Most controversial is Article 1.4 of the CIFTA Israel monopolizes roughly 75 percent of Palestin- agreement, which explicitly legitimates Israel’s ian water-resources for its own economic develop- occupation through it’s definition of “territory” ment. Furthermore, through research partnerships in the following terms: “with respect to Israel like CIIRDF, Israeli and Canadian firms are col- the territory where its customs laws are applied.” laborating on defense-industrial projects, including This provision means that settlement-products are the lethal Guardium Autonomous Security Vehicle considered “Israeli” according to CIFTA’s “Rules designed for “perimeter security” applications in of Origin” regulations since Israeli customs laws a number of contexts (among them Israel’s illegal are applied to all goods that originate in the Oc- apartheid Wall). cupied Territories. This is in marked contradistinc- • Canada’s growing relationship with Israel is tion to Israel’s trade agreement with the EU, which part of a broader regional trend of expanding com- defines “territory” as “the territory of the State of mercial and economic activity in the Middle East, Israel.” While the EU’s trade-agreement with Israel with the aggressive pursuit of trade-partnerships is problematic as well it at least attempts to pay-lip and investment opportunities throughout the re- service to standard conceptions of Israeli sovereign- gion. This has included growing economic activity ty. CIFTA makes no such distinction. with other human-rights abusing regimes in the • The only provision of the agreement that might region, including a substantial bilateral trade rela- give the Canadian government some leverage on tionship with Saudi Arabia, unprecedented levels of the human-rights front has been consistently ig- economic activity between Canada and Egypt in- nored by successive governments in Ottawa. Ar- spite of the escalating human-rights abuses of the ticle 10.2 of CIFTA states that: “1. Nothing in this Mubarak regime, and an expanding relationship Agreement shall be construed: […] (c) to prevent with the illegitimate occupation regime in Iraq. either Party from taking action in pursuance of its In some ways, there is a direct correlation between obligations under the United Nations Charter for mounting human-rights abuses and Canadian in- the maintenance of international peace and secu- vestment in many key economies throughout the rity.” Thus, while Canada has voted to censure Is- Middle East region. Israel and CIFTA have been a raeli behaviour 115 times between 2000 and 2005, key entry point. bilateral trade and foreign direct investment • For Israel, the relationship with Canada has also between the two countries continued to expand involved more than just CIFTA and State-to-State during this period. Therefore, it can safely be said relations. Israel has also sought to partner with pro- that CIFTA’s very existence runs – through it’s vincial governments, including some major trade controversial definition of “territory” – counter to and investment deals with the Ontario, Alberta, the Canadian government’s own obligations un- Manitoba, and Quebec governments. Some of these der the UN Charter (that require it to take steps to agreements include partnerships in water-manage- curtail Israeli obstructionism, end the occupation of ment technologies, resource extraction, high-tech Palestinian lands and allow the return of refugees). R&D, as well as security related exchanges (includ- • An important point for the BDS campaign is ing training exercises by the Israel Air Force at the to point out the close relationship between the Canadian Forces Base in Cold Lake, Alberta and Israeli state, private sector development and the high-ranking visits by Ontario chiefs of police and Israeli military industrial complex. Furthermore, public security officials to Israel last year). These many industries – especially agriculture – frequent- partnerships are occurring despite the on-going ly have their physical plants and capital located on racial discrimination perpetrated by Israeli security destroyed Palestinian villages, expropriated proper- forces against Palestinians residing in Israel as well ty or settler-colonial land-holdings in the Occupied as those residing in the Occupied Territories. Territories. Israeli agricultural industry depends labour for palestine SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid 71 Canada-Israel: Foreign Direct of Israel’s increasingly integrated and high-tech ­Investment (FDI) economy and to take advantage of Israel’s free- • While trade between Israel and Canada has trade agreements with the EU and local markets reached significant proportions, the most rapid in Eastern Europe and Turkey. Major Canadian growth in economic relationships between the investors include Nortel, Aecon Group, Bombar- two countries over the past decade has been in the dier, and SNC-Lavalin who’ve increasingly been realm of foreign direct investment (FDI). Accord- seeking investment opportunities in local infra- ing to figures obtained from CANSIM (Statistics structure projects throughout Israel. While target- Canada’s socio-economic data-collection arm), to- ing CIFTA is important, we should also make sure tal FDI in publicly-traded stocks between the two to mention the increasing levels of FDI between countries has grown eight-fold since the signing of the two countries. CIFTA. Since 2000, these figures have remained in the 600 to 800 million dollar ranges. Israel-Canada Chamber of Commerce • Furthermore, the total amount of FDI – in pri- and Industry (ICCC) vately owned stocks, real-estate, etc. – is estimated • The Tel-Aviv based ICCC promotes growing to be in the range of three to four billion dollars. trade and is committed to expanding the relation- Two billion dollars of this number is accounted for ship between the two countries. It is an important by major Israeli real-estate firms that have invested lynchpin in expanding foreign direct investment in the Canadian market in recent years. Most of (FDI) levels between the two countries. Its Ca- this investment has come from Gazit Global, Is- nadian counter-part was inaugurated in late May rael’s largest real-estate investment company. For a 2006 at the Israeli embassy in Ottawa and will be better picture of Gazit Global’s holdings in south- headquartered in Toronto (550 Eglinton Avenue ern Ontario, see: http://www.firstcapitalrealty.ca/ West). The Interim President of the Canada-Israel live/properties/PDFs/article e 1.pdf. Chamber of Commerce (CICC) is David A. Rubin • While Canada has proven an attractive mar- and will continue to serve in this capacity until the ket for Israeli FDI – including such major Israeli fall. Key sponsors of the ICCC are: Nortel, Africa players as Amdocs Ltd., Teva Pharmaceutical In- Israel Investments Inc., ORMAT, Danya Cebus, dustries Ltd., Check Point Software Technologies B.S.T. Development & Construction Co. Ltd., Ga- Ltd., Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI), etc. – Ca- zit-Globe, Bombardier, Netposition, Goldhar & nadian firms have also increased their own invest- Co., Travelmania, IFAT, and the Ziv Group. It is ments in the Israeli economy. This has particular said that even more Canadian players will be in- v been motivated by the desire to take advantage volved in the newly relaunched CICC.

Israel-Canada: Bilateral FDI Israel-Canada: Total Bilateral FDI 1996 - 2005 1996 - 2005 800 800 226 780 456 700 700 748 226 705 Canadian FDI in Israel 336 677 600 263 266 600 624 Israeli FDI in Canada 610 554 500 500 479 400 400 361 300 344 341 300 292 200 200 Millions of Canadian dollars ($C) 100 n/a Millions of Canadian dollars ($C) 100 864 n/a n/a 90 41 51 51 0 34 0 34 41 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Source: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)

72 SECTION three: Canada, Colonialism and Israeli Apartheid labour for palestine Section four Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

This section begins with the July 2005 call from over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations urging a worldwide campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel modeled on those used against South African apartheid. This section contains an explanation of what is meant by boycotts, divestment and sanctions, as well as a selected list of initiatives taken around the world. An excerpt from a book-­length study by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-­Apartheid Wall Campaign examines the historical use of boycott as a weapon of oppressed peoples and situates the BDS call within broader Palestinian strategy. The articles by Virginia Tilley and Ed Janzen explore the necessity of BDS in further detail, and take up some of the arguments raised by the Israel lobby against this campaign. An article by Ken Luckhardt, former staff person for the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and official representative of the South African Congress of Trade Unions in Canada from 1980 to 1988, reflects on the experiences of the South African anti-­apartheid struggle and the lessons for the campaign against Israeli apartheid. The two concluding articles further explore the role of BDS and the current state of the Palestinian solidarity movement.

Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights

(9 July 2005) One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel’s Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court’s decision. Thirty-­eight years into Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall. Israel is also preparing – in the shadow of its planned redeployment from the Gaza Strip -­ to build and expand colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel’s entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab-­Palestinian citizens remains intact. In light of Israel’s persistent violations of international law, and Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel’s colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, and Given that all forms of international intervention and peace-­making have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine, and In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions; Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and in the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression, We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace. These non-­violent punitive measures should be maintained 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 by: 1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; 2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-­Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and 3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194. v

labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 75 Towards a Global Movement for Palestine A framework for today’s anti-apartheid activism The following article is abridged from a book-­length study by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-­Apartheid Wall Campaign. Please visit www.stopthewall.org to order the full book.

What are BDS? Increasingly in northern-based societies boycott A united Palestinian Call for a comprehensive refers to consumer rights and as an important tool BDS campaign against Israel emerged in 2005 and of protest, exercised through not purchasing the has been signed by over 170 Palestinian organiza- products of an offending country, company or insti- tions. Importantly the signatories represent the tution. In other parts of the world, boycotts remain three major components of the Palestinian people: one direct mechanism to ensure the attainment of the refugees in the diaspora, Palestinians under oc- basic rights and services (such as over rents, elec- cupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the tricity and water). Boycott calls can also be made subjugated Palestinians who hold Israeli citizen- in situations where an oppressed populace looks ship. Their appeal for external support invoked spe- for external support in their struggle to bring about cific solidarity strategies, all of which have histori- social or political change. This becomes even more cal significance in challenging injustice. pertinent when the offender depends upon exter- Boycotts, at least by name, originate from the nal backing in order to carry out and perpetuate experiences of an Irish community in relation to an crimes. agent of a British landlord called Captain Boycott Sanctions can be deployed across a wide array of during the 19th century. As a means of expressing institutions, taking in measures made by local com- local grievances held against Boycott, the commu- munity groups, to municipalities and city councils, nity successfully isolated the agent and refused to to international forums and bodies. They are em- deal with him. After he returned to England, the bodied in the actions taken to rebuke or inhibit the story immortalized his last name and boycott has activities of the offender, in ways conducive to at- been used ever since to describe the collective pow- taining change. Momentum for sanctions tends to er of a group to advance their goals via strategies of begin at a grassroots level even if implementation of- ostracism. ten relies upon decision-making bodies which have History has shown how a variety of boycotts can some claim to representation. The phenomenon of successfully overcome forms of injustice. Today ac- “peoples sanctions” developed by the anti-apartheid tivists and groups have many forms of boycott at movement referred to the success of campaigns that their disposal: called for and succeeded in ensuring mechanisms of • Consumer/Payment pressure were put upon South Africa. • Trade and Embargo In some instances sanctions institutionalize the • Cultural boycotts promoted by grassroots campaigns. At a • Academic higher level, sanctions are implemented by govern- • Secondary (surrogate) ments (local and national), associations such as the • Sports EU or NAM, or global agencies such as the UN or • Tourist WTO. It can be argued they reinforce the strength and legitimacy of powerful actors, many of whom

76 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine have questionable commitment to human rights Early studies recognized that the South African and social justice. However, making demands on economy was vulnerable to external pressure and these bodies also ensures that powerful states and campaigns were organized around imposing sanc- global institutions face up to their responsibilities tions on the regime (oil, diplomatic and military), regarding such rights and international law. More- as well as developing boycotts against key South over, a strong movement advocating sanctions can African exports (agriculture, coal). In other parts stimulate consciousness-raising amongst the public of the world, especially in states directly opposed and adds an important element of moral pressure to recognition of racist South Africa, boycotts were to campaign work generally, even if the sanctions promoted in sports, the arts and culture. themselves are not always attained. In recent years In Europe in 1963, Danish dockers set an im- sanctions campaigns have emphasized various portant precedent when they refused to unload a forms: shipment of South African goods. Dockers in Swe- • Diplomatic den also refused to unload the cargo and later that • Military/Arms year governing parties in Scandinavia jointly pro- • Economic/Trade posed a resolution advocating economic sanctions • Oil/Energy on South Africa. It revealed how initiatives taken on the ground could pressure or influence those Divestment was first used in the 1950’s as a way with political power. to describe the stripping away of economic invest- By the 1970s activists advocated that apartheid ments as a mechanism of protest and pressure. To- could not survive without the external assistance day it is referred to as the process in which an in- which was fuelling the economy and entrenching dividual, group or institution disposes of its stocks a system of racial capital based upon the exploita- and shares within a business or holding. In solidar- tion of black labour. Divestment activity emerged ity work, divestment is similar to sanctions in that it on US university and college campuses and in city can rely upon securing certain actions by others (in and town councils, targeting any companies with this instance, shareholders or companies withdraw- links to the regime. ing investments). However, a variety of institutions Typically solidarity was driven by committed exist in which individuals and constituents hold grassroots activists. The Connecticut Anti-Apart- considerable stake and influence (churches, unions, heid Committee (CAAC) formed in August 1978 universities, pension funds), and which hold great had a nucleus of between six and ten people on potential for BDS campaigns. the steering committee for the first 18 months. They undertook a wide range of educational and Legacies of BDS: Activism support-building activities: distributing fliers and and Apartheid South Africa pamphlets, getting endorsements from community South African history has enshrined boycotts, leaders, showing films, sponsoring conferences and divestment and sanctions as invaluable tools in organizing speaking engagements with black South combating oppression and injustice. How they were Africans and Americans with knowledge on south- deployed can yield important lessons for a BDS ern Africa, submitting newspaper articles, holding movement today, and are also relevant given the cultural and social events, doing research on Con- parallels drawn between Israel and apartheid South necticut investments and obtaining support and en- Africa in public opinion and academia. However, dorsements from organizations around the state. their effectiveness and contribution to the South Out of the relatively small group emerged a lob- African struggle requires consideration if current by powerful enough to influence wider changes at a campaigns are to emulate previous solidarity. While state level, symptomatic of the success of outreach resistance to white rule preceded the struggle programmes across the country. The NAM and the against the apartheid system introduced from 1948, UN became more vocal in their condemnation of it was not until the late 1950s that appeals for BDS the regime and South Africa emerged in the 1980s emerged and solidarity campaigns were launched. as an increasingly isolated pariah state. Neverthe- labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 77 less, western governments and companies main- initiatives just as much as the economic impact tained their economic ties with the regime. Western they achieved. Upon closer inspection, even some leaders claimed that apartheid could be reformed, the most celebrated victories of divestment revealed while banks with strong interests in South Africa continued trade and links below the surface. At least (such as Barclays) stated that “economic ties and 46 US firms that had pulled out of South Africa investment” were “the only viable instruments of from 1984 were later found to be licensing technol- peaceful change.” ogy to former subsidiaries or held distribution and However, South Africa’s internal resistance re- franchise agreements with South African firms. jected anything other than overthrowing apartheid One Israeli subsidiary of US corporation Motorola, and by the mid-1980s brought the country to a continued to do business in South Africa after the point where many predicted the regime’s imminent parent company had officially pulled out and gained collapse. Internal uprising was complemented by considerable praise for divesting its holdings. BDS measures in the rest of the world which in While solidarity work in support of South Afri- turn catalyzed popular rhetorical support for the cans created a legacy for BDS campaigns, it is im- liberation struggle. Trade unions, church groups, portant to highlight that BDS formed one means pension fund holders, town councils and universi- of challenging injustices. It assisted rather than di- ties were all instrumental in this process and their rected the liberation struggle, which was led first actions spurred a greater collapse of confidence in and foremost by the internal resistance. the regime at another level, taking in banks and governments. Challenges Ahead By 1985 the South African economy was in Successful BDS campaigns are built upon dili- serious difficulty, owing western financial -institu gent and detailed research which can guide the ef- tions $24 billion, $14 billion of which was short- forts of activists in their outreach work, and in which term debt. The declaration of a state of emergency the dissemination of such information to a network in June 1985 added to the pressure and American of solidarity movements is vital. Challenging and banks refused to rollover loans and demanded their opposing Israeli crimes requires the presentation of capital back. European banks followed suit. As the clear and easily identifiable means by which peo- Rand plummeted on foreign exchange markets, ple get involved in campaign work. Outlining the South Africa responded by freezing all repayment, nature of the Israeli policies and the overall Israeli followed on 1 September with the declaration of a economy presents opportunities for BDS work to debt standstill. develop effective mechanisms of pressure. A year later in November, after a decade of high- In 1949 fruit juices and citrus fruits accounted profile campaigning, Barclays announced its with- for 67% of Israeli exports. Almost sixty years on, the drawal from South Africa, shattering the myths Israeli economy has been totally transformed from it propagated of economic ties bringing peaceful settler based agrarian production to a high-tech, change. Sports, cultural and tourist boycotts were highly diversified economy. Today, Israel is viewed equally important in breaking the morale of the as the technological and industrial powerhouse of regime and its backers, helping to facilitate the the Middle East, and as one of the most attractive climate in which domestic South African capital markets for (and which is dependent upon) foreign considered the possible transition to black major- investments. Israel has strong export markets which ity rule. are reliant upon four interlinked core sectors: tech- There are numerous contesting accounts of the nology, Research and Development (R&D), dia- final demise of the regime, but most are unanimous monds, and arms. that BDS strategies in one shape or form contrib- In addition, it has received approximately $3 uted in the struggle to end apartheid. However, the billion in aid per year from the US since the mid- regime did to some extent, consolidate its financial 1980s. Israel began to implement policies of trade position after 1985, leading many to value the sus- liberalization in the early 1990s, setting the country tained symbolic and psychological impact of BDS on a trajectory of privatization which continues to-

78 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine day. Yet the economy retains a duality in state/pri- way into the everyday consumer goods manufac- vate activities, ensuring apartheid and occupation tured in countries across the world and the deep policies go hand-in-hand with neoliberalism. Many integration of the economy into high-tech markets business and economic practices are integrated into causes obvious problems in sourcing Israeli compo- Israeli “security” objectives and are further interwo- nents and products. ven into wider circles of capital and investment. The high-tech sector currently accounts for 33 Israel in 2007 has a highly diversified economy, percent of Israel’s total exports. Over the last two driven via transnational accumulation and particu- decades, a significant transformation has shifted larly sensitive to the fusion of local capital into the the emphasis of business activity into the field of global circuits of ownership. While it shares R&D computers, software and electronics; communi­ projects with a host of countries, the US is the ma- cations; biotechnology; medical, agricultural and jor player in buying into the Israeli economy. Israeli scientific equipment; and advanced weapon and investments are also strong in the US and West- military defence systems. Technology plays a sig- ern Europe, but are increasingly represented in the nificant part in production across nearly all sectors former Eastern bloc and Africa, specifically in con- of the economy. struction, diamonds and arms. The Ministry of Finance has suggested that after Israeli export markets (bar diamonds) are pre- Sweden, Israel spends more on the R&D sector than dominantly dependent upon the EU and the US any other country. However the government keeps (33 percent and 28 percent respectively). However, aspects of R&D programs confidential, specifi- emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East cally the military sector which has been estimated have meant that trade in these regions has steadily to usurp two percent of GDP. Israel’s overall R&D increased over the last decade. Lacking in many expenditure is thus considered to be 4.3 percent of natural resources, Israel is dependent upon imports GDP – 85 percent above the OECD average, and of petroleum, coal, food and raw materials. It also 30 percent more than Sweden. It has various in- relies on other countries (notably the US and Ger- centives in place to boost the R&D sector, which many) for the transfer of advanced military equip- grew out of the Oslo agreements as a financial and ment which it is unable to manufacture internally. cooperative enticement from the global community In terms of imports, figures show (excluding for the “peace process.” diamonds) that 56.5 percent arrive from the EU or Yet despite the transnational nature of the US which means (in light of the African diamond economy, various opportunities exist for extend- market) that Israel is dependent upon a significant ing an effective boycott. Israeli companies can lose proportion of imports from the rest of the world. their competitive edge in a climate where divest- Israel’s energy imports (various types of crude oil) ment initiatives target selective companies holding have risen by 42% over the past four years, from key or symbolic interests in the economy. Cam- $3.1 to $4.5 billion, of which Russia accounted for paigns against the R&D sector – and the joint a third. programmes held with over 20 different countries – form another target for BDS work in ending the How Can a Boycott Work? - Tackling external cooperation and funding for Israeli growth Key Economic Sectors and production. “Israel enjoys the highest concentration of high-tech Moreover, technology is built into a handful of companies outside of the Silicon Valley.” core economic industries which form viable targets Robert Greifeld President & CEO for BDS campaigns. One of these central markets NASDAQ 2004 is that of diamond processing. Almost every major multinational is involved or linked into the Israeli economy which has evolved Israeli diamonds from settler-based agriculture to a centre of trans- Diamonds make up a massive 28 percent of national investment in high-tech industries, manu- Israeli exports and Tel Aviv is the hub of a trade facturing and research. Israeli technology finds its with extensive moral and ethical implications. In labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 79 2005 Israel’s diamond industry ended the year with ing countries (such as the US), gears production to- growth in all areas of activity, maintaining its posi- wards external markets to bring in vital cash flows tion as the world manufacturing and trading centre for the economy, perpetuating conflicts, mini arms for polished and rough diamonds. Diamond exports races and violence. broke, for the first time, the $10 billion threshold. Net polished exports in 2005 rose 5.8% to reach an Conclusion - Where Next in Building all time high of $6.707 billion, compared to $6.337 Unity for a Global Movement? billion in 2004. Rough diamond exports from Israel Historically, boycotts show that in order to be rose 20.5% in 2005 to reach $3.517 billion, up from effective the public cannot be overwhelmed with $2.920 billion in 2004. targets and goals. Developing strategies with spe- Israel processes about 75 percent of the annual cific campaigns can bring in the wider audience and production of higher-value gem diamonds, and conditions needed for a broad antiapartheid move- plays a key role in the overall control of the trade. ment to take root. Campaigns on the arms trade Moreover, Israeli dealers have been linked to con- and diamonds have been highlighted, but other flict or blood diamonds in Africa where virtually forms of boycott can have both symbolic and eco- all the unpolished diamonds that enter Israel are nomic value. sourced. The industry makes up a vast contribution The question of BDS should not solely be to the economy and is interwoven into the oppres- judged on its economic efficacy, but rather the role sion not just of Palestinians, but also of the Afri- it plays in educating people about the real ties that cans who own the raw resources. exist between their every day existence and Israeli Like South African coal and food exports were apartheid and occupation. Produce symbolic for its key characteristics of the export economy and later origins in the Israeli economy (e.g. fruit, cut flow- subject to embargo and boycott, Israeli diamonds ers) form a useful basis for BDS work alongside the have the potential to be the focus of an interna- boycott of goods which make a fundamental contri- tional campaign. bution to the economy (e.g. technology deployed in cell phones). Campaigns around “soft” targets that Arms Exports – Sustaining Occupation, centre upon the most abhorrent and illegal Israeli Fuelling Conflict practices are useful starting points for BDS work. Israel is one of the world’s major exporters of Consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns military equipment. By the 1980s Israel joined the can look to be more encompassing once BDS work top ten countries of the world in military produc- is accepted and established as the prime focus of tion and by 2000 officially recorded exports reached solidarity work. However, symbolic and start up a new high of over $2.49 billion. In 2004, official boycott campaigns on economic production directly figures showed Israel’s sale of armaments to“de- linked to the occupation of the 1967 areas, cannot veloping” countries amounted to US $1.2 billion. alone challenge the main facets of Israeli occupation However, unreported clandestine deals could mean and apartheid. Companies with obvious complicity that this figure does not represent the full extent of in Israeli apartheid such as Caterpillar and Veolia arms exports. form the starting point for a broader campaign as Israel has a long history of aggressively market- much as companies supporting the Israeli military ing weapons in the rest of the world, as well arming or the continued discrimination against Palestin- a variety of dictators, juntas, factions in civil wars ians with Israeli citizenship. That investment in and regimes well known for systematic human Israel represents investment in a system of occupa- rights abuses. Israel has also taken on the mantle tion, injustice and apartheid must be reinforced as of a major subcontractor and broker for US arms the basis for campaigning. to the developing world. Only around a quarter of Boycott and buycott lists will need to be managed current Israeli production in the military sector is in democratic and transparent ways in a solidarity produced for the internal market. Consequently, movement which can develop the mechanisms by Israel, contrary to the norm of large arms produc- which to coordinate serious research in the sourc-

80 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine ing of Israeli production and in its outreach work. adopt this position, particularly in the US and parts Institutions and groups could pass boycott resolu- of Europe, their contribution can assist BDS initia- tions, which include mandates to investigate the tives but should not come at the expense of subvert- levels of trade pursued with Israel and share such ing the calls and appeals of Palestinians. data amongst activists on a global level. Campaign- The opening of new historical narratives, finally ers can as well target a series of intergovernmental revealing the full subjugation and horror experienced bodies – from the UN to the NAM – and their by the Palestinian people as a result of Zionism, is monitoring and reporting commissions to take up making new waves in global discourse and percep- the valuable task of research. Calling those bodies tions. Part of this is the achievement of solidarity to responsibility leads the way into sanctions cam- work which has already influenced popular opinion paigns within these organizations. Sanctions cam- as well as the “opinion makers”. Personalities such paigns can look to annul Free Trade Agreements as UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights John (FTAs) and other preferential agreements with Dugard and even ex-US president Jimmy Carter, Israel, sever diplomatic ties and maintain arms em- are clearly raising the profile and discussion of Is- bargoes, until more comprehensive measures can be raeli apartheid and hence the need for a strong and put in place. effective BDS campaign. As we see from the South African anti-apart- However, BDS campaigners need to be aware of heid movement, people’s sanctions can look to lo- the constraints or underlying interests of opinion cal councils and other community decision-making makers and ensure that communication with Pal- bodies to adopt progressive legislation and positions. estine remains the pillar on which global solidarity Aside from forms of economic boycott, a variety of needs to be anchored. BDS styled campaigns can other initiatives are at the disposal of campaigners, achieve great heights in taking this further and in and have already emerged in academia, sports, cul- working for a lasting and genuine peace, but should ture and trade unionism. These can have a powerful be aware that external groups are not the ones to impact on Israeli society as a whole, sending a clear define the political and social objectives of the work. message that occupation and apartheid will no lon- In maintaining an awareness of these dynamics, ger be accepted in the rest of the world. continual dialogue and communication is necessary Yet while Palestine BDS work has already be- from civil society and movements in Palestine with come established by various campaigns, the lack of a the rest of the world. common discourse or framework has left initiatives BDS movements, no matter how powerful, can- isolated or in the pursuit of different aims. Binding not and should not look to replace the resistance efforts together requires common reference to the and struggle of those people they are trying to sup- 2005 Boycott Call and a realization amongst soli- port. They can, under the right circumstances, make darity movements that BDS is meant as a strategy a positive and proactive contribution in supporting of support for all Palestinians struggling for libera- the attainment of human rights for others and for v tion. For those movements unable or unwilling to securing long-term justice.

labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 81 A Selected List of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Initiatives

8 July 2006: 27 November 2006: The Dutch ASN Bank becomes The Indonesian women’s tennis team, the first bank in the world to divest from compa- scheduled to play a Fed Cup play-off in Israel on the nies benefiting from Israeli occupation. ASN- an 15th and 16th of July, pull out of the tie in an act of nounces that it will divest from Veolia, a company solidarity with Palestinians. The Indonesian Tennis that actively supports Israeli colonization, and “all Federation (PELTI) and government officials from companies that benefit from Israel’s occupation of the foreign and sports ministries announce a boy- Palestinian territory”. cott of the games due to the military aggression and massacres of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 19 November 2006: The Norwegian Civil Service 29 May 2006 Union, one of the largest unions of the Norwegian : Members of Britain’s largest college Confederation of Trade Unions, votes in favor of a teachers’ union agreed on a boycott of Israel over boycott of Israel in the form of an arms embargo. what members called “apartheid” policies toward Palestinians, saying union members will refuse to 26 August 2006: Ken Loach, the acclaimed British cooperate with Israeli academics who do not “disas- director and winner of the 2006 Palme d’Or at the sociate themselves from such policies.” The 69,000- Cannes Film Festival, declared in a personal state- member National Association of Teachers in Fur- ment his support of “the call by Palestinian film- ther and Higher Education (NATFHE) debated makers, artists and others to boycott state spon- the proposal for the boycott at its annual confer- sored Israeli cultural institutions and urge[s] others ence in the northern English city of Blackpool. Two to join their campaign.” parts of the motion passed with a show of hands 19 August 2006: Connex Ireland, a company operat- while a third went to a vote. Under the boycott, ing railway lines, cancels plans to train Israeli en- union members also will not submit articles to Is- gineers and drivers in Ireland. The Israeli trainees raeli research papers. were to operate a tramline built between Israeli 27 May 2006: CUPE Ontario declares that it will settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. “Support the international campaign of boycott, di- 5 August 2006: The Irish Joint Committee on Foreign vestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obliga- Affairs calls on the Irish government to push for tion to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable sanctions against Israel in the EU on the grounds right to self-determination and fully complies with of Israel’s human rights abuses. the precepts of international law including the right 2 August 2006: Organizers of the Edinburgh Film of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and Festival cancel sponsorship of the festival by the Is- properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.” raeli embassy and return all funds received from the 14 May 2006: Green Party of the United States calls Israeli government. for “divestment from and boycott of the State of Is- 1 August 2006: The administrative council of the rael until such time as the full individual and collec- Greek Cinematography Center (GCC) withdraws tive rights of the Palestinian people are realized.” all Greek movies they planned to participate in Haifa’s Cinema Festival in October 2006.

82 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine 7 February 2006: The Church of England’s general Trøndelag was the first Norwegian county to boy- synod – including the Archbishop of Canterbury cott South Africa. Upholding this good tradition, – voted to disinvest church funds from companies the County council, again the first in the country, profiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestine. has decided to boycott Israeli goods, by not buying Israeli goods and by organizing awareness-raising 16 December 2005: The regional council of the Sør- efforts. Trøndelag in Norway passed a motion calling for 8 December 2005: a comprehensive boycott on Israeli goods, to be The Socialist Left Party, a member followed up with an awareness-raising campaign of the center-left Norwegian government launched across the region. Sør-Trøndelag has a population a solidarity campaign for Palestine beginning in the of 270,000 out of Norway’s 4.6 million. Trondheim, New Year. The campaign focuses on a consumer Norway’s third largest city, forms part of the region boycott of Israeli products and will push for a ban and will participate in the boycott initiative. Sør- on any arms trade between the Norwegian govern- ment and the Israeli regime.

FAQ about Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

Why are Palestinians calling for a global campaign What are boycotts, divestment and sanctions? of boycott, divestment and sanctions? Boycotts, divestment and sanctions are three distinct People throughout the world have expressed their strategies that share the same motivation and goals: to solidarity with the Palestinian people and this has end Israeli occupation and apartheid and to ensure that been reflected in countless UN resolutions. The the right of return of Palestinian refugees is respected. International Court of Justice at the Hague has Boycott campaigns are the most immediate form of confirmed that the apartheid Wall, Israel’s occupation action. In boycott actions individuals choose not to and colonial settler policy are illegal. Israel has refused buy products from the specified country – in this case to comply with all these resolutions and rulings. apartheid Israel. These decisions and the information Only the concerted international pressure which the needed to make them help raise awareness in the BDS campaign promotes can ensure that the Israeli streets, in the shops and in our homes. A boycott occupation and apartheid are brought to an end is the instrument of those without formal power and that the right of return of Palestinian refugees is – ordinary people who use their power as consumers respected. to oppose injustice. The main goals of this call are: Divestment campaigns are coordinated efforts by • To reveal to the world the nature of Israel’s organizations, groups and movements to pressure occupation and apartheid regime enterprises and institutions to divest from Israeli companies or companies which support Israeli • To give human rights a real value by making Israel occupation and apartheid. For example, student accountable and forcing it to pay a price for its crimes organizations and unions at a university could pressure • To reveal and highlight the responsibility of the the administration to withdraw its investment in Israeli international community in supporting Israeli crimes companies and companies which directly or indirectly and violations of human rights and international law support the occupation and apartheid. • Above all, to end international support for Israeli Sanctions are a means to enforce international law occupation and apartheid since these cannot survive by cutting off trade and investment with the specific without external assistance. country. Sanctions were applied to South Africa and helped end the apartheid regime there – they came out of a longstanding grassroots campaign of boycotts and divestment.

labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 83 28 November 2005: The city council of Arbizu, in the 13 July 2005: The UN International Conference of Basque country, declared they will: “call for boycott, Civil Society for Peace in the Middle East unani- will support and execute it. The boycott consists of mously adopted the Palestinian call for boycott, di- a consumer boycott of Israeli products as well as a vestment, and sanctions. boycott of all the firms, Basque or not, which make March 2005: The World Council of Churches urged business with Israel, and non-cooperation with its member churches give “serious consideration” to Israeli initiatives on the field of culture, education pulling investments out of Israel and endorsed the and sports.” 2004 decision by the Presbyterian Church of the 8 August 2005: The Presbyterian Church (USA) pub- United States to seek “phased selective divestment” lished its divestment list that singles out Caterpillar, from Israel. “The Central Committee takes note ITT Industries, Motorola, and United Technolo- of the current action by the Presbyterian Church gies as concrete measures towards economic pres- (USA) which has initiated a process of phased, sure against Apartheid Israel and its accomplices. selective divestment from multinational corpo- 27 July 2005: A resolution passed by the Anglican rations involved in the occupation. This action is Consultative Council in Nottingham, England, commendable in both method and manner, uses urged Anglican churches around the world to di- criteria rooted in faith, and calls members to do the ‘things that make for peace’ (Luke 19:42),” the vest from companies whose activities profit from v the occupation of Palestine. WCC said

More FAQ about Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

What are the different types of boycott? Academic Boycotts -­ call upon students and Cultural Boycotts – are a means for individuals scholars to stop cooperation with their Israeli and cultural institutions to express their opposition counterparts and to demand the same from their to Israeli occupation and apartheid by refusing to universities and academic institutions. Israeli scholars perform in Israel, refusing to issue copyright and and academic institutions are not only instrumental distribution rights to Israeli institutions and companies in perpetuating and teaching racist and colonial Israeli and opposing Israeli participation in cultural initiatives. ideologies, they are also sites where the theories, plans, Ordinary people can participate by encouraging and projects of Israeli occupation and apartheid are individual artists and cultural institutions to boycott elaborated and intellectually supported. the apartheid state and by boycotting those who Consumer Boycotts – are based on the individual collaborate with Israel. consumer’s freedom to refuse to purchase Israeli Travel Boycotts – individuals and institutions can products or services. This choice can range from refuse to travel to Israel for business or to use Israeli individuals informing a storeowner or manager travel services: refuse to fly with El Al, refuse to take that they are not buying the Israeli goods on offer holidays in Israel, oppose institutions, organizations and the reasons for their decision, to an organized and corporations having conferences, conventions, campaign involving a large number of individuals and workshops or training courses in Israel. organizations working together to achieve specific objectives. Sports Boycotts – the sporting community, federations, athletes and sports fans can express Individual Investment Boycott – many Canadians their opposition to Israeli crimes and call for an end have self-­directed pension funds or RRSPs. Individuals to Israeli occupation and apartheid by contesting can check the annual report of their RRSP mutual Israeli participation in international and bi-­national funds or pensions to see if they have investments in competition. Israel such as State of Israel Bonds or in companies such as Caterpillar which are implicated in the destruction of Palestinian homes and if so to inform the fund manager that you intend to switch funds and the reasons for doing this.

84 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine The Case for Boycotting Israel By Virginia Tilley, CounterPunch, August 5/6, 2006

ohannesburg, South Africa. It is finally World War II order. That racial ideology isn’t sub- time. After years of internal arguments, confu- tle or obscure. Mr. Olmert himself has repeatedly sion,J and dithering, the time has come for a full- thumped the public podium about the “demograph- fledged international boycott of Israel. Good cause ic threat” facing Israel: the “threat” that too many for a boycott has, of course, been in place for de- non-Jews will – the horror – someday become citi- cades, as a raft of initiatives already attests. But Is- zens of Israel. It is the “demographic threat” that, in rael’s war crimes are now so shocking, its extremism Israeli doctrine, justifies sealing off the West Bank so clear, the suffering so great, the UN so helpless, and Gaza Strip as open-air prisons for millions of and the international community’s need to contain people whose only real crime is that they are not Israel’s behavior so urgent and compelling, that the Jewish. It is the “demographic threat,” not security time for global action has matured. A coordinated (Mr. Olmert has clarified), that requires the dread- movement of divestment, sanctions, and boycotts ful Wall to separate Arab and Jewish communities, against Israel must convene to contain not only now juxtaposed in a fragmented landscape, who Israel’s aggressive acts and crimes against humani- might otherwise mingle. tarian law but also, as in South Africa, its founding “Demographic threat” is the most disgustingly racist logics that inspired and still drive the entire racist phrase still openly deployed in international Palestinian problem. parlance. It has been mysteriously tolerated by a That second goal of the boycott campaign is in- perplexed international community. But it can be deed the primary one. Calls for a boycott have long tolerated no longer. Zionist fear of the demograph- cited specific crimes: Israel’s continual attacks on ic threat launched the expulsion of the indigenous Palestinian civilians; its casual disdain for the Pal- Arab population in 1948 and 1967, created and estinian civilian lives “accidentally” destroyed in its perpetuates Israel’s occupation of the West Bank assassinations and bombings; its deliberate ruin of and Gaza Strip, inspires its terrible human rights the Palestinians’ economic and social conditions; its abuses against Palestinians, spins into regional un- continuing annexation and dismemberment of Pal- rest like the 1982 attack on Lebanon (that gave rise estinian land; its torture of prisoners; its contempt to Hezbollah), and continues to drive Israeli milita- for UN resolutions and international law; and es- rism and aggression. pecially, its refusal to allow Palestinian refugees to This open official racism and its attendant -vio return to their homeland. But the boycott cannot lence casts Israel into the ranks of pariah states, of target these practices alone. It must target their which South Africa was the former banner emblem. ideological source. In both countries, racist nationalist logic tormented The true offence to the international community and humiliated the native people. It also regularly is the racist motivation for these practices, which spilled over to destabilize their surrounding regions violates fundamental values and norms of the post- (choc-a-block with “demographic threats”), leading

Virginia Tilley is a professor of political science, a US citizen working in South Africa, and author of The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock (University of Michigan Press and Man- chester University Press, 2005). She can be reached at [email protected]@hws.edu. labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 85 both regimes to cruel and reckless attacks. Driven direct outcome of its racist worldview. It is endan- by a sense of perennial victimhood, they assumed gering everyone, and it must stop. the moral authority to crush the native hordes that threatened to dilute the organic Afrikaner/Jewish Designing the Campaign nations and the white/western civilization they be- Much debate has circulated about a boycott cam- lieved they so nobly represented. paign, but hitherto it has not moved beyond some A humiliated white society in South Africa fi- ardent but isolated groups. Efforts have stalled on nally gave that myth up. Israel still clings to it. It has the usual difficult questions: e.g., whether a boycott now brought Israel to pulverize Lebanon, trying to is morally compulsory to reject Israel’s rampant eliminate Hezbollah and, perhaps, to clear the way human rights violations or would impede vital en- for an attack on Iran. Peace offers from the entire gagement with Israeli forums, or whether princi- Arab world are cast aside like so much garbage. Yet pled defense of international law must be tempered again, the Middle East is plunged into chaos and by (bogus) calls for “balance”. Especially, recent turmoil, because a normal existence – peace, full debate has foundered on calls for an academic boy- democracy – is anathema to a regime that must see cott. Concerns here are reasonable, if rather narrow. and treat its neighbors as an existential threat in Universities offer vital connections and arenas for order to justify the rejectionism that preserves its collaboration, debate, and new thinking. Without ethnic/racial character and enables its continuing such forums and their intellectual exchange, some annexations of land. argue, work toward a different future is arguably Why has this outrageously racist doctrine impeded. ­survived so long, rewarded by billions of dollars But this argument has exploded along with the in US aid every year? We know the reasons. For southern Lebanese villages, as Israeli university too many Westerners, Israel’s Jewish character faculties roundly endorse the present war. As Ilan conflates with the Holocaust legacy to make in- Pappé has repeatedly argued, Israel’s universities are tuitive sense of Israel’s claim to be under continual not forums for enlightened thought. They are cru- assault. Deep-seated Judeo-Christian bias against cibles of reproduction for racist Zionist logics and Islam demonizes Israel’s mostly Muslim victims. practice, monitoring and filtering admissible ideas. European racist prejudice against Arabs (brown- They produce the lawyers who defend the occupa- skinned natives) casts their material disposses- tion regime and run its kangaroo “courts”; the civil sion as less humanly significant. Naive Christian planners and engineers who design and build the ­visions of the “Holy Land” naturalize Jewish settlements on Palestinian land; the economists and ­governance in biblical landscapes. Idiot Christian financiers who design and implement the grants evangelistic notions of the Rapture and the End that subsidize those settlements; the geologists Times posit Jewish governance as essential to the who facilitate seizure of Palestinian aquifers; the return of the Messiah and the final Millennium doctors who treat the tortured so that they can be (even though, in that repellent narrative, Jews will tortured again; the historians and sociologists who roast afterwards). make sense of a national society while preserving All those notions and prejudices, long confound- official lies about its own past; and the poets, play- ing international action, must now be set aside. The wrights, and novelists who compose the nationalist raw logic of Israel’s distorted self-image and rac- opus that glorifies and makes (internally, at least) ist doctrines is expressed beyond confusion by the moralistic sense of it all. now-stark reality: the moonscape rubble of once- Those of us who have met with Jewish Israeli ac- lovely Lebanese villages; a million desperate people ademics in Israeli universities find the vast majority trying to survive Israeli aerial attacks as they carry of them, including well-meaning liberals, operating children and wheel disabled grandparents down in a strange and unique bubble of enabling fictions. cratered roads; the limp bodies of children pulled Most of them know nothing about Palestinian life, from the dusty basements of crushed buildings. culture, or experience. They know strangely little This is the reality of Israel’s national doctrine, the about the occupation and its realities, which are

86 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine crushing people just over the next hill. They have cence and the righteousness of their cause. The vast absorbed simplistic notions about rejectionist Ara- majority of Israelis therefore remain comfortable in fat, terrorist Hamas, and urbane Abbas. In this spe- their Truman Show and even see any external pres- cial insulated world of illusions, they say nonsense sure or criticism as substantiating it. We need no things about unreal factors and fictionalized events. more graphic evidence of that campaign’s success Trying to make sense of their assumptions is no than the overwhelming support among Israeli Jews more productive that conversing about the Middle for the present catastrophic assault on Lebanon, East with the Bush administration’s neo-cons, who reflecting their sincere beliefs that nuclear-power also live in a strange bubble of ignorance and fan- ­Israel is actually under existential threat by a guer- tasy. Aside from a few brave and beleaguered souls, rilla group lobbing katyushas across the border. this is the world of Israel’s universities. It will not Staggering to observers, that belief is both sobering change until it has to – when the conditions of its and instructive. self-reproduction are impaired and its self-decep- To force people steeped in such a worldview to tions too glaring. rethink their notions, their historical myths, and their own best interests requires two efforts: The Real Goal: Changing Minds 1) Serious external pressure: here, a full boycott The universities represent and reproduce the that undermines Israel’s capacity to sustain the eco- bubble world of the Israeli Jewish population as a nomic standards its citizens and corporations ex- whole. And no people abandons its bubble willing- pect, and which they associate with their own pro- ly. In South Africa, Afrikaners clung to their own gressive self-image; and bubble – their self-exonerating myths about his- 2) Clear and unwavering commitment to the tory, civilization, and race – until they were forced boycott’s goal, which – in Israel as in South Africa by external sanctions and the collapsing national – must be full equality, dignity, safety, and welfare of economy to rethink those myths. Their resistance to everyone in the land, including Palestinians, whose doing so, while racist, was not purely vicious. Many ancestral culture arose there, and the Jewish popu- kind and well-meaning Afrikaners simply didn’t lation, which has built a national society there. believe they had to rethink ideas that manifested to That combination is essential. Nothing else will them as givens and that shaped their reality. (One work. Diplomacy, threats, pleading, the “peace pro- valued Afrikaner friend here recalls her life during cess,” mediation, all will be useless until external apartheid South Africa as being like The Truman pressure brings Israel’s entire Jewish population to Show, a film in which a man unknowingly grows up undertake the very difficult task of rethinking their in a television show, set in an artificial dome world world. This pressure requires the full range of boy- designed to look like a small town.) When their re- cotts, sanctions, and divestment that the world can ality fell apart, suddenly no one would admit to ever employ. (South African intellectual Steven Fried- having believed or supported it. man has observed wryly that the way to bring down The Zionist worldview is an even more complete any established settler-colonial regime is to make it system. All historical and geographic details are choose between profits and identity. Profits, he says, provided to create a total mythical world, in which will win every time.) Jews have rights to the land and Palestinians have none. It is a fully realized construction, like those What to Target Hebraized maps carefully drawn by the Zionist Fortunately, from the South African experience, movement in the 1930s to erase the ancient Ara- we know how to go forward, and strategies are pro- bic landscape and substitute Hebrew biblical refer- liferating. The basic methods of an international ences. It is also very resilient. The “new historians” boycott campaign are familiar. First, each person have exposed the cherished national historical nar- works in his or her own immediate orbit. People rative of 1948 and 1967 as a load of fictions, but the might urge divestment from companies investing same fictions are still reproduced by state agencies in Israel by their colleges and universities, corpora- to assure Israeli and diaspora Jews of their inno- tions, clubs, and churches. Boycott any sports event labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 87 that hosts an Israeli team, and work with planners capture or intimidate public debate. By insisting to exclude them. Participate in, and visit, no Israeli loudly (and it must be sincere) that the goal is the cultural events – films, plays, music, art exhibits. full equality of dignity and rights of everyone in Avoid collaborating with Israeli professional col- Israel-Palestine, including the millions of Jewish leagues, except on anti-racist activism. Don’t invite citizens of Israel, demolish their specious claims of any Israeli academic or writer to contribute to any anti-Semitism. conference or research and don’t attend their pan- Finally, hold true to the principles that drive the els or buy their books, unless their work is engaged boycott’s mission. Don’t tolerate the slightest whiff directly in anti-racist activism. Don’t visit Israel ex- of anti-Semitism in your own group or movement. cept for purposes of anti-racist activism. Buy noth- Anti-Jewish racists are certainly out there, and they ing made in Israel: start looking at labels on olive are attracted to these campaigns like roaches. They oil, oranges, and clothing. Tell people what you are will distract and absorb your energies, while un- doing and why. Set up discussion groups every- dermining, degrading, and destroying the boycott where to explain why. movement. Some are Zionist plants, who will do For ideas and allies, try Googling the “boycott so deliberately. If you can’t change their minds (and Israel” and “sanctions against Israel” campaigns don’t spend much time trying, because they will use springing up around the world. Know those allies, your efforts to drain your time and distract your en- like the major churches, and tell people about them. ergies), denounce them, expel them, ignore them, For more ideas, read about the history of the boy- have no truck with them. They are the enemy of a cott of South Africa. peaceful future, not its allies – part of the problem, Second, don’t be confused by liberal Zionist al- not the solution. ternatives that argue against a boycott in favor of “dialogue”. If we can draw any conclusion from the Boycott the Hegemon last half-century, it is that, without the boycott, dia- This is the moment to turn international pres- logue will go nowhere. And don’t be confused by sure on the complicit US, too. It’s impossible, today, liberal-Zionist arguments that Israel will allow Pal- to exert an effective boycott on the United States, as estinians a state if they only do this or that. Israel is its products are far too ubiquitous in our lives. But already the only sovereign power in Palestine: what it’s quick and easy to launch a boycott of emblemat- fragments are left to Palestinians cannot make a ic US products, upsetting its major corporations. It’s state. The question now is not whether there is one especially easy to boycott the great global consum- state, but what kind of state it comprises. The pres- ables, like Coca-Cola, MacDonald’s, Burger King, ent version is apartheid, and it must change. How- and KFC, whose leverage has brought anti-demo- ever difficult to achieve, and however frightening to cratic pressures on governments the world over. Jewish Israelis, the only just and stable solution is (Through ugly monopoly practices, Coke is a nasty full democracy. player in developing countries anyway: see, for ex- Third, be prepared for the boycott’s opposition, ample, http://www.killercoke.org/ Think you’ll miss which will be much louder, more vicious, and more these foods too much? Is consuming something dangerous than it was in the boycott of South Af- else for a while too much of a sacrifice, given what rica. Read and assemble solid documentable facts. is happening to people in Lebanon? And think of Support each other loudly and publicly against the the local products you’ll be supporting! (And how inevitable charges of anti-Semitism. And support healthy you will get). your media against the same charges. Write to In the US, the impact of these measures may be news media and explain just who the “Israel media small. But in Africa, Latin America, Europe, and teams” actually are. Most pro-Israeli activism draws the Arab and Muslim worlds, boycotting these fa- directly from the Israeli government’s propaganda mous brands can gain national scope and the im- outreach programs. Spotlight this fact. Team up to pact on corporate profits will be enormous. Never counter their pressure on newspapers, radio sta- underestimate the power of US corporations to tions, and television news forums. Don’t let them leverage US foreign policy. They are the one force

88 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine that consistently does so. be to secure security for everyone, toward building But always, always, remember the goal and vi- a new peaceful future. It’s very hard, in the midst sion. Anger and hatred, arising from the Lebanon of our moral outrage, to stay on the high road. That debacle, must be channelled not into retaliation challenge is, however, well-known to human rights and vengeance but into principled action. Armed campaigns as it is to all three monotheistic faiths. It struggle against occupation remains legitimate and, is what Islam knows as the “great jihad” – the strug- if properly handled (no killing of civilians), is a key gle of the heart. It must remain the guiding torch of v tool. But the goal of all efforts, of every stamp, must this effort, which we must defend together.

Collective punishment, Nablus, August 2006. Photo: pockets23

labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 89 In Defense of Divestment Unpacking the Israeli Lobby’s Arguments Ed Janzen answers some of the common arguments used against divestment. First published in Canadian Dimension Magazine, September/October 2006 Issue (excerpt).

Divestment singles out democratic Israel while estinian Israelis can only get leases of a few years – ignoring the many nations that have no respect and in general Palestinians experience a continuous for human rights. struggle against a regime of permits and licenses Darn right we’re singling out Israel – just like we that are often next to impossible to obtain. singled out South Africa. If anyone knows how to Related, the United Nations Committee run an anti-apartheid campaign without choosing a Against Torture has repeatedly condemned Israel clear objective, please let us know. for its continued use of torture against Palestinian Actually, Israel singles out itself – actively and civilians. Amnesty International notes that, “Israel often. Israelis and Israel apologists never hesitate to is the only country on earth where torture and ill proclaim how across the whole Middle East Israel treatment are legally sanctioned.” And over 9,000 is the only democracy (false), the only Middle East- Palestinians are being held as political prisoners by ern country where women can vote (false) and that Israel, including 400 children. values human rights (patently absurd!). Jewish citi- One could go on and on with such examples zenship in Israel is widely considered a “birthright” without even mentioning the millions of Palestin- and right-wing religious Israelis (many “secular” ians in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Israelis, too) will tell you that Israel’s claim to the elsewhere who are not citizens of Israel. At press land of Palestine stems from God Himself. Clearly, time, the kind of Israeli “democracy” available to Israelis and their advocates have a pretty high opin- these Palestinians is visible on the international ion of themselves. news pretty much every night. As for Israeli democracy, instead of asking Jew- ish Israelis about it, ask Palestinian Israelis – about Israel and South Africa are apples and oranges. one fifth of Israel’s population. Palestinian citizens No one claims that the situation in Israel is ex- of Israel can run for public office – but only if they actly the same as that in South Africa. Indeed, cer- support Israel’s Jewish “state character.” Jewish tain former victims of South African apartheid no Knesset members routinely insult and humiliate less distinguished than Bishop Desmond Tutu have Palestinian members – and frequently call for the suggested that the situation of Palestinians under forced expulsion of Palestinian citizens from Israel. Israeli occupation is if anything far worse than that Palestinian Israelis are also denied the lion’s of South African Blacks under apartheid. share of social services and property rights. In Isra- Further, back when South Africa was a global el’s 2002 budget, for example, the housing ministry pariah under general embargo, Israel was one of the allocates about $30 per person in Israeli Arab com- South African apartheid regime’s biggest support- munities over against $3,100 per person in Jewish ers. Israel helped South Africa develop its nuclear communities. Another example: Rather than buy- program and to circumvent the international em- ing land, Israelis lease it from the Jewish National bargo. Fund. Jews may “buy” land on 99-year leases; Pal-

90 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine Wouldn’t promoting dialogue be a more Advocating for divestment and boycott is ­productive approach to building peace in the anti-semitic. region? Anti-semitism accusations against critics of Is- Wouldn’t it? Israel has always tried to paint itself rael are a form of rhetorical shrapnel: they’re ugly, as a benevolent, do-gooder “peace partner” locked cheap to produce and can knock an opponent’s into a cycle of failed negotiations with pig-headed, forces out of play. The shrapnel analogy obtains fur- trigger-happy Arabs who “never fail to miss an op- ther: If your opponents are firing it at you, chances portunity” for peace. Yet, a more measured look at are you’re flying near the target. In this calculus, the facts will reveal that Israel has never shown in- the most educated, informed, eloquent critics of terest in diplomacy and negotiations with its Arab Israel must also be the most virulent, irrational neighbours. anti-semites. Throughout its history, Israel has treated the The problem of anti-semitism is real, but the Palestinians with unwavering contempt. Israel’s problem is far more limited in scope than the nev- first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, proposed er-ending fear mongering perpetuated by Israel solving the “Palestinian problem” by turning Pales- apologists would allow. Every two or three years, tinians into “human dust.” B’nai Brith and the Anti-Defamation League pub- Israel’s unilateral “disengagement” from Gaza lish reports warning of some “new anti-semitism” last year offers another example of Israeli unwill- in Europe and North America – even as Jews on ingness to deal with Arabs. In the words of Dov both continents enjoy greater material wealth, priv- Weisglass, Ariel Sharon’s senior political advisor: ilege, prestige and social integration relative to most “The significance of the disengagement plan is the other ethnic groups. “Anti-semitism of the Left” is freezing of the peace process … you prevent the an even wilder assertion, and those who fling it establishment of a Palestinian state, and you pre- never seem able to accompany their accusations vent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and with explanations. Confronted with the fact that Jerusalem…. The disengagement is actually form- a large fraction of Palestine liberation activists are aldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde of Jewish descent, the Israel apologists invented the that is necessary so there will not be a political pro- concept of “self-hating Jews.” It’s anti-semitism for cess with the Palestinians.” Do people truly eager Jews! I told you this was pitiful stuff. to negotiate peace and friendship normally employ With an arrogant, unilateralist Israel on the terms used in embalming and taxidermy? rampage, and the world’s most powerful nations At press time, the Israeli forces are out on killing unprepared to act, the situation in Palestine isn’t sprees in both Gaza and Lebanon supposedly be- pretty. It therefore falls to us, the people of the cause of three captured Israeli soldiers. Were Israel world, to compel Israel to walk in accordance with truly concerned about recovering its soldiers alive, international law and respect for human rights. it could have attempted to negotiate their release. Through the DBS campaign, we can bring the nec- To date, no such move toward dialogue has been essary pressure to bear. With apologies to Margaret v attempted. Thatcher: There is no alternative.

labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 91 Unionists and the ANTI-­Apartheid Struggle Lessons from the South African Experience By Ken Luckhardt, Relay, November-­December 2006, at http://www.socialistproject.ca/relay

Nothing To Apartheid! to mind. Exploited and unfree Palestinian labour, Nothing From Apartheid! displaced to postage stamp plots on the occupier’s Israeli Apartheid, that is…! terms, all enforced by a ruthless military regime supported by western capitalist allies. All this adds he first two slogans will remind many of up pretty clearly to “Israeli apartheid” in the opin- the mobilization for international sanctions ion of more and more people the world over. When againstT apartheid South Africa some twenty years Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Willie ago. Some activists focused on consumer actions Mandisha of the Congress of South African Trade in the marketplace, some took action at the point Unions, all deem the Israeli oppression of Palestin- of production and/or at the site of a service sector ian people as the equivalent of apartheid, the social connection with South Africa, while bank and pen- and political conclusions should be clear. sion fund divestments were the institutional targets There is a need to move from these political con- for others. The ultimate victory of the international clusions to a different set of questions: sanctions campaigns was grounded in the funda- • Is there the political will to mount an interna- mental principles of, and support for, a non-racial tional sanctions, boycott and divestment campaign democracy and anti-imperialism. No victory would against Israeli apartheid equal to that mounted have been possible of course without the courage against apartheid South Africa? and determination of black South Africans and • Are the personal commitments and resources their allies inside the walls of apartheid to end this sufficient to sustain such a campaign (keeping in “crime against humanity.” mind that the call for sanctions against South Af- There is a tendency to think of apartheid as rica came at least 25 years before the international unique to South Africa. Apartheid could be nar- momentum reached a critical threshold?) rowly defined, both descriptively and geographical- • Will it not be even more difficult to tackle Israeli ly, to make that a truism. Such a definition however apartheid given the massive propaganda machine would be an unproductive exercise and a political that the Zionist state has created with the support mistake. To begin with, it would fail to acknowl- of virtually all rulings classes and political elites in edge that the basic pillars of apartheid oppression the developed capitalist world? in South Africa (the Pass Laws and the bantustans) In addressing these questions, there may be a were modeled in large part on the Canadian colo- benefit in looking back to some of the methods nial laws and institutions (the Indian Act and reser- that worked and lessons that were learned in the vation system) imposed on First Nations. international campaigns against apartheid South Such a narrow definition of apartheid would also Africa. The focus here is on the political work done limit our analysis of equally oppressive “crime(s) primarily within the Canadian labour movement against humanity” which are rooted in similar by the South African Congress of Trade Unions structures of oppression. The Zionist state of Israel’s (SACTU) Solidarity Committee (Canada). treatment of the Palestinian people comes readily

Ken Luckhardt is a long-time international solidarity activist and is recently-retired from the CAW national staff. From 1980-88, he chaired the SACTU Solidarity Committee, the official representative of SACTU in Canada at that time.

92 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine A Political Call from the Oppressed Political Education in Unions People Themselves There is no short cut to effective political work, The African National Congress (ANC), SACTU and the roots of that work begin with an educa- and other member organizations of the Congress Al- tional program that systematically takes the fun- liance all called for the total isolation of South Africa damental message to friends (and foes) alike. The in the early l960s. The Congress Alliance represented SACTU Solidarity Committee (Canada) contacted the overwhelming majority of the oppressed major- some 10,000 Canadian trade unionists per year at ity – Africans, so-called Indian South Africans, “co- the peak of its work. This was done at union con- loureds”– and also progressive white South Africans. ventions, union schools and, most importantly, at Its call for international sanctions was crucial to the local union meetings. Taking the political message international community’s ability to act. to a local union meeting, with all the diversity of As SACTU said at its l963 Conference: “To our opinion found in any group of rank-and-file work- friends abroad we say that trafficking in the fruits of ers, must be the goal of any serious international apartheid can never be in the interests of the work- solidarity campaign. ers who suffer under apartheid.” And the ANC stat- Design the educational programming to cover ed repeatedly: “What we in the ANC want to see is the basic points of information that defines the what the people of South Africa want to see. …We struggle, in this case the Israeli oppression of and demand total isolation of the racist regime – no in- dispossession of Palestinian rights. Use facts and vestment and withdrawal of existing investment.” figures, use maps, use important quotes from the The UN General Assembly echoed the call for oppressed and their leaders (and the oppressor and international isolation of South Africa as early as their leaders). Parallels and analogies with South l962. But Western governments representing capi- African apartheid are obviously appropriate in this talist investment and trade with South Africa con- case. List those unions and other organizations that sistently blocked such a program. have taken progressive positions, such as the resolu- There were, of course, other voices from within tion of CUPE-Ontario), and the actions that have South Africa who did not endorse international been generated by those resolutions. sanctions. The regime and its allies made sure that Develop a strategy that engages both national/ those voices were heard. The racist authorities regional union leaderships on the one hand with also made it more difficult for comrades operating local union leaders and rank-and-file activists on openly in South Africa by threatening a five-year the other. Get national union leaderships to en- prison sentence for those persons endorsing the dorse the work in writing and follow up on that sanctions campaign. letter with requests to address local union meetings In the case of Israeli apartheid, it will be very and educationals. There is no other way to establish important to listen carefully to the voices of the an informed solidarity but to invest long hours and Palestinians. Who are their legitimate representa- countless meetings with small groups of workers tives, given the external and internal limits of the and their families. Palestinian Authority? This is crucial, as there will no doubt be prominent Palestinians (perhaps even Research for Campaigns some trade union leaders) who will publicly oppose Boycotts, divestment, and sanctions campaigns international sanctions. It will be difficult task for require extensive research on the many ties that the international community to decide how best bind the Canadian and Israeli political economies. to support the collective interests of the Palestin- Incorrect or incomplete information will guarantee ian people in a context of divided voices. When campaigns that lack credibility. Put more positively, such legitimate calls for sanctions are made – such a research strategy that seeks to pinpoint foreign as those coming from a vast number of Palestinian investment, trade, military complicity and other civil society and union organizations in the last year forms of Canadian state support, from Canadian – they must be widely communicated with poten- government international agencies like Canadian tial supporters the world over. International Development Agency, the Export labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 93 Development Corporation, and the Canadian em- standard reference for virtually all trade-related bassy, is essential to the integrity and ultimate suc- sanctions issues in Canada. The same kind of pub- cess of the campaign. lication on Canadian-Israeli trade is necessary and In the early l980s, the SACTU Solidarity Com- will prove invaluable for the current campaign. mittee (SSC) first documented Canadian foreign The data collected by SSC was crucial to put the investment in South Africa and then turned its at- lie to pro-apartheid lobbyists who argued that trade tention to the bilateral trade, including military col- sanctions would cause significant job losses in Can- laboration in violation of the UN Sanctions against ada. Our research demonstrated that some three the arms trade with apartheid South Africa. The hundred jobs or so might have been at risk, and SSC obtained from Statistics Canada a more de- that would be the case only if producers made no tailed report on the regular trade flows than would effort to find alternative markets for those Canadi- normally be published. This information was then an exports. That was an unlikely scenario. Without the basis for an analysis of the two-way trade which the research data, it would have been a sterile and appeared in a popular publication, Trafficking in unproductive shouting match between pro- and Apartheid: The Case for Canadian Sanctions Against anti-apartheid forces on the impact of sanctions on Apartheid South Africa. That booklet became the workers in Canada.

Business Elites and the Anti-Apartheid Struggle For those too young to have been involved in the anti-­ He added that it would be ridiculous and wrong to apartheid struggle, there is probably an assumption “try and force South Africa to give the vote to these that it was easier to fight the institutionalized racism millions of colored people, whose ethics are not ours, of apartheid South African than Israeli apartheid now. and whose Christian morals are completely absent.” It is suggested that South African apartheid was so (George C. Metcalf, the company’s president and obviously repugnant to the sensibilities of most of managing director, was one of three men given a humanity, whereas the ethnic-­cleansing and apartheid human relations award in l962 by the Canadian of Israel (the only “democracy” in the region according Council of Christians and Jews.) to its defenders – words also often used for the old Pretoria regime as well) is not. However, we need The food chain millionaire, who spent three months to remember how much support apartheid South touring South Africa, said the Government builds Africa received from the Canadian media, political and houses for its native population as good as any public business elites in the early days of the struggle. Here housing in Britain. is a verbatim text from a front-­page article appearing “And believe me”, he added, “every black pickaninny in The Globe and Mail on April 21, 1964. The Weston or black mammy can call on the Government for family, of course, still remains an important part of the solution to any social problem.” ruling elites in Canada, and Hilary Weston was not too long ago Lieutenant-­Governor of Ontario. Mr. Weston said colored South Africans possessed a mentality fundamentally different from that of whites. “...Weston Firmly Backs Apartheid System” He cited a meeting he had with two natives, and said: W. Garfield Weston, chairman of the board of George ‘The truth is that these Basuto boys can work two or Weston Ltd., of Toronto, yesterday gave a strong three months, then go back into the jungle and buy defense of South African Apartheid. another wife.” He was speaking at the company’s annual meeting He added: “It was the whites who built those about his recent visit to that country on behalf of wonderful cities.” Associated British Foods Ltd. Mr. Weston is chairman Mr. Weston urged Canadians to go to live in South of the board of the British company. Africa for proof that news reports are exaggerated. The policy of apartheid is much misunderstood, “In our company we’ve got white boys, Bantu boys he said. Africans are treated and receive a better and Basuto boys all working together, and never once standard of free health care than is provided did I see a scowl on any one of their faces,” he said. Canadians.

94 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine With the publicly-available data on Canada- It was not only the SACTU Committee that South Africa economic relations in hand, the excit- worked on the sanctions, divestment and boycott ing challenge then became that of finding the actu- campaigns. Anti-apartheid organizations included al companies and locations involved. Here is where most of the faith community and its Task Force on organized workers became political actors as work- Churches and Corporate Responsibility, the To- place researchers. Work routines are often boring. ronto Committee for the Liberation of Southern But they are less so if there is a chance to answer African (TCLSAC), Canadians Concerned about critical political questions: for example, is the pulp South Africa (CCSA), and many other non-gov- company that we work for one that is exporting ernmental organizations such as Oxfam-Canada, pulp to South Africa (the second largest Canadian CUSO and many others. They carried out similar export to South Africa in the 1980s)? We were initiatives throughout Canadian civil society. eventually successful in locating the companies ex- porting the pulp to South Africa after both pulp Lessons Learned and paper unions in BC, despite organizational and Working to defeat apartheid South Africa was political differences between them, agreed to tour a necessary struggle, and a tremendous honour and SSC staff through every pulp town in the province experience to be part of it. Working to defeat Israeli in l985. apartheid for the national self-determination of the Similarly, workers in other manufacturing set- Palestinian peoples is no different tings found creative ways to check invoices and bills There will be moments of political highs as more of lading to determine if there were South African and more organizations join the campaign and connections. Dockworkers and marine workers in more and more individuals make personal com- the Vancouver port were the most important “work- mitments. But there will also be moments of po- er-researchers” as they committed to regularly report litical disappointments along the way. Prominent the contents of ships plying to and from Canada individuals who would be expected to be on side and South Africa. Long before the days of personal will occasionally not be there: perhaps rhetorically computers, the data was forwarded to the SSC of- and sometimes not even that. An example from fice in Toronto in a timely and predictable manner. the past illustrates some of the dilemmas and is- After years of conducting the educational ses- sues. The call from the ANC and the international sions and trade research, a “Week of Sanctions Ac- sanctions campaign was for an individual travel tions Against South Africa” was launched in l986. ban to South Africa as a further means of isolating The week saw many postal workers refuse to handle the racist regime. But a few anti-apartheid activ- mail destined to of coming from South Africa; ists self-defined themselves as the ‘exception’ and telephone operators refuse to place phone calls be- believed they knew more than the movement. Their tween Canada and South Africa; airline reservation travel to South Africa predictably confused the is- agents refuse to facilitate ticketing for those vio- sues and the business media made much of it. It was lating the call to boycott personal travel to South necessary to voice the criticism and just keep doing Africa; and, most courageously, dockworkers refuse the work. This will also be the case in the struggle for up to four days to offload cargo from one of the to free Palestine, when even some union leaders are Nedlloyd ships that had arrived in the Vancouver on the wrong side of the issue. port. Despite threats of discipline and dismissals, The commitment to systematic political work to not a single worker lost employment or wages as a defeat Israeli apartheid needs to be taken on with result of these collective actions at the point of pro- the same determination that defined the global duction. With the success of these actions, even the anti-apartheid movement in the struggle for a non- Mulroney Government was forced to slowly accede racial democracy in South Africa. Freedom for the to the momentum for isolating the racist regime. Palestinian people combined with social justice and But remember, that was almost a quarter of a cen- peace in the region is the only real option. This is a tury after the initial UN call for sanctions, boycotts key struggle for international solidarity activists in v and divestment campaigns. the Canadian trade union movement today. labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 95 From South Africa to Palestine Lessons for the New Anti-Apartheid Movement By Salim Vally Left Turn Issue # 28: We Cultivate Hope: 60 Years of Palestinian Struggle, April 2008

here were moments in modern history when “not an act of charity but an act of unity between particular struggles galvanized millions around allies fighting on different terrains toward the same theT world to act in solidarity. This occurred during objectives.” the Spanish Civil War, the struggle of the Viet- The Palestinian struggle does not only exert a namese Photo by Muthana Al-Qadi against US visceral tug on many around the world. A reading imperialism, and the liberation struggles of South- of imperialism shows that Apartheid Israel is need- ern Africa. The time has now come for progressive ed as a fundamentalist and militarized warrior state humanity to cut through the obfuscations, canards, both to quell the undefeated and unbowed Pales- and calumnies and meaningfully support the resis- tinians and also as a rapid response fount of reac- tance of the Palestinian people. tion in concert with despotic Arab regimes to do For sixty years Palestinians have alerted us to the Empire’s bidding in the Middle East and be- one outrage after another, injustices piled upon in- yond. Over the years the latter included support for justices without the commensurate scale of global the mass terror waged against the people of Central solidarity required to make a significant difference and South America and facilitating the evasion of to their lives. It is now in our hands to change this international sanctions against South Africa. Be- unconscionable situation. Not by appealing to the sides providing a ready supply of mercenaries to ruling classes of the world and their institutions terrorize a populace-whether in Guatemala, Iraq, who remain-in the face of abundant evidence-un- or New Orleans-Israel also lends its expertise of moved, callous, and hypocritical. They in fact sustain collective punishment and mass terror. and provide succor to Israeli apartheid and terror. We have to recognize that the foundation of the Israeli economy is founded on the special, political, Solidarity and military role which Zionism fulfils for West- It is rather by applying the most potent weap- ern imperialism. While playing its role to ensure on we have learnt to rely on, forged and steeled that the region is safe for oil companies it has also through the tried and tested struggles of workers carved out a niche market producing high-tech se- and oppressed people spanning time and space: sol- curity essential for the day-to-day functioning of idarity. International solidarity in the words of the the New Imperialism. late Mozambican revolutionary, Samora Machel, is

Salim Vally is a visiting scholar at York University. He returns to South Africa in August where he holds the post of Senior Researcher/Lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand. He was an executive member of the black ­consciousness South African Students Movement until it was banned in 1977 after the murder of Steve Biko. He was a founding member Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and is a member of various social movements including the Anti-Privatization Forum, the Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Anti-War ­Coalition.

96 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine Unrestrained Hand tance and the conflict between Fatah and Hamas The unrestrained hand of US imperialism and and without discouraging criticism, we outside the its support for barbarism whether in Iraq or Pales- Israeli dungeons and the rubble of the Israeli war tine should hasten our actions. In Gaza, eighty per- machine have a responsibility to support the Pales- cent of the population lives in poverty and close to tinian struggle. This can be accomplished through a million people have no access to fresh water, elec- the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign tricity, and other essential services. Close to 70,000 (BDS) proposed by a wide array of Palestinian workers have lost their jobs in the eight months of unions, academic, student and political organiza- the siege of Gaza. tions representing the vast majority of Palestinians. The killing of Palestinians continues on a fero- Other writings have justified the need for this cious basis-daily missiles are launched from Ameri- strategy so it will suffice here to quote Virginia Til- can-made helicopters and fighter jets. These cow- ley, a woman from the US who in the aftermath of ardly war crimes are carried out with impunity-no Israel’s cluster bombing of Lebanon wrote: longer even meriting a mention in the mainstream “It is finally time. After years of internal argu- press. On February 16, eight members of the Al ments, confusion, and dithering, the time has come Fayeq family in Bureij Refugee Camp were mar- for a full-fledged international boycott of Israel. tyred by missiles. Forty others, mostly women and Good cause for a boycott has, of course, been in children, were injured, some critically. Ten days place for decades, as a raft of initiatives already at- before this atrocity the Israeli Occupation Forces tests. But Israel’s war crimes are now so shocking, (IOF) killed seven Palestinians. The targets includ- its extremism so clear, the suffering so great, the UN ed an agricultural school in Beit Hanoun where a so helpless, and the international community’s need teacher, Hani Shabaan Naim, was killed and many to contain Israel’s behavior so urgent and compel- of his students seriously injured. In the space of ling, that the time for global action has matured. scarcely a month and a half, one hundred and eight A coordinated movement of divestment, sanctions, Palestinians, largely civilians, have been martyred. and boycotts against Israel must convene to contain In light of these killings and the slow starvation not only Israel’s aggressive acts and crimes against of the inhabitants of Gaza as well as the frequent humanitarian law but also, as in South Africa, its “incursions” into the West Bank, the obsequious- founding racist logics that inspired and still drive ness of the Abbas regime becomes all the more the entire Palestinian problem.” abject. The fanfare and din surrounding the- An napolis “breakthrough” is one more hoax designed South African Lessons to assuage the conscience and lull the “international It will be helpful to draw activists’ attention to community” to slumber. Karma Nabulsi wrote at some of the egregious lessons from the campaign the time of this spectacle: to isolate Apartheid South Africa bearing in mind “The tarnished trickery of those tired - catch Amilcar Cabral’s “tell no lies, claim no easy victo- phrases ‘last chance for peace,’ ‘painful compromis- ries” advice to revolutionaries. es,’ ‘moderates against extremists’ is now worn so Firstly, it took a few decades of hard work be- thin a child would not be deceived. It is a meeting fore the boycott campaign made an impact. De- to legitimize the status quo. There is an intense de- spite the impression given by many governments, featism pervading the mainstream media and tired unions, and faith-based groups that they supported politicians without valor everywhere. But there is a the isolation of the apartheid state from the out- hopeful reality: many ordinary citizens all over the set. This is just not true. Dick Cheney, as a senator world have not given up and the Palestinians have during the South African anti-apartheid struggle, not given up on themselves.” called for the continued incarceration of Nelson Mandela because he was a “terrorist.” Both Rea- BDS gan and Thatcher gave support to Apartheid South Palestinians remain steadfast and courageous. Africa. Multilateral organizations and unions were Despite the complexities of the Palestinian resis- hesitant for many years to fully support the anti- labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 97 apartheid campaign. The anti-apartheid movement with struggles against racism and in support of the was formed in 1959 and the first significant break- indigenous people and workers in North America through came in 1963 when Danish dock workers that I have witnessed must be lauded. For exam- refused to off-load South African goods. ple, at the Six Nations reclamation site in Canada The rise of the anti-apartheid movement must the Palestinian flag flew alongside the Six Nations be seen in the general effervescence of liberation flag because Palestinian activists made sure to be struggles and social movements in the turbulent there to support this key indigenous rights struggle. 1960’s/early 1970’s and in the context where there Similarly, connections have been made between the was-whatever our opinion was of the USSR and right of return of refugees from New Orleans and its motivation-a counterweight to US hegemony. Palestine. This together with the viciousness of the pro-Israeli Finally, the sanctions campaign in South Africa lobby, its opportunistic reference to the Holocaust did produce gatekeepers, sectarians, and commis- and anti-Semitism, and the post 9/11 climate of sars but they were also challenged. Writing in sup- fear, silencing dissent, and Islamophobia makes the port of the academic boycott a colleague, Shireen task of isolating apartheid Israel more difficult. -De Hassim, does not gloss over the problems: spite these seemingly daunting obstacles the move- “Some academics who actively opposed apart- ment for BDS against Israel is gaining momentum heid had invitations to international conferences and has already made some significant gains-gains withdrawn; it was not always possible to target the which would’ve been difficult to imagine just a few supporters of the apartheid regime; and South Af- years ago. rican academics’ understanding of global issues was certainly weakened. It is in the nature of such weap- Name and Shame ons that they are double-edged. But, as part of a Secondly, arguments opposed to the boycott of battery of sanctions, the academic boycott undoubt- South Africa claiming it would harm black South edly had an impact on both the apartheid state and Africans and highlighting the need for dialogue on white academics and university administrations. and “constructive engagement” were easily rebuffed The [academic] boycott, together with the more by lucid and knowledgeable counter-arguments. successful sports boycott and economic divest- The South African regime, like the Israeli regime ment campaigns, helped to strengthen the struggle today, used homeland leaders and an assortment of of black people for justice. …University adminis- collaborators to argue this case for them. But care- trations could no longer hide behind an excuse of ful research played an important role in exposing neutrality but had to issue statements on their op- the economic, cultural, and armaments trade links position to apartheid and introduce programs of re- with South Africa to make our actions more effec- dress… Universities became sites of intense debate, tive as well as to “name and shame” those who ben- and, indeed, intellectuals became critically involved efited from the apartheid regime. in debates about the nature of current and future Thirdly, sectarianism is a danger that we must South African societies. In the wake of the boycott, be vigilant about and principled unity must be our there was not a curtailing of academic freedom, lodestar. Some in the anti-apartheid movement fa- then, but a flourishing of intellectual thought that vored supporting only one liberation movement as was rich, varied, and exciting.” the authentic voice of the oppressed in South Af- rica. They also aspired to work largely with “respect- Apartheid and Neoliberalism able” organizations, governments, and multilateral The campaign for BDS must be in concert with organizations and shunned the much harder and supporting grassroots organizations in Palestine patient linking of struggles with grassroots organi- and in the Palestinian diaspora. This can take many zations. forms and shapes including “twinning” or “sister city” arrangements, speaking tours, targeted actions Palestinian Struggle in support of specific struggles, and concrete sup- The healthy linking of the Palestinian struggle port.

98 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine Initially, in South Africa the dominant liberation regulation that demands every resident procure movement and their allies did not support the inde- a certificate of honesty based on ‘confirmation of pendent trade union movement which later played a debt payment.’ …Government spokesmen, headed pivotal role in bringing down the apartheid regime. by Fayyad, have often spoken against a ‘culture of Today, thirteen years after the first democratic elec- non-payment of bills,’ thus portraying the general tions, the present neoliberal government is privatiz- Palestinian public as prone to being debt offend- ing municipal services. The poor who cannot pay ers. …The strike, and all the public and internal their rent are being evicted and failure to pay water discussions accompanying it, is a fascinating lesson and electricity bills means frequent disconnections. of how Palestinians still acknowledge the power of The government often calls the inability to pay user the collective; how they oppose a liberal economic fees the “culture of non-payment and entitlement.” policy under occupation and colonization, and nur- A few years back we were horrified to see- of ture a democratic suspicion as to the motives of the ficials from the municipality of Cape Town pres- leading class.” ent to a visiting Palestinian delegation, including a proud Saeb Erakat, prepaid water meters. This is Creative Energies not and should not be the solidarity we are talking Acts of defiance and determination against over- about! whelming odds continue to drive the will of Pales- Resistance to neoliberalism in South Africa is tinians. The latest act to capture our imagination growing thirteen years after apartheid. For Pales- was the tide of humanity that resolutely breached tinians it is happening even before “liberation.” and trampled upon the wall separating Palestine Amira Hass’ February 6 article in Ha’aretz about from Egypt. In the space of a few days almost half the workers’ strike in the West Bank captures this of the 1.5 million people in Gaza crossed the bor- resistance to neo-liberalism: der. Global solidarity activists need to be inspired “The workers have three main demands: adjust- and strengthened by this unleashing of creative en- ing wages to match the steep increase in the cost ergies; the fact that obstacles can be surmounted of living; a realistic addition to the ‘travel expens- and the debilitating wastefulness of internecine and v es’ component of salaries; and overturning a new sectarian conflicts exposed.

labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 99 Next Steps for the Palestinian Solidarity Movement By Adam Hanieh The following article is an updated version of a talk given in Toronto on October 4, at the launch of the book Between the Lines: Readings on Israel, the Palestinians, and the U.S. “War on Terror” ( Haymarket Books, 2007), edited by Tikva Honig-­Parnass and Toufic Haddad. It was first published inThe Bullet, No. 73 November 14, 2007.

he launch of this book is an extremely timely rolling up their sleeves to bring the Palestinian and and important contribution to understanding Israeli sides to the negotiating table in late Novem- theT current situation in Palestine. We all know from ber. Both Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert are the daily reports that this situation is one of the said to be trying to move this process forward but most difficult ever faced by the Palestinian people. are faced with the recalcitrance of “extremists on In the Gaza Strip, a truly unprecedented assault on both sides”. Both sides will have to make “painful the population is unfolding. Over 1.4 million Ga- sacrifices”. But – if done right – we can return to the zans are trapped in this ‘open-air prison,’ subject good old days of the Oslo peace process and even- to daily bombardment by Israeli rockets and heavy tually see the establishment of a Palestinian state artillery. Israel has announced plans to cut electric- living “alongside a secure Israel.” ity and fuel supplies to the Strip. These supplies are Naturally, as with the mainstream media cover- absolutely necessary to maintaining basic services age of just about everything, this picture is designed such as hospitals and sewage treatment plants. We to confuse and obfuscate the real situation on the now regularly hear stories of Gaza residents being ground. All the talk of negotiations, peace, and killed in floods of sewage, as Israel prevents need- painful compromises is designed first and foremost ed supplies and inspections of sewage lakes in the to solidify apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza area. Strip. It’s very important that we understand this The point here, however, is not to focus on the message. When the Oslo agreement was signed in current situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 1993 it created enormous confusion within the Pal- The enormous value of the book lies in the politi- estinian national movement and the solidarity or- cal perspective it outlines. We need to build upon ganizations outside. This was an agreement that was these perspectives and present an assessment of the sold to the world as a plan for a Palestinian state, current stage of our solidarity efforts in places such yet in reality it aimed at creating the very situation as Canada and the USA. It is very important that we see today on the ground. Palestinians herded we always situate our efforts historically, take a step into isolated Bantustans surrounded by settlements, back to look at where we are at and where we want walls, checkpoints with their movement controlled to be going. by permits. The talk of peace and negotiations is designed Return to Oslo? to hide the reality of an apartheid agreement. Israel Much of the mainstream media has attempted is trying to find someone who will sign away the to present the current situation as a re-run of the rights of the people – most fundamentally the right early 1990s. We are told that the U.S. and EU are of return of Palestinian refugees. This is what is go-

Adam Hanieh is a board member of Palestine House, Mississauga.

100 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine ing on now. It is not a “civil war” between Hamas cell. and Fatah, or media fantasies about the supposed But today we see that the Palestinian people emerging Islamic state in Gaza. reject that division. Most importantly, we see the The 1993 Oslo Accords killed the solidarity growing movement of Palestinian citizens of Israel movement for seven years. Many people here today who are demanding equal rights in a state that has were involved in these earlier solidarity movements been built on racism and settler-colonialism. Over across North America and can attest to the collapse the past year, four separate declarations by Palestin- that happened in the early 1990s. This situation ians from inside Israel have expressed this demand. didn’t reverse until the people once again rose in In response to these declarations, the head of the the second Intifada in September 2000. That upris- Israeli intelligence, Yuval Diskin, called Palestin- ing re-sparked the solidarity movement. ian citizens of Israel a “strategic threat” and issued a But the situation today differs significantly from veiled warning that any one attempting to organize the early 1990s. In many respects we are in a much around the demand of simple democracy would stronger situation today than that earlier period. face the repressive arm of the state. This is obviously a testament to the resilience and Israel cannot countenance the simple demand struggle of the Palestinian people. But it is also due for equal rights for Palestinian citizens because it to the work of those in the solidarity movement is a state built on racism. Leaders of the Palestin- who did keep fighting throughout the Oslo years, ian community have been arrested and kept under and understood from the outset the real nature of administrative detention orders without charge or the Oslo agreement. trial. The head of the National Democratic Assem- We need to keep this message clear in the com- bly (NDA) party and elected member of the Israeli ing period. U.S.-sponsored ‘peace’ plans, backed by parliament (the Knesset), Azmi Bishara, was forced some of the client Arab states in the region, will to flee Israel because he was threatened with immi- not achieve liberation. The Palestinian people will nent arrest. On 30 October, in scenes reminiscent completely reject any self-appointed leader that of the West Bank, Israeli police attacked a village in attempts to relinquish their rights, the bedrock of the Galilee village with live ammunition, injuring which is the right of return of Palestinian refugees. 40 residents, three of them seriously. And the calls This is not a fringe or ‘radical’ position but is the from prominent Israeli academics that describe the fundamental outlook of the Palestinian people as a Palestinian population inside Israel as a “demo- whole. A very important confirmation of this fact graphic threat” are getting ever louder. occurred in Canada in late October, over 54 del- A barrage of new laws attempt to solidify Israeli egates representing virtually every Palestinian com- racism and silence the growing movement of Pal- munity organization across Canada unanimously estinians inside Israel. One of these is a law that adopted an open-letter to Mahmoud Abbas warn- will prevent anyone who travels to what is deemed ing him of the “disaster” of the Oslo Accords and an “enemy state” from running for the Israeli par- the complete rejection of the upcoming U.S.-sup- liament. This law is explicitly aimed at Palestinian ported summit in Annapolis, Maryland. parties such as the NDA that maintain strong ties with Arab countries. Moreover, in one of the most Not Just the West Bank and Gaza Strip Orwellian measures ever adopted by the Israeli state, One thing that gives us strength today is the an October 2007 law requires all school children widespread understanding that the struggle for jus- to sign Israel’s “Declaration of Independence”: a tice is not solely a question of what happens in the declaration that explicitly upholds Israel’s character West Bank and Gaza Strip. The aim of the Oslo as a “Jewish state”. Imagine any other country that project was to reduce our struggle to negotiating required every child to sign a document support- over bits of land in these areas. Today we see the ing the privileged rights of one ethnic or religious reality of this – those bits of land are nothing but group? As Azmi Bishara has pointed out, Palestin- open-air prisons where we see Palestinian prison ians attending Israeli schools are required to sign a guards but Israel continues to hold the keys to the document that negates their very existence! labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 101 The emerging movement of Palestinians inside and normalize relations with the Israeli state and its Israel is a very important development and cause supporters means to give consent to one’s own op- for optimism. These Palestinians are an integral part pression. Rather, we should act to isolate and reveal of the Palestinian people as a whole. Their struggle the structures that hold power in place. The need is strikes the very nature of Israel as an exclusionary, not for ‘dialogue’ because the problem is not a lack racist state and shows that Israeli apartheid is not of understanding. To claim otherwise serves only to just a question of what happens in the West Bank justify the existing power structures. More simply: and Gaza Strip. We must continually strengthen there is an oppressor and an oppressed, and peace our solidarity with their efforts and struggle. will only come through winning justice. The struggle is not between Jewish people and No to Normalization Palestinians. Anti-Zionist Jews and Israelis are Today the strength of our movement rests upon prominent activists and leaders of the solidarity the widespread acceptance that there can be no movement, including inside Israel. The solidarity normalization with Zionism and Israeli apartheid. movement is totally clear on this point and to claim The basic principle of our movement is that the otherwise is only to engage in slander. Indeed, Be- way to winning justice is not through ‘dialogue’ or tween the Lines was co-written by an anti-Zionist ‘joint projects’ or empty calls for ‘peace.’ Rather, jus- Jewish Israeli who has spent many decades work- tice will be won by isolating the Israeli state and all ing alongside Palestinians in support of justice. The those who support it. central question is one of racism and settler-colo- This is a big shift from fifteen years ago when nialism not religious conflict. The BDS call is aimed many people bought into the Oslo myth and nor- at Israeli state institutions and their supporters. malization with Israel was all the rage. A lot of Our goal is a state where anyone can live regardless money was thrown at these projects, hundreds of of their religious beliefs or ethnicity. NGOs sprung up dedicated to dialogue and the ‘peace process.’ But today there is virtual unanimity Canadian Support for Israel among the solidarity movement. The way forward In Canada, we have an important role to play is through a sustained campaign of boycott, divest- in this global campaign to isolate the Israeli state. ment and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid. The Canadian government is one of the strongest This runs against any attempt to normalize relations international supporters of Israeli apartheid in the with the oppressor. world. Canada was the first country in the world to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority following the The call for boycott, divestment and sanctions elections of January 2006. Canada did this even be- that came from Palestine in 2005 is very clear. The fore the Israeli government. Israeli state must be isolated in the manner of South The Canadian government at all levels has pro- African apartheid until three conditions are satis- vided full diplomatic support for Israel’s war crimes. fied: the Israeli occupation of all Arab lands is end- Many of us remember that during Israel’s bom- ed; there is full equality for Palestinian citizens of bardment of Lebanon in 2006, Harper described Israel; and the refugees are allowed to return home. Israel’s actions as “measured and justified” and op- These three demands encapsulate the Palestinian posed calls for a ceasefire. But Harper’s comments experience since 1948: a people who have been up- are not those of an individual. Across the political rooted from their land and prevented from return- spectrum, Canada’s mainstream political parties ing home. Our struggle is not just in the West Bank have given unequivocal support to Israeli policies. and Gaza Strip, but also to end the racist nature of In 2005, it was then Liberal Party leader Paul Mar- the Israeli state and allow the refugees to return. tin who declared that “Israel’s values are Canada’s It is important to stress that the BDS call is not values.” something that suddenly appeared in 2005. For de- At the economic level, Canada has signed numer- cades, the core of the Palestinian struggle has always ous agreements with Israel that serve to strengthen held a position of ‘anti-normalization.’ To work with and sustain the Israeli economy. In 1997, the Ca-

102 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine nadian government signed the Canada Israel Free ers to cut their ties with Israeli apartheid. We must Trade Agreement (CIFTA). This is the only FTA compel them to do so. We know from the South Canada has signed outside of the western hemi- African struggle that those in power will support sphere. It has been an enormous boon to Israel. apartheid until we build a movement large enough From 2000 to 2005, the value of Israeli exports to to force a change. Canada exceeded Canadian exports to Israel, re- Over ten years after the formal end of South Af- versing the trend from the 1990s. Over the same rican apartheid a certain myth has grown up that period, average annual Israeli foreign direct invest- says the world was always against the practices of ment in Canada exceeded that of Canada in Israel. the South African regime. Nothing could be fur- This is an agreement that has benefited Israel, and ther from the truth. Successive Canadian, U.S. and helped support the Israeli economy. British governments wholeheartedly backed South Another agreement, the Canada Israel Industrial African apartheid for decades. The leaderships of Research and Development Foundation, provides Canadian unions proudly championed their links seed money for Israeli-Canadian research and de- with the apartheid regime and large corporations velopment. Over 200 companies have been funded made millions from their investments in South by this scheme and the Canadian government now African apartheid. It took decades of hard work boasts that Israel is its longest standing technology by activists to turn around popular acceptance and partner. A similar agreement between Ontario and support for South African apartheid. the Israeli government was also signed by Dalton It is important to emphasize that the BDS strat- McGuinty and Ehud Olmert in 2005. egy is fundamentally about winning this ideological Prominent Canadian business leaders have been battle. No one holds any illusions that Israel will among the staunchest supporters of the Israeli gov- suffer economically at this stage from resolutions ernment. Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz are and boycott campaigns. Rather, BDS provides a the majority owners of Indigo Books. They set up a powerful entry point for talking to people about the fund called the Heseg Foundation for Lone Sol- nature of the Israeli state and the structures that diers that provides scholarships and other support support it in the West. What we are doing is con- for individuals who have chosen to go to Israel and vincing people that Israel – like the South African serve in the Israeli military. In 2006, Reisman and precedent – is a pariah state that must be isolated. Schwartz attended a ceremony at an Israeli military To deal with Israel is something to be ashamed of. base where they were awarded the gun of an Israeli We are undermining the ideological support (much soldier killed in Lebanon. of it passive) that allows Israel to continue its hor- These various forms of support are not surpris- rendous practices against the Palestinian people. ing given the record of the Canadian government For this reason, the BDS strategy cannot be sepa- in places such as Afghanistan and Haiti where rated from the day-to-day information work we do Canadian troops and other personnel serve to sup- around Palestine. This information and educational port military occupations. Or the record of large work lays the basis for BDS work. The BDS strat- Canadian companies in extracting the resources egy provides a direction for activity once people un- and wealth of people around the globe. Or the cen- derstand the reality of the situation. turies-long attacks against the indigenous people We have made some very important gains here in of this land that continues today. This is why the Canada. The historic resolution of CUPE Ontario Palestinian solidarity movement also stands with in May 2006 in support of boycott and divestment those struggles: we are all strengthened when we was a turning point. The CUPE Ontario resolution fight together. was an outstanding example of how BDS enables us to educate and activate people around Palestine. Ideological Battle For the first time in decades, the key issues of the But we should be clear: the campaign of boy- Palestinian struggle were debated on the front pag- cott, divestment and sanctions is not about politely es of Canadian newspapers and on TV and radio asking the Canadian government or business lead- stations across the country. Thousands of ordinary labour for palestine SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 103 CUPE members received information about the federal and provincial levels cut their ties with Is- campaign or went through workshops and talks raeli apartheid. We can call for agreements such explaining why Israeli apartheid should be isolated as CIFTA, or, here in Ontario, the provincial level and ended. The greatest achievement of this resolu- agreements with Israel, to be abrogated. We must tion was the chance to speak to rank and file CUPE call for an end to the diplomatic cover provided members and build support for Palestine within to Israeli war crimes. The Venezuelan government the union. We can’t underestimate how important of Hugo Chavez has shown the way in this regard this was in helping shift popular consciousness and when they became the first country in the world to understanding. This quite simply would not have withdraw their ambassador from Israel in the sum- happened if CUPE had simply passed yet another mer of 2006. “condemn the violence,” “call for peace” resolution. Hundreds of thousands of people – that is no exag- Conclusion geration – were touched by this resolution. Israel’s crushing of the population in the West On campuses too, there has been a strong up- Bank and Gaza Strip and its apparent success in surge in understanding the nature of Israeli apart- cultivating a Palestinian leadership to return to an heid. The annual Israeli apartheid week, which be- Oslo-type process are pyrrhic victories. The real na- gan here in Toronto, has expanded globally to cities ture of Israel is truly understood by more people such as New York, Oxford and Cambridge. In 2007, than any other point in the last sixty years and close to a thousand people attended the week’s ac- support for the Zionist project beyond Western tivities in Toronto. This coming year promises to be governments and elites is in tatters. Palestinians re- even larger and occur in many more cities across main one people: united across refugee camps, the the world. Diaspora, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and in- The campaign to boycott Chapters-Indigo has side Israel itself. All these sectors of the people are also been a great success. Regular pickets are hap- moving forward and rejecting normalization with pening in six cities across the country. Over 40,000 Israel, despite what various self-appointed leader- leaflets have been distributed nationally since the ships might do or say. campaign began in January. Heather Reisman’s This is a time to be very proud of our activities book reading appearances across the country have in support of the Palestinian struggle. In years to been disrupted by activists opposed to her support come, we shall look back on the struggles of today of Israeli apartheid. Students at a high school in and realize that what we did in the here and now Toronto lobbied their school to pass a resolution to was an integral part of winning justice. This is a boycott Indigo. Smaller bookstores in Ontario have struggle that affects the entire people of the Middle signed onto the campaign and now carry leaflets East and its outcome will shape the course of his- and information about Israeli apartheid. tory. It is not a struggle that will end tomorrow, but Our next step should be to raise our voices de- we can be absolutely confident that it is a struggle v manding that Canadian governments at both the which we shall eventually win.

104 SECTION four: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions labour for palestine Section FIVe Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement

On 27 May, 2006, the largest public sector union in Ontario, CUPE, adopted a ground-­ breaking resolution (Resolution 50) that expressed CUPE Ontario’s support for the global campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions. This section opens with the text of Resolution 50 and a very important letter of support received by CUPE Ontario from the President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) immediately after Resolution 50 was adopted. COSATU was a leading force in the struggle against South African apartheid. The letter concludes with the powerful words: “Your unwavering resolve inspires us, we who lived through decades of apartheid oppression, as it will undoubtedly inspire and endear you to millions of Palestinian and other freedom loving people throughout the world.”

In April 2008, a second major breakthrough for the North American labour movement came with the adoption of a BDS resolution by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). CUPW was the first union to adopt a boycott stance against South African apartheid and is the first national union to do so in the case of Israeli apartheid. The CUPW press release is reprinted here.

This section concludes with a selection of articles and commentary written by trade union activists in the immediate wake of the CUPE resolution, statements by US labour organizations in support of Palestine, and a rebuttal to B’nai Brith’s attack on CUPE Ontario that takes up many of the standard canards employed by pro-­Israel forces against labour activists.

CUPE Ontario Resolution No. 50 Adopted at annual convention May 27, 2006

CUPE ONTARIO WILL:

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

2. 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.

3. Call on CUPE National to commit to research into Canadian involvement in the occupation and call on the CLC to join us in lobbying against the apartheid-­like practices of the Israeli state and call for the immediate dismantling of the wall.

Because: • The Israeli Apartheid Wall has been condemned and determined illegal under international law.

• Over 170 Palestinian political parties, unions and other organization including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unoins issued a call in July 2005 for a global campaign of boycotts and divestment against Israel similar to those imposed against South African Apartheid.

• CUPE BC has firmly and vocally condemned the occupation of Palestine and have initiated an education campaign about the apartheid-­like practices of the Israeli state.

labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 107 Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Press Release Postal workers take firm stand to support Palestinian workers

April 29, 2008

For Immediate Release

Ottawa – The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) joined the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel during their national convention this month.

Hundreds of delegates to CUPW’s convention passed a resolution supporting sanctions and calling on the union to work toward an end to suicide bombings, military assaults and other acts of violence that take the lives of innocent people.

“It’s time to push for a fair and just settlement so that both Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace,” said Denis Lemelin, CUPW National President. “There can’t be a solution while settlements exist on Palestinian land and while a security barrier restricts the movement of Palestinian workers.”

CUPW is the first national union in North America to pass a resolution supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions. However, a number of international and Canadian organizations support the campaign.

“Delegates at our convention listened to the call from Palestinian unions and organizations in joining this campaign,” said Lemelin. “This is a non-­violent tactic aimed at reaching a just peace,” he added.

Over 170 Palestinian political parties, unions and other organizations issued a call in July 2005 for a global campaign of boycott and divestment against Israel similar to the one applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. These measures are intended to continue until Israel recognizes the right of Palestinian people to self-­determination and fully complies with international law.

CUPW represents 56,000 workers in the postal sector. From April 13-­17, postal workers voted on a vast array of resolutions at their national convention held in Ottawa.

108 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine Letter from the President of the South African Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to the President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario June 6, 2006 Brother Sid Ryan, On behalf over 1.2 million South African workers organized under the banner of COSATU I greet you in the name of worker internationalism. It is this solidarity, since the formation of the very first union and across space and time, often in the face of harsh repression, that provided vital moral succour and allowed workers to strengthen their resolve against oppression and exploitation. In this spirit and with great pride, I congratulate CUPE Ontario for their historic resolution on May 27th in support of the Palestinian people – those living under occupation and those millions of Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora. We fully support your resolution. As someone who lived in apartheid South Africa and who has visited Palestine I say with confidence that Israel is an apartheid state. In fact, I believe that some of the atrocities committed by the erstwhile apartheid regime in South Africa pale in comparison to those committed against the Palestinians. The latest outrage by the apartheid Israeli regime – the construction of the hideous Apartheid Wall – condemned by the International Court of Justice – extends the occupation of Palestinian lands, disrupts the already precarious economic, social, health and education well being of an entire people and entrenches the Bantustanisation of Palestine. When the governments of the world turn a blind eye to these injustices; when they are seduced by apartheid Israel’s justification of brutality through the pretext of “security;” when they silence criticism of state terror through the canard of “anti-­semitism” – then it is time for the global workers movement to stand firm and principled against hypocrisy and double standards. We cannot remain silent any longer. It is time to stand in word and in deed with the peoples of the Middle East and heed their call to support the struggle against occupation. There will be no peace in this region and in the world, without justice. Despite the action of some Western governments and big business, workers and democrats of the world including the citizens of Canada, heeded our call when we struggled against apartheid. Boycotts, disinvestments and sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa hastened our march to democracy. Why should it be different for Palestinians? In the face of an intransigent, arrogant, racist and brutal Israeli state, this strategy of isolation – particularly since the vast majority of Palestinians support it – should be applied to Israel as well. It is a peaceful option. South African workers will never forget the support given by the Israeli state to the apartheid South African regime. In the same way we will never forget the thousands of acts of solidarity of ordinary citizens around the world who sustained our struggle through the boycott weapon. COSATU supports the demand that Apartheid Israel must respect and implement all resolutions passed by the United Nations; that the right of return of Palestinian refugees must not be compromised; that Israel respects the democratically elected government of Palestine; and that Palestinian taxes collected by Israel must be returned to the elected representatives of Palestine unconditionally. Those supporting the ideology of Zionism and the pro-­Israeli lobby will muster their substantial resources against you. Despite these pressures, we ask you not to doubt for a single moment the correctness of your just stand. We salute the courage and vision of CUPE Ontario’s leadership and members in unanimously passing resolution 50. Your unwavering resolve inspires us, we who lived through decades of apartheid oppression, as it will undoubtedly inspire and endear you to millions of Palestinian and other freedom loving people throughout the world. In Solidarity Willie Madisha President Congress of South African Trade Unions

labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 109 CUPE Ontario Takes Important Step against Israeli Apartheid By Adam Hanieh The Bullet (No. 22, May 31, 2006) available at http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet)

t the annual convention of the Canadian natory educational system. Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario, These two resolutions represent the latest in a heldA 24-27 May 2006 in Ottawa, the union passed snowballing movement to isolate Israeli apartheid a resolution of historic importance. Resolution 50 in the manner of South African apartheid. A long – adopted unanimously by the 900 delegates at the list of institutions, city councils, religious organiza- largest convention in the union’s history – expressed tions, political parties and unions have endorsed support for the global campaign against Israeli the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions. Two apartheid. The union stated that it would educate weeks ago, the Green Party of the United States its members on the apartheid nature of the Israeli issued a powerful policy statement that supported state and Canadian political and economic support “divestment from and boycott of the State of Israel for these practices. It also declared that CUPE On- until such time as the full individual and collective tario would participate in the international cam- rights of the Palestinian people are realized.” In Feb- paign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against ruary 2006, the Church of England’s general synod Israel until the realization of Palestinian self-deter- – including the Archbishop of Canterbury – voted mination. Most importantly, the union highlighted to disinvest church funds from companies profit- the significance of the right of return of Palestinian ing from the Israeli occupation. On 16 December refugees as a critical component of Palestinian self- 2005, the regional council of the Sor-Trondelag in determination. Norway passed a motion calling for a comprehen- Resolution 50 is a vital step for both Palestinian sive boycott on Israeli goods to be followed up with rights and the North American labor movement. an awareness raising campaign across the region. CUPE Ontario is the largest public sector union in Sor-Trondelag was the first Norwegian county to Ontario and represents over 200,000 workers in the boycott South Africa and is now the first to boycott most highly populated province of Canada. The res- Israeli apartheid. olution represents the most powerful statement in This growing movement has provoked a wide- support of Palestinian rights ever made by a North spread crisis within the Zionist movement. The Is- American trade union. raeli press is full of stories, editorial comment and Two days after Resolution 50 was adopted, an- debate about the boycott, divestment, sanctions other boycott resolution was passed by the largest campaign. No other international solidarity effort union of university teachers in Britain, the National has so dominated the Israeli debate. Underlying Association of Teachers in Further and Higher most of this commentary is a deep fear that the Education (NATFHE). NATFHE, representing identification of Israel with apartheid is reaching a around 70,000 members, declared its active support critical mass within popular consciousness world- of boycotts against Israeli academics and academic wide. The response of the Zionist movement has institutions that do not publicly take an explicit been strikingly incompetent and reflects their in- stand against Israeli apartheid and Israel’s discrimi- ability to deal with the charge of apartheid.

110 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine Take for instance the Canadian Jewish Con- any real or effective control of their lives. Movement gress’s (CJC) “action alert” against the CUPE On- in and out of the Bantustans was controlled by per- tario decision. The alert raises three questions that mits and pass cards. Economic control remained in the CJC urges its supporters to raise with CUPE the hands of the white apartheid state. This is pre- Ontario leaders: cisely the situation that “disengagement”is meant • Last summer, Israel withdrew its settlements to formalize in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. from Gaza and the northern West Bank. A new All informed commentators agree that Olmert’s Israeli government has just been elected on a plat- disengagement plan is aimed at leaving the major form of continuing this disengagement process. settlement blocs in the West Bank intact. Olmert Why would CUPE Ontario call for a boycott that himself touts this as the major plank of his plan. will punish Israelis just as these important steps are The aim is to win international acceptance for Pal- being taken? estinian Bantustans – the Palestinian population • The Palestinian election of a Hamas-domi- crowded into isolated and divided cantons sepa- nated government that supports terrorism and is rated by settlements, Israeli-only roads and military committed to the destruction of Israel has led to checkpoints. This is not a new strategy; it has been an economic crisis; international aid has correctly the clear intention of Israeli leaders since the oc- been denied to this recognized terrorist organiza- cupation of these areas in 1967. tion. Concerned Canadians should be looking to The current situation in the Gaza Strip isa offer humanitarian help to the Palestinians, not to powerful illustration of this apartheid reality. Is- punish Israelis. Why would CUPE Ontario fail to rael completely controls the economy and borders use its voice in a constructive way? of this tiny area that constitutes the most densely • CUPE Ontario’s resolution calls for the un- populated place on earth. Israeli missiles can be limited return of refugees to Israel. It is well recog- dropped on Gaza day and night, with the popu- nized that this approach would spell the end of a lation starved from all work, outside supplies and Jewish state. Why is CUPE Ontario adopting this possibility of travel. This is what ‘disengagement’ extreme position? portends for the West Bank. The most striking feature of the CJC alert is that Precisely because Israel controls all flows of it completely avoids any mention of the question funds, people and goods into the isolated Palestin- of apartheid. The word itself does not appear at all ian Bantustans the CJC is able to champion the in the entire statement. This is a most remarkable severing of aid to the Palestinian Authority. In the omission and can only be considered deliberate last month, this has led to deaths of at least four given that the main thrust of the CUPE Ontario hospitalized Palestinians who were unable to ob- decision is the comparison with South African tain dialysis treatment due to Israeli control of what apartheid. Indeed, the first item of the CUPE reso- goes in and out of Palestinian areas. A few weeks lution is to conduct an “education campaign about ago, Palestinian prison guards were forced to appeal the apartheid nature of the Israeli state.” Only one to relatives of inmates to provide food because there conclusion can be drawn from this omission: the was not enough to feed prisoners. Enforced mass CJC is neither able nor willing to argue against the starvation of a civilian population is quite simply charge of Israeli apartheid. a war crime. An important statement signed two The three points raised by the CJC confirm this weeks ago by ever major Palestinian organization conclusion. While the CJC praises Israeli “disen- in Canada put it this way: Palestinian right to life gagement,” this so-called concession is widely ac- should not be conditional on acquiescence to Israeli cepted as the final step in the construction of an apartheid. apartheid solution. Apartheid-era South Africa Finally, the third CJC talking point reveals the placed the black population into territorially discon- crux of the debate. The CJC states that the right of nected areas called Bantustans. Bantustans appeared return of Palestinian refugees “would spell the end to give blacks control over their own municipal af- of a Jewish state.” Israeli apartheid is founded upon fairs while denying them self-determination and the notion of an exclusively Jewish state that denies labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 111 equal rights to everyone else. In 1948, 80 percent of ‘one- person, one-vote’, Israel would be faced by “a the indigenous Palestinian population were driven much cleaner struggle, a much more popular strug- from their homes and land and became refugees. gle – and ultimately a much more powerful one.” The Israeli state guarantees any person of a Jewish Palestinian peaceful resistance, therefore, had to be background, anywhere in the world, the right to be- pre-empted by Israel. The logic of Olmert’s solu- come a citizen of Israel yet the indigenous popula- tion, as he explained it then, sounds very much like tion is refused their right to return. The right of Pal- the reasoning behind disengagement and now con- estinian refugees to return to their homes and land vergence: ‘formula for the parameters of a unilater- is not simply a legal question (although it is guar- al solution are: to maximise the number of Jews; to anteed under international law). Most significantly, minimise the number of Palestinians.’ Or, as he put it points to the fact that we should oppose any state it last week, ‘division of the land, with the goal of that operates on the basis of one religious or eth- ensuring a Jewish majority, is Zionism’s lifeline’.” nic exlusivity. The central goal of the anti-apart- Both the CUPE Ontario and NATFHE resolu- heid struggle is a state in which anyone can live, tions are big steps forward in the struggle against regardless of their religious or ethnic background. Israeli apartheid. They confirm that recognition of This unquestionably means the right of return of Israel as an apartheid state is now approaching a Palestinian refugees to their homes and lands from stage of popular acceptance. This victory was not which they were expelled in 1948. achieved overnight but is the culmination of the Jonathan Cook, an outstanding journalist for the work of many activists worldwide who have perse- British newspaper, The Guardian, recently discussed vered with the ongoing tasks of leafleting, postering, how Olmert’s disengagement plan confirms the ba- teach-ins, demonstrations and many other activi- sic premise of the current anti-apartheid struggle: ties. Most of all, it is testament to the unbelievable “Olmert outlined to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper endurance of the Palestinian people on the ground the most serious issue facing Israel. It was, he said, in Palestine and in refugee camps throughout the the problem of how, when the Palestinians were on region. Our challenge is to continue to deepen the the eve of becoming a majority in the region, to pre- confidence among wider layers of the population in vent them from launching a struggle similar to the Canada and elsewhere in arguing for and becom- one against apartheid waged by black South Afri- ing active in the struggle against Israeli apartheid. cans. Olmert’s concern was that, if the Palestinian The resolutions of the last week have made this task v majority renounced violence and began to fight for much easier.

112 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine CUPE ‘Boycott Israel’ Debate Rages On By David Kidd and Herman Rosenfeld The Bullet (No. 26, June 29, 2006, updated May 2008). Available at http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet

s trade union and community activists, so- Opposition to CUPE and cialists and officials in our respective union the Boycott Campaign Aorganizations, we strongly support the recent CUPE Ontario’s resolution has raised a furor Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) amongst the supporters of Israel’s governing estab- Ontario resolution supporting the international lishment – and those who justify its policies and Boycott Israel campaign. The resolution criticises practices. From the Israeli establishment itself, pro- Israel’s continuing occupation of Palestinian terri- Israel organizations, to Conservative and Liberal tory, characterising it as “apartheid.” It calls on the politicians and even some NDP parliamentarians union to develop an education campaign; supports and labour leaders, there has been an angry re- the international campaign of boycott, divestment sponse, with similar themes and arguments. Let us and sanctions against Israel, until it fully recognizes look at some of these. Palestinian national rights – including the right to return to their homes and properties; seeks CUPE Israel and middle east democracy National to undertake research into Canada’s role Pro-Israel organizations and individuals raised in the occupation; and calls on the Canadian La- a series of common arguments, such as: “Israel is bour Congress (CLC) to join in lobbying efforts to the only democracy in the Middle East – a bas- oppose Israeli apartheid. tion of western values – why does CUPE attack The unresolved Israeli occupation of Palestinian it?” One spokesperson from the Toronto Board of lands lies at the root of much of the political tur- Rabbis claimed: “No other country facing terrorism moil in the Middle East. It is the smouldering coal and military threat in the history of the world has that continues to ignite resentment of the west and behaved in a more legal and ethical manner than contributes to the hateful fires of anti-semitism. It Israel.” (Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich, “CUPE wrong to gives unwanted currency to the regime of the Ira- boycott Israel,” Toronto Star, 1 June 2006) nian mullahs and fundamentalists of all religious Israel claims to support democracy, human stripes. Resolving this dispute through the granting rights and the peaceful solution of differences. The of full national rights to the Palestinian people is a reality is very different. Israel’s brutal occupation of key to reducing the tensions between the Moslem, the West Bank and Gaza is rife with some of the Jewish and Christian communities in the region, worst forms of oppression and violence. As Vicki and more widely. Obedkoff, a United Church Minister, reported af- CUPE Ontario, like its sister organization in ter a recent visit to the West Bank: BC before it, should be congratulated for acting “Our introduction to the brutality of Israel’s decisively, arguing that the working class and trade military occupation was on Orthodox Easter Sun- union movement should take the lead and help to day when, just a few blocks from our hotel, Israeli deepen and widen our collective understanding of agents in an unmarked car fired 200 to 300- bul the real nature and costs of the Israeli occupation. lets on three Bethlehem young men who appar- labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 113 ently were on Israel’s “wanted” list. Assassinations After the 1967 war, when Israel conquered and oc- like this are common, we found out: 50 young men cupied the West Bank of the Jordan River and Gaza, in the resistance movement to the Israeli occupa- it became the political and economic master of tens tion were assassinated in the past six months. The of thousands of Palestinians. It was during this time “wanted” persons are not arrested nor tried. They that the Palestinian resistance movement arose, and are killed without even an incident report required earned world-wide recognition for the legitimacy of to be filed. It is official Israeli government policy to their struggle for national rights. Since that period, authorize the army to perform such assassinations, Israel was forced to change its approach. without reports nor trials being required.” (unpub- While acknowledging the existence of Palestin- lished report, June 2, 2006) ians and their right to some form of self-determi- Certainly, the Middle East is full of non-demo- nation, Israel consistently denied them sovereignty cratic regimes, but this doesn’t excuse the horrific on the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, Israel has reality of the Israeli occupation, and that Israeli de- worked to create a relationship of economic and mocracy actively suppresses the democratic rights political domination over the Palestinians, with of another peoples. This is the most basic violation certain similarities to the relationship between the of democratic practice. Afrikaners of South Africa and the black majority. This similarity of structural and legal racial discrim- Israel and peacemaking ination and domination by an “external” settler- Another theme is that “Israel is the true peace- colonial society has been noted by South African maker.” The claim is that Israel recognizes the self- anti-apartheid heroes such as Nelson Mandela and determination of the Palestinian people and has Desmond Tutu, as well as Israeli anti-occupation tried to make peace with the Palestinians for years. organizations and movements. The latter have refused to, “walk through the door” Palestinians were used as a cheap labour source opened by Israeli promises of peace. Former Israeli in Israel, and the economies of Gaza and the West cabinet minister and Soviet Jewish dissident Na- Bank became dependent upon the more developed tan Sharansky writes that the Palestinian Authority Israeli economy. Israeli settlers – motivated by fun- “squandered (the) opportunity” when Israel, “uni- damentalist religious values – were encouraged to laterally withdrew from Gaza and parts of the West occupy areas, controlling key water resources and Bank.” (“This Boycott Call is Un-Canadian,” To- were protected by the Israeli state, in the West Bank ronto Star, 1 June 2006) and Gaza. Israel also maintained – and continues to This is one of the biggest falsifications of all. maintain – a dense network of military bases and It flies in the face of the entire history of Israel’s checkpoints, along with the settlements, to control relation to Palestinians. Israel systematically ex- the lives of Palestinians. pelled Palestinians from their homes – providing Even after a series of key struggles – the intifa- a textbook case of “ethnic cleansing” – in order to das – where Palestinian children were reduced to establish and consolidate the existence of the new throwing stones at Israeli armoured vehicles, Israel state in the 1940s. This created the Palestinian di- refused to grant full political rights to the Palestin- aspora, a process that continues in different forms ians. The creation of the Palestinian Authority in in both Israel and the Occupied Territories till this 1993 was not an act of full sovereignty. Palestine day. Throughout most of its life as a country, Israeli did not have its own army and continued to rely on leaders denied the very existence of the Palestinian the military overlordship of Israel, and was subject people. It is not at all clear that Israel actually ac- to Israeli economic and political control. cepts the building of a Palestinian state, as it under- At Camp David and Oslo, the Israeli govern- mines its administration, government and sover- ment, along with the US, argued for maintenance eignty at every turn – the latest being the rejection of the disconnected and disjointed bantustan-like of the democratically elected Hamas government ­arrangement of limited Palestinian sovereignty of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and over a system of small, disconnected communi- the various military incursions into Gaza. ties in Gaza and the West Bank. That is why the

114 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine negotiations broke off. In fact, the Israeli political prevents Palestinians from living with their Israeli- establishment never moved off of this intransigent Arab spouses) and makes everyday life extremely refusal to grant complete sovereignty to the Pales- difficult. tinian people over the areas Israel conquered in the 1967 six-day war. Palestine and Israel Ariel Sharon, associated with the murderous at- Critics claim that the right of Palestinian refu- tacks on the refugee camps in Sabra and Shatila in gees displaced by Israel to return to their homes Lebanon in the 1980s, came up with a scheme to and properties is an unwarranted attack on Israel. withdraw settlements from Gaza in exchange for a The CUPE resolution argues that this is a right fortification of the West Bank and further occupa- guaranteed by the United Nations. Pro-Israel in- tion of key parts of the latter. terests say it would lead to the destruction of Israel Although this was packaged as being a signifi- “as a Jewish state”. cant move by Israel, military incursions and inter- The overwhelming majority of the Palestinian ference remain an everyday reality of Palestinian movement argues for a two-state solution, where life in Gaza. All exits and entrance points to and Israel’s pre-1967 borders are secured, with a Pales- from Gaza by air, sea and land are controlled by Is- tinian state in the West Bank and Gaza given full rael. Gaza remains under Israeli control, one of the sovereignty, and a shared capital in Jerusalem. Israel most densely populated areas in the world sealed in refuses to grant that sovereignty, and fully claims like an open-air prison. Jerusalem as its capital and continues to displace On the West Bank, under this so-called “con- the Arab residents of East Jerusalem. vergence plan,” Israel maintains the vicious and hu- Even so, many question the idea of a state that miliating occupation. Demolitions of thousands of identifies with one religious or ethnic group, deny- Palestinian homes continue – as collective punish- ing fundamental rights to others. This kind of a vi- ment for families of those who either resist or are sion is similar to the one that underlines western implicated in terrorist attacks on Israelis. Highways – and other – democratic societies, with a secular connect Israeli settlers with Israel, while transpor- civic state, apart from religious and ethnic identi- tation and communications links amongst Palestin- ties. The west claims to be pursuing such a state in ians lie in ruins. Israel controls Palestinian airspace. its rejection of Islamic clerical states. Why should The plan appears to be to annex somewhere between there be an exemption for Israel and its Jewish 10 and 30 percent of the West Bank. Ehud Olmert, citizens from this basic measure of democracy, con- Israel’s current Prime Minister continues to impose sidering that in reality, Israel is a state with a wide the “Sharon solution” on the Palestinian population plurality of religions and ethnicities? and refuses to recognize the Palestinians’ right to a For historical reasons, involving efforts to es- self-governing state. cape anti-semitism – Israel does claim to be “Jew- Then there is the so-called “Security Wall”. Pro- ish” and Jews from the around the world have the Israel organizations claim that it is a reasonable right to “return” to a country they have no material strategy to protect Israelis against terrorist attacks. links with. It shouldn’t be all that surprising that Other defenders of Israel simply try to avoid refer- Palestinians – whose lands were stolen through war ences to it. The Wall, known around the world as and terrorism in order to make room for Israel 50 the apartheid Wall, does not respect the pre-1967 years ago – should find this to be a problem. In the borders of Israel. It annexes part of the West Bank long run, many Palestinians and other progressives land claimed by the Palestinians. It protects major argue for the eventual transformation of Israel into settlements and almost one-half million Zionist a secular, democratic state where people of all reli- settlers. It removes the richest agricultural lands gions and ethnic backgrounds are guaranteed equal and water resources from the Palestinian people rights and participation. and carves the West Bank Palestinian communi- Whatever the long term goals of people in the ties further into small, disconnected enclaves. It area, there is a fairly wide consensus around move- separates families (as does the racist Israeli law that ment to a two-state solution that will guarantee the labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 115 rights of both Israel and the Palestinians. In this to deal with employer discrimination against union context, the meaning of the Palestinian right of workers. This long tradition of “naming” interna- return must be negotiated between Israel and the tional issues of social justice and acting on them Palestinians. Israel refuses to do so. was reflected in the international trade union cam- It must also be emphasized that challenging the paigns against South African apartheid. Unions very notion of a Jewish state – or a religious-based were among some of the first and most persistent state of any kind – in no way justifies charges of civil society organizations to take up the issue and anti-semitism. While there are anti-semites that organize around it. challenge Israel and its policies, they are a tiny mi- The criticisms of international union solidarity nority of Israel’s critics. Israeli actions themselves are not honest. The real point is that they don’t want have given rise to anti-semitic responses around the working people and their most important organiza- world. This is tragic and like all racism, must be fully tions of self-defence, trade unions, to challenge Isra- condemned. It is perverse to fault those who raise le- el’s policies and Canadian government complicity. gitimate criticisms of Israeli apartheid practices and The fact is that CUPE-Ontario isn’t the only accuse them of the effects Israel’s practices have. union in Canada to take a position challenging Is- raeli policies – although its references to apartheid Terrorism and justice and support for boycotts pushes the Palestinian Critics also claim that CUPE’s resolution ig- solidarity movement in Canada into new territory. nores terrorist attacks and suicide bombers. In re- At the CLC Convention in 2005, the delegates de- sponse, CUPE-Ontario President Sid Ryan noted manded “that the Canadian government pressure in a Toronto Star op-ed piece (“Protesting Against Israel to uphold international law and implement Israeli Apartheid,” 2 June 2006) that the union “ap- the International Court of Justice decision by dis- proved a resolution requesting the Canadian gov- mantling the Israeli separation wall on occupied ernment call for, and actively work toward, an end Palestinian territory.” As well, in March 2004, the to suicide bombings and other violence against in- Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) National Execu- nocent people.” Progressive voices around the world tive Board endorsed the World Council of Church’s condemn both the state-sponsored terrorism of Is- call to “stop and reverse the construction of the wall rael, and the suicide bombings of elements of the in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” resistance movement. Calling for an end to Israel’s More recently, Willy Madisha, president of CO- occupation of Palestinian territory and the tearing SATU, the central union of South African work- down of the Wall is in no way linked to the use of ers, publicly defended CUPE-Ontario’s resolution. suicide bombings that harm civilians in the resis- He clearly underlines the imperative for support- tance movement. ing CUPE-Ontario’s stand: “Despite the action of some Western governments and big business, work- Unions and international solidarity ers and democrats of the world, including the citi- Many of the Israeli government’s apologists zens of Canada, heeded our call when we struggled have complained that unions have no business against apartheid. Boycotts, disinvestments and commenting on issues such as this. They have a sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Af- difficult time accepting the fact that CUPE sees a rica hastened our march to democracy. Why should deep and unshakeable link between social justice in it be different for Palestinians? In the face of an in- the Middle East and at home. The same forces that transigent, arrogant, racist and brutal Israeli state, oppress working people in Canada operate every- this strategy of isolation – particularly since the vast where. That’s why CUPE – and other unions – have majority of Palestinians support it – should be ap- taken positions supporting struggles for social and plied to Israel as well. It is a peaceful option.” political justice in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, China, South Asia, Europe and the United States. CUPE and democracy International solidarity was one of the keystones Many of the critics of the resolution complain of the establishment of unions in the 19th century that the vote was held on a Saturday – the Jewish

116 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine Sabbath, or that the resolution was passed without is that the resolution undermines positive moves for a referendum vote. Union conventions are respon- “genuine dialogue and exchange,” by engaging in sible bodies and the delegates who make decisions what it called, “simple rhetoric – like the claim that there are elected by the membership. They are em- Israel is equivalent to the former South African powered to pass resolutions which become the pol- apartheid regime.” It calls on the labour movement icy of the union. They don’t have referenda on every (and the left) to support the peace efforts of PNA policy issue. These are generally accepted principles President Mahmoud Abbas, condemn Hamas for of practical democracy in this country. These con- its support of terrorism and its refusal to recognize ventions are secular affairs and members of every “the right of Israelis to exist within secure borders,” religion and creed participated in the debate. and boycott Iran instead of Israel. While it is clear CUPE-Ontario sends out the resolutions to the that the article reflects a genuine desire for a peace, delegates before the convention, so they can con- we respectfully but profoundly disagree with its ba- sider and discuss them in a timely manner. It may sic thrust. be true that all delegates to union conventions don’t necessarily follow the outcome of every resolution, No balance between Israel and Palestinians especially on the last day. But one can hardly claim Reading the article, one would get the impres- that this vote was undemocratic. The problem is sion that there is somehow a balance between Israel that some people didn’t like the outcome. and the Palestinians. There is no reference to the overpowering military might of Israel, the essential Union Opposition to CUPE powerlessness of the Palestinians, the brutal occu- Although the CUPE resolution has generated pation and the daily humiliation and destruction much discussion and favourable comment amongst that Israel wreaks on innocent men, women and union activists, there have only been a few public re- children. No wonder it rejects the description of Is- sponses from the rest of the Canadian union move- rael as an apartheid state. It ignores the case made ment on the CUPE-Ontario resolution. The CLC, for the parallel in the assessments of COSATU, of course, has not commented. On June 13th, the Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. The daily real Steelworkers Toronto Area Council passed a reso- material realities of Palestinian life, as set in Israeli lution expressing solidarity with CUPE’s stand. law and administrative practices, illegal occupation, The resolution has started a heated debate with- labour market structures, and human rights abuses in different sections of CUPE. Some members and that are catalogued by the United Nations agencies locals in Ontario have criticized Resolution 50 and in the region, that underpin the apartheid label, have called for disaffiliation from CUPE Ontario. simply disappear. CUPE National has somewhat distanced itself. In the article, there is no reference to the illegal They note on their website that it “respects the right Wall cutting through the West Bank that separates of its chartered organizations to take a stand on all families and enforces the control over water and issues,” but goes on to say that the union “will not be land for the Israeli state and fundamentalist settlers issuing a call, nor have we been asked by our mem- that serve as its shock troops. How is it possible to bers in CUPE Ontario to call local unions across talk about the CUPE resolution without confront- Canada to boycott Israel.” It continues: “CUPE en- ing the terrible reality of the apartheid Wall? courages democratic debate on international issues. There is no acknowledgement of what most of Debates focused on the Middle East should respect the world – and almost everyone on the left knows the legitimate aspirations of both the Palestinian – that Israel is the principal aggressor. Israel ex- and Israeli people.” pelled most of the Palestinians in 1948 and it is The CUPE resolution was also criticised by Israel that occupies the West Bank and continues CAW President Buzz Hargrove, the single major illegally to exercise sovereignty over the Palestinian labour leader to speak out, in a Toronto Star op-ed National Authority and the Occupied Territories, (“CUPE Boycott of Israel Won’t Help Cause of condemned repeatedly in the United Nations and Peace,” 5 June 2006). The article’s central argument international courts. labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 117 Phoney peace moves part of the article’s argument. Israel continues to ig- The Hargrove article is also wrong about the “old nore the numerous UN resolutions that have called warhorse,” Ariel Sharon, the now comatose former for its withdrawal and the destruction of the Wall. At Prime Minister of Israel. With a military record the UN, Israel is almost always amongst a tiny minor- that qualifies him as a war criminal for numerous ity – along with the United States (and now Harper’s incidents, but especially for the atrocities in refugee Canada) – defending its indefensible policies. camps in Lebanon under his military watch, Sha- The article implies that the principal obstacle to ron hardly qualifies as a peacemaker. peace is Hamas’s intransigent refusal to recognize The unilateral moves by his government were Israel and renounce terror. Certainly the election made in order to avoid having to bargain with the of the fundamentalist movement – and the more Palestinians. Sharon’s principal adviser, Dov Weis- recent takeover of Gaza by the movement - com- glass, in an October 2004 interview in the Israeli plicates the already difficult situation. Religious newspaper Haaretz, admitted that the unilateral fundamentalism is to be deplored in whatever form disengagement policy was designed to freeze the – Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. But most observers peace process, deny the Palestinians a viable state acknowledge that Hamas was not elected because and counter growing demands within Israel to re- of support for fundamentalism. start negotiations for a permanent peace accord. Hamas was elected democratically by the Pales- The withdrawal from Gaza still maintains ultimate tinian people. Israel and its backers in the west – Israeli control and the partial withdrawal from the ­including the Canadian government – refuse to rec- West Bank is bogus, especially given that settle- ognize their democratic decision. This is incredibly ments continue to expand. hypocritical. For years the US and others have been demanding that Palestinians hold new elections, Iran red herring and now that they have been held, they find the re- The references to Iran in the article create a di- sults illegitimate, because the choice wasn’t to their version from the fundamental problem of Israel – a liking. Isn’t this similar to the response of employers country that already has nuclear weapons and other when workers actually vote for a union? Employers weapons of mass destruction in violation of numer- have no right to dictate to workers and we have no ous international treaties. Iran has been a major ir- right to dictate to the Palestinian people. ritant in the area since the victory of the Ayatollahs This is not to mention the ongoing boycott of in the 1970s. Everyone on the left or in the trade the Palestinian government and cut-off of aid pro- union movement has denounced the Iranian re- grams has caused terrible hardship amongst the gime, its repression of labour, lack of democracy, its Palestinians, denying food, medicines and other appalling president and its possible moves to build necessities - a desperate humanitarian crisis. One nuclear weapons. But it is principally George Bush wonders: why doesn’t the article call for an end to and his buddies who have edged the world closer to this horrific and hypocritical boycott? a potential new war over Iran over the development Hargrove rightly opposes the horrors of terror- of nuclear energy research and capacities in line ism. Suicide bombing or rocket attacks against in- with its international treaty obligations, while other nocent civilians are not acceptable and should stop. countries allied with the US are aided in further de- But blowing up houses, torture, arbitrary arrests and veloping their nuclear arms capacities or to pursue detention, illegal assassinations, and military strikes secretly nuclear weapons research. (In recent Euro- that routinely kill innocent families and children (as pean polls, Bush is considered to be a greater threat in the horrific slaughter of a family at the beach in to world peace than Iran!) Canadian trade unionists Gaza by the Israeli military on June 9th) is also ter- have a responsibility to distance ourselves from this rorism. The state terrorism of Israel must also stop. latest US hysteria campaign and not abet it. Peace can only come to Palestine when two things happen: firstly, Israel must first renounce the Peace and justice policies of occupation, oppression and apartheid That brings us to the issue of peace, the central and recognize the legitimate rights of Palestinians

118 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine and the duly elected government and representa- members of the elected Hamas government (all tives of the Palestinian people. Such a move by Is- in retaliation for the kidnapping of an Israeli sol- rael is the key condition. dier, while Israel daily arrests and assassinates), only This will come from a combination of things. continues the cycle of aggression and violence. It Peace activists in Israel that support the rights of also reflects the contempt that Israel holds for the Palestinians must defeat the current political es- sovereignty of Palestinian institutions, world opin- tablishment. There are a number of political move- ion and social justice. ments within Israel that fight for such changes and maintain a continuous dialogue with the Palestinian What Can Canadian Unionists Do? movement. The Palestinian people continue their The role of progressive trade unionists in Cana- resistance for an end of the Occupation and full da is to build solidarity across the union movement civil rights for Palestinians in Israel. And the inter- in opposition to Israeli apartheid. Unions should national solidarity movement, particularly within support the CUPE-Ontario resolution, pass similar North America where Israel receives its greatest ones, take up the kind of education campaign that support for its policies of occupation, settlement CUPE is calling for, and participate in the develop- and military deployment, must pressure western ing global campaign for divestment and boycott of governments and Israel to change. Israeli peace ac- Israel. tivist and Palestinian civil organizations and unions CUPE-Ontario is not alone. Importantly, the see CUPE’s resolution and the campaigns it calls United Church of Canada’s Toronto branch has for as a component part of that international pres- opened a boycott of Israeli products and companies sure, a necessary condition for peace. doing business with its military. It also wants the Secondly, the Palestinian movement has to be church and its members to divest from companies willing to negotiate with Israel. Even with the on- supplying the Israeli military and boycott all prod- going rejection of Palestinian national rights and ucts from the occupied territories. It also calls on the current division amongst Palestinians, full ne- Ottawa to require that products originating in the gotiations with both Hamas as well as the Palestin- occupied territories must have separate labels, iden- ian Authority are possible. A couple of years ago, tifying their origins. This is part of an ongoing cam- Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons - from paign by the church to oppose Israel’s occupation. across the spectrum of Palestinian groups (includ- Education is a key. While a growing number of ing Hamas)- forged a “Prisoner’s Document”, Canadians – and one would assume trade union which works for a coming together of the Palestin- members – are critical of Israel’s occupation, many ian resistance on the basis of a two-state solution. really don’t know more than they read in the papers And while the division of the Palestinian movement or see on TV. Canada’s media monopolies, includ- needs to be addressed by Palestinians themselves, it ing even the CBC, are mainly controlled now by is clearly possible to negotiate with Hamas, in spite right-wing political forces. Their coverage of the of the movement’s refusal to recognize the legiti- Middle East is quite impoverished and imbalanced. macy of the existing state of Israel. By introducing the idea that Israel is an apartheid Until recent Israeli assassinations of notable Pal- state, trade unions can contribute to a deeper un- estinian militants and the gruesome murder of a derstanding of the realities of the Middle East and Palestinian family on a Gaza beach, Hamas held to help further the cause of international solidarity, a cease-fire with Israel. Hamas is a necessary part of social justice and anti-imperialism. a new peace process (as even former Israeli gener- Just like the important role the Canadian trade als concede!). But this can only happen when Israel union movement played in supporting the boycott backs off its intransigent position, and actually dem- of South Africa’s apartheid system in the 1980s in onstrates it is willing to accept a Palestinian state. Canada – actually changing peoples’ understanding The Israeli military incursions into Gaza over of that important struggle – the union movement the last few days, with even further destruction of can again contribute to a struggle for social justice ❖ Palestinian infrastructure and the detainment of and legitimate rights national self-determination. labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 119 Building Labour Solidarity with Palestine The experience of CUPE Ontario Resolution 50

Speech given by Katherine Nastovski, former chair of CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee, to Israeli Apartheid Week 2008, University of Toronto.

n May of 2006 the Canadian Union of Public demnation by the Israeli Ambassador to Canada, Employees Ontario, the largest section of the Buzz Hargrove of the Canadian Auto Workers largestI union in Canada adopted a Resolution call- (who unfortunately has dramatically changed his ing for boycott, divestment and sanctions against position on Palestine amongst other things over the Israeli Apartheid. This Resolution was a direct re- past few years) and an article by the leader of the sponse to the call that came from Palestine in July Histadrut (which is the Israeli Labour Federation) of 2005 for an International campaign of boycott, telling us that if we really want to “help” Palestin- divestment and sanctions against Israel. The call ians, we should share our skills and help Palestin- was issued by over 170 civil organizations within ians open up credit unions in the occupied territo- Palestine including the vast majority of unions and ries. This was followed only a few months later with union federations. Israel’s assault on Gaza and Lebanon. The media Modeled on the movement to end South Af- attacks ended there. rican apartheid, this campaign calls for 1. an end During this time, we also received letters of sup- to the occupation, the dismantling of the apartheid port from around the world including an immedi- wall 2. full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel ate letter of solidarity from Brother Willie Madi- and 3. full compliance with UN Resolution 194, the sha, leader of the Congress of South African Trade right of return. To do this, our Resolution called on Unions (COSATU) who themselves adopted a the union to initiate an education campaign and similar motion three months later. do research to identify the ways we support Israeli Since the passing of Resolution 50 dozens of apartheid through our pensions, investments and as unions at local and national levels have taken posi- consumers. tions to heed the BDS call with motions that have Resolution 50, supporting the movement of included: calls for immediate sanctions, divestment boycott, divestment and sanctions(bds) against Is- of pensions, fighting free trade agreements with rael, was not spontaneous moment it was preceded Israel, ending diplomatic relations with Israel and by years of building within CUPE and other unions adopting a full boycott of Israeli goods/academic spanning from the CUPE British Columbia’s com- institutions by members. mittee’s educational work to motions debated at These unions and federations include: different levels since 2000 from the provincial con- • Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical ventions to the Canadian Labour Congress. Union of Ireland, Republic of Ireland in July 06’ Immediately following the Resolution as many • Transport and General Workers Union, UK will recall there was a lengthy media campaign June 06’ against our decision as well as various levels of in- • Sacked Merseyside Dockworkers, on behalf of timidation and threats against members, leaders Merseyside trade unionists, UK June 06’ and staff. We definitely got people’s attention. • Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) July Some of the op-eds in the papers included con- 06’

120 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine • Congress of South African Trade Unions (CO- visiting members across the country. SATU), South Africa August 06’ • Norwegian Electrician and IT Workers Union, Organizing Norway September 06’ The primary focus of our work since the passing • National Union of Journalists (NUJ), UK De- of Resolution 50 has been on developing the educa- cember 06’ tion plan. Since August of 2006, the international • UCU (British Academic Union), UK August solidarity committee and other rank and file activ- 07’ ists have been working with the Ontario division • UNISON, UK Passes boycott motion and de- leadership and staff to develop materials and con- mands UK government sanctions Israel May 07’ duct trainings of activists to do educationals. • Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIP- We produced a booklet and question and answer SA), UK June 07’ sheet that we have been using for the education tour. • Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Republic of Ire- The booklet outlines the basics of Israeli- Apart land July 07’ heid, the links to South African Apartheid, how Canada and various multi-national corporations These are just to name a few of the ones who’ve are involved in supporting Israeli Apartheid, why been more widely publicized. There are also unions the growing bds movement and a list of resources like our sister union in South Africa South African links to growing research on goods and institutions Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) and other to boycott. This material is available outside and on union locals in South Africa, Ireland and the UK. our website www.cupe.on.ca. There is also a CUPE Not to mention numerous civil society organiza- BC booklet, produced by CUPE National called tions, churches, political parties that have also ad- the Wall Must Fall. It is available on the CUPE opted the call. BC website www.cupe.bc.ca. At the time of Resolution 50’s passing, we were So far, we’ve distributed around 4,000 of our not met with support from our national union. They booklets with some locals taking on doing work felt that BDS was an extreme position and out of themselves amongst their members or on university line with our existing national position on Pales- campuses in other parts of the province. tine. The only real difference between Resolution 50 There are about 25 active trained rank and file and our existing national policy is that we called to members who have been giving presentations since take action vs. leaving our position on paper. The November 2006. We began with the Ontario ex- goals of our Resolutions are the same. Our current ecutive board, and then started visiting committees, national policy supports ending the occupation, going to conferences, councils, locals, schools and dismantling of the wall and a just peace based on conventions. We’ve given dozens of presentations international law, which includes Resolution 194 from Ottawa to North Bay to Niagara. Reaching the right of return. places and spaces where many members have only Why our Resolution was so threatening is that ever been exposed to CNN or other mainstream it meant real mass education and a recognition that corporate media coverage of situation in Palestine. it is not enough to have a position on paper, soli- For many members at these councils, these pre- darity means action. Solidarity means taking direc- sentations have been the first presentations they’ve tion from Palestinian workers on what that action ever had on an issue of International solidarity. means. This direction is clear - Palestinian unions And while some locals have decided not to have and other civil society organizations have put up a us come to do a presentation because they see the picket line and we must respect that line. issue as divisive, the responses we’ve gotten from At our recent CUPE National convention, the presentations we have given have been very posi- National union did commit to develop an educa- tive. With many members asking what next? Now tion programme on Palestine over the next two what? What do we boycott? years. We hope to get an educational module to- We have been told by a number of staff and lead- gether within the next few months so we can start ers that this education campaign has reached more labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 121 rank and file members than any other campaign in • Israel controls almost every aspect of economic CUPE Ontario history. This is a testament to the life in the occupied territories including land, hard work and commitment of the incredible activ- water, resources and also polices what Palestin- ists in CUPE who’ve made this tour possible. ians can and cannot grow. This means devastat- One of the key things we face in doing these ing conditions for farmers, many whom have educationals has not been Zionist sentiment but a been separated from their land by the apartheid dominance of business unionism. By this I mean a wall and who often can’t harvest any crops be- way of seeing the union as a servicing agent that cause their water is being diverted to Israel. bargains and uphold collective agreements. • Since 2001 432 Palestinian factories and 9785 This business union attitude treats international small shops have been destroyed in the occupied solidarity as charity or as peripheral to the day to day territories. work of the union fighting the employer. We face • Even the Palestinian unions themselves are sub- this not just in doing international solidarity work ject to Israeli institutions like the Histadrut. The but more generally with respect to political work. Histadrut collects dues from Palestinian workers While activists and the divisions in CUPE work while denying any obligation to represent these to challenge this by always connecting bargaining workers. In 1995 the Histadrut agreed to remit to privatization and other neo-liberal policies and these dues to the Palestinian General Trade practices, the view that the bargaining table is a Union Federation (PGFTU). The estimated space of workers and their employers divorced from dues owed total 1.5 billion shekels. So far 1 mil- their political context in which funding and policies lion have been remitted. are made, is unfortunately prevalent amongst some I call the Histadrut, Israel’s labour organization, trade unionists. an Israeli institution because it is not a union in the It is one of our biggest challenges as left trade sense that many of us we think of. The Histadrut unionist activists. The absurdity of business union- played a key role in the colonization of Palestine ism is clearly shown when we look at the conditions as a pre-state formation that bought land, built of workers in Palestine and how this ties to strug- factories, provided capital for infrastructure to pro- gles of workers here and throughout the world. vide jobs for Jewish settlers. It was founded upon a The situation of Palestinian workers is often de- rejection of the possibility of a Jewish-Arab union scribed as case of imprisoned labour. This is because federation. of Israel’s almost total control over workers lives. A quote by an early Histadrut leader David These conditions, and the military occupation, are Hacohen captures the sentiment behind its founda- supported by and to the benefit of not only a vari- tion: ‘The railway workers forget that the mission of ety of multi-national corporations but to capitalist the Hebrew workers who are part of the movement interest in the region, not just the Israeli state. for settling Palestine, is not to be bothered by mu-

These conditions include: tual assistance to Arab workers, but to assist in the • The issuing of work permits that tie Palestinian fortification of the Zionist project on the land.’ workers to their employers meaning that they The Israeli labour federation was built on an often receive far below minimum wage, no ac- explicit rejection of worker solidarity – adopting a cess to health and safety regulation, most get no racist, not class based framework for membership. sick leave or vacation pay. And this is only if they The Histadrut today is still very close to the Israeli can get work, a permit and can make it to work state. As we saw in the summer of 2006, the for- through the checkpoints. mer President of the Histadrut Amir Peretz in his • Israel plans to stop issuing these permits this new role as Israeli Defence Minister called for the year which will mean more than 30,000 people bombing of Gaza and Lebanon. They were also not out of work who will have little choice but to only involved in supporting the apartheid regime work in the Industrial zones Israel has been es- in South Africa but even began a joint venture be- tablishing close to the wall surrounding the west tween one of its companies and an Afrikaner com- bank and in Gaza.

122 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine pany in South Africa. successfully organized full weeks of actions where Early last year Palestinian trade unions issued a Longshoreman refused to touch cargo going to and call to boycott the Histadrut. from South Africa and Postal Workers refused to handle mail to or from South Africa. Impact We have a wealth of knowledge to gain from Developing the education tour on Resolution 50 the solidarity movement against South African has been a successful organizing experience in our apartheid. At its height the trade union coali- union more generally in a number of ways. First, in tion involved in organizing against South African the close links being made between union activists Apartheid (SACTU) reached 10,000 rank and file and community activists. Second, in the space it has members a year, going to locals etc across the coun- opened in rethinking the possibilities of organizing try. We’ll get there too. within union spaces and confirming the importance Right now our challenge is doing the education of organizing rank and file workers. Third, in see- work as broadly as possible. Reaching rank and file ing community activists finding an interest in be- members, going to locals, raising the issue every- ing involved or identifying with their union, which where we can. We know how powerful education they otherwise would not be. Fourth, in facilitating on the situation in Palestine is and how not com- the development of stronger relationships between plicated the situation becomes once it is clearly laid activists within our union through our work trying out. to coordinate educationals in different cities. It has While for us in CUPE Resolution 50 gave us meant building a wider base of allies outside of To- substantial space to organize, our focus should not ronto. This is important not just for building the be on just passing Resolutions. Resolutions can anti-apartheid campaign but also in mapping and help to do work at a broader level but our work can developing a broader socialist base in our union. start as simply as in your workplace, with your co- I say this because international solidarity activism workers. Maybe a lunch time presentation to a few tends to be a space where anti-imperialist social- other workers. An educational wherever we can get ists of different stripes congregate. For instance, it, however small is important. left activists involved in anti-imperialist work and Within our unions we can organize via hu- other solidarity work have begun to come together man rights committees, social justice committees, to form a socialist caucus within CUPE in Ontario. women’s committees, anti-racism committees, the Fifth, union renewal agenda, the space Resolution list goes on. And if these don’t exist in your union, 50 has mandated to do a province wide tour has then maybe there should and maybe they can be been seen as a model by other activists for a new set up with the work of rank and file activists. Our way to mobilize and train members around issues energies should be to do grassroots education and and campaigns. build a solid base of rank and file activists, union And over the past few months we have been to union. working to broaden this base nationally, with the I don’t think we need to waste any time or en- establishment of a Palestine solidarity network in ergy with how demobilized or controlled the struc- CUPE on a national scale. tures may be or worry about them too much. It is important to remember that the movement against Role of the Labour Movement South African Apartheid was built in a climate that Historically, the labour movement has played a began with wide public support for apartheid and significant role in anti-imperialist struggles. And where Mandela was called a terrorist. The Cana- particularly, organized workers can play a different dian Labour Congress leadership and other union role than students or other community organiza- leaders in Canada began by supporting apartheid tions in the power we have in our workplaces. This and trying to shut down spaces where rank and file was clearly evidenced in the trade unionists involved activists organized. I raise this to keep in mind that in the solidarity movement against South African the leadership follows and we should just go on and or- ❖ Apartheid in Canada and elsewhere. These activists ganize. We don’t need their blessing. labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 123 Statement by Labour for Palestine in Response to US Anti-Boycott Statement 27 August 2007

n July 2007, a group of labour leaders from the fact that the global campaign of BDS against Israel US issued a statement opposing the growing in- is a direct response to an urgent appeal signed in ternationalI campaign of boycotts, divestment and July 2005 by over 170 Palestinian worker, student, sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The statement was farmer, women, professional and refugee associa- signed by a number of presidents from unions in- tions2 . This appeal was endorsed by every Palestin- cluding the American Federation of Teachers, the ian trade union federation and is the broadest and American Postal Workers Union, the Communica- most representative call for international solidarity tion Workers of America, the International Broth- ever made by Palestinian society. erhood of Teamsters, and the AFL-CIO1. It was This point bears repeating. To portray the call widely discussed in the Israeli media, where it was for boycott as a “simplistic and non-constructive presented as a response to this summer’s important approach” originating from outside the region de- set of boycott resolutions from unions in the UK. liberately obfuscates the central point of the BDS While the US statement can in no way be seen as campaign. The global trade union support for boy- representative of grassroots sentiment within the cott resolutions is a direct response to an urgent North American trade union movement, as labour appeal from Palestinian workers and their repre- activists involved in a variety of Canadian unions sentatives. Palestinian workers and their represen- we feel it is important to respond to the array of tatives have set up a picket line and asked us not to mistruths and distortions it contains. cross. As North American trade unionists we have an extra responsibility to workers and their families Singling out Israel or struggling against unjust and oppressive regimes International Solidarity? “particularly when those regimes are fully support- The US statement begins by endorsing a senti- ed by the US and Canadian governments. ment that is repeated adnauseum by pro-Israel ac- It is worth emphasizing that attempts to char- tivists: “with the diverse range of oppressive regimes acterize the international trade union movement as around the world about which there is almost uni- ‘singling out’ Israel appear ridiculous to anyone with versal silence, we have to question the motives of more than a passing acquaintance with the labour these resolutions that single out one country in one politics. If there is one issue “particularly in North conflict.” America – that the labour movement has simply The first thing to note about this argument is been silent on for too many decades it is the injustice that it contains a remarkable omission. Nowhere committed against the Palestinian people. The coura- in the entire US statement is there mention of the geous resolutions coming from the UK, Canada and

1 See http://www.jewishlaborcommittee.org/2007/07/statement_of_opposition_to_div.html) for a copy of this ­statement. 2 See http://www.stopthewall.org/downloads/pdf/BDSEnglish.pdf

124 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine countries in Europe are a long overdue response to The statement claims: a shameful blight on the history of the international “We note with increasing concern that virtually trade union movement. Our fellow trade unionists all of these [BDS] resolutions focus solely on ob- in the US should take up this campaign with even jections to actions or policies of the Israeli govern- more vigour, given the fact that the crimes commit- ment, and never on actions or policies of Palestinian ted against the Palestinian people by the Israeli gov- or other Arab governments, parties or movements. ernment would simply not be possible without US We notice with increasing concern that character- diplomatic, financial and military support. ization of the Palestinians as victims and Israel as The “why-pick-on-Israel’”response to the boy- victimizer is a staple of such resolutions. That there cott campaign is even more shocking to hear from are victims and victimizers on all sides, and that the leaders of the largest and most influential union many if not most of the victims of violence and re- organizations in the US. What kind of trade union- pression on all sides are civilians, are essential items ists ever make the argument that we shouldn’t sup- often not mentioned in these resolutions.” port a labour struggle in one city because there are This argument of balance is willfully blind and other workers also being oppressed in another? Or deliberately obfuscating of the central political is- that a victory in one sector won’t aid our struggles sues at hand. There is an underlying cause to the as workers in another? This is an essential ABC of ongoing misery and suffering that affects peoples in international solidarity. It is an unfortunate truth the area - and it affects some people more than oth- that too many in the labour movement in the US - ers: The destruction of the Palestinian homeland in and Canada – have largely forgotten or deliberately 1948; the creation of an exclusivist state that closely buried the principle of ‘an injury to one is an injury resembles the apartheid state of South Africa; the to all’. Nevertheless, we must constantly uphold and continued occupation, since 1967, of Palestinian stress this principle as essential to rebuilding our lands in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in vio- respective labour movements around a platform lation of UN resolutions; and the current encircle- of militant, progressive solidarity and anti-imperi- ment, siege and economic strangulation of Gaza; alism. It is indeed striking that the US statement these are the root problems of the conflict. Israel avoids all mention of even the word “solidarity.” (with U.S. and British support) is the key perpetra- We know that trade unionists in the US active tor of these violations and it is morally disingenu- around solidarity with Palestine are also those pro- ous to deploy arguments of ‘all sides equally guilty’. moting other solidarity issues in the labour move- These violations of the Palestinian peoples and na- ment: opposition to war against Iraqi and Afghan tion must be addressed if a genuine and just peace is peoples, solidarity with workers in Mexico, Co- to be achieved in the region. Avoiding these issues lumbia, Egypt, the Philippines, and others. These – and repeating vacuous calls that serve to equate activists are also in the forefront on picket lines, the oppressed and their oppressors – really means organizing the unorganized, building support for standing on the side of those in power. undocumented workers and leading “unauthorized” Of course civilians on all sides suffer from the strikes for social justice. The portrayal of BDS reso- ongoing state of war. But if you want to do some- lutions as narrowing the work of union activists is thing about that, then the fundamental causes of simply dishonest. A victory on one of these issues the problem need to be addressed. The global BDS will inspire and mobilize activists across a broad movement attempts to do just that: by denying le- range of social justice issues. This is our experience gitimacy to those who make a living justifying the in Canada. It is certain to be the case elsewhere. current state of affairs; by refusing to work with or- ganizations that support the oppression of an entire The “Both Sides” Argument people; and by opposing investments that strength- The US labour leaders’ statement also invokes en the occupation and domination of the Palestin- the equally oft-repeated argument that we need ian people. Peace can only be brought to the region to be “balanced”, look at “all sides,” avoid talking by supporting peoples struggling for their freedom about the “victims and victimizer,” and so forth. and social justice. labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 125 The Negotiations Myth being in the front ranks supporting those suffering The US labour leaders’ statement goes on to against exploitation and oppression. argue that peace requires the coming together of There are groups of people in Israel that respect the parties. The calls for boycotts stand in the way the rights of Palestinians, maintain relations of soli- of the necessary interaction between the warring darity and support for their struggle, and also sup- communities. Such an argument is again similar to port the BDS movement against Israeli apartheid. those used against workers engaged in struggle in Much like the relations between the white South their workplaces. How often have we been told that African supporters of the ANC and the liberation a strike “hurts everyone,” and if we sit down and movement, the former fully supported the struggle negotiate then ‘all sides will win’? and renounced the privileges and the superior status The reality is that over the last few decades the given to them by the racist regime. We are absolute- so-called “peace: negotiations have simply served ly confident that the numbers and public profile of to cement Israel’s stranglehold over the Palestinian those courageous Israelis who stand with the Pales- people. Following the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel’s tinian people will continue to increase alongside the settlement construction in the West Bank doubled. growing strength of the global boycott movement. Its system of military orders governing every as- pect of Palestinian life was expanded to include an Israeli and Palestinian Unions invidious control of Palestinian movement based What about the Palestinian and Israeli trade on the notorious South African pass card system. unions? Once again, the silence of the US labour Israel guaranteed the complete dependence of the leaders’ statement towards the call issued by all Pal- Palestinian economy through control of all exports estinian trade union federations in February 2007 and imports, the construction of industrial zones to to boycott the existing Israeli union movement exploit cheap Palestinian labour, and the ultimate – the Histadrut – needs to be underlined3. The His- supply of all water, electricity, and fuel entering the tadrut represents a colonial-type union formation Palestinian areas. The disconnected islands of ter- that supports the ongoing domination of the Pal- ritories that Palestinians have been made captive estinian people. It has worked hand-in-hand with within have been rightly described as Bantustans. the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza These Bantustans are now encircled by the Apart- Strip for decades, and is thus an integral part of the heid Wall and its associated network of military exploitation of Palestinian labour. The former His- checkpoints, barbed wire fences and explosive tadrut leader, Amir Peretz, moved straight on to Is- mines. raeli Defence Minister and in that position presided To claim that “direct talks” are a panacea for over the horrendous bombardment of Lebanon in these fundamental problems overlooks the basic 2006. As part of Olmert’s government, he partici- fact that negotiations are not neutral. The Israeli pated in the further extension of settlements in the government wields tremendous military, economic West Bank and the building of the Apartheid Wall. and political superiority over the Palestinian peo- The relationships that exist between the Histradrut ple. It is supported by the most powerful states on and Palestinian labour institutions can in no honest the planet. The Palestinian people are living under way be described as constituting “co-operative and Israeli occupation. In such a situation can it be any- mutually supportive activities.” thing more than self-evident that negotiations will favour the more powerful? These realities of power Why BDS? in the region - and its implications for the achieve- The purpose of boycott and divestment resolu- ment of rights of self-determination and justice for tions is to force the Israeli government to fulfill Palestinians - must be acknowledged to truly dem- basic principles of human rights. Governments onstrate international solidarity. It means taking around the world have clearly failed to do so, and, sides. As unionists we know that this means always in contrast, are instrumental to supporting Israel’s

3 See http://www.stopthewall.org/boycott/bds/cupe.shtml

126 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine system of oppression. The BDS campaign message been conducting a year-long education campaign is direct: it simply says that we should have no part throughout dozens of union locals based on mate- in supporting those who stand with and maintain rial produced by the union on BDS. Hundreds of Israeli apartheid; we refuse to participate with and workers have gone through these educational ses- strengthen those structures and demand that ba- sions. Discussions and groups supportive of Pales- sic human rights are achieved for the Palestinian tinian solidarity have formed in other unions. This people. would simply not have been possible without a The boycott campaign is working. What other resolution passed by CUPE in March 2006. international initiative over the last few decades Over the past fifty years much of the trade union has so publicly expressed global dissatisfaction movement in the US (and many in Canada as well) with Israeli policies against the Palestinian people have an inglorious record in supporting the foreign and been so effective in forcing the Israeli govern- policy efforts of successive pro-business govern- ment to respond? We know that we are having an ments. Nevertheless, today a growing number of impact when the Israeli government decides to trade unionists are rejecting that tradition and are set up a special government committee to combat instead looking to rebuild a truly internationalist the global boycott movement.4 We know that our worker’s movement. The BDS campaign is a pow- voices are being heard when the British govern- erful component of this movement for progressive ment must publicly come out against the UK trade union solidarity. union movement because of its position on Israeli As Canadian trade unionists, we are convinced human rights violations.5 When was the last time that the global BDS campaign represents a re- a western government has paid attention to a trade awakening of the true principles of the labour move- union resolution? ment. The boycott movement was an important part The BDS movement is also a powerful- con of solidarity with black South Africans struggling sciousness raising tool. By raising the arguments against apartheid. We are certain that it will be an and debates we help to educate workers around an instrumental part of achieving justice and peace in issue that it is simply impossible to understand on the Middle East. We are proud to be active in this a diet of the mainstream, corporate media. In Can- campaign in Canada. A great many rank-and-file ada, for example, union activists in the Canadian labour activists in the US support this work. Their ❖ Union of Public Employees (CUPE Ontario) have voices and solidarity will not be silenced.

4 See “Government to Form Joint Task Force to counter U.K. Boycotts” , Haaretz, 8 June 2007 http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/spages/868700.html 5 See British Embassy Tel Aviv, “Howells Comments on Boycott of Israeli Goods” http://www.britemb.org.il/ news/2007/howells180407.htm labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 127 US Labor and Gaza Statement by New York City Labor Against the War 23 March 2008

ew York City Labor Against the War joins ter, Matan Valnai, threatened a bigger “Shoah” -- a the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions reference to the Nazi Holocaust. inN denouncing Israel’s recent massacres in Gaza, the As UN official John Dugard has pointed out, victims of which include at least 130 Palestinians - Palestinian rockets are not the cause, but the “inevi- - half of them civilians, including dozens of women table consequence,” of Israeli state terror in Gaza, and children – since February 27. the slow-motion genocide which human rights organizations describe as “worse than at any time Who are the Terrorists? since the beginning of the Israeli military occupa- Israel claims that it is fighting “terrorism” in tion in 1967.” Gaza. This is the same hollow excuse with which Following the latest attacks, a Council on For- the U.S. seeks to justify war in Afghanistan and eign Relations expert explained, “You have Pales- Iraq, and the erosion of civil liberties and labor tinians who wouldn’t necessarily support the vio- rights at home. lence but they are saying, ‘Well, what choice do we In fact, Israel’s attacks are part of a relentless, have?’” U.S.-orchestrated campaign of collective punish- ment -- with complicity of the corrupt Palestin- Sixty Years of Ethnic Cleansing ian Authority -- to overthrow the democratically- and Genocide elected Hamas government. Israel’s war on Gaza can only be understood as Long before its latest massacres, Israel had turned an attempt to stamp out all resistance -- includ- Gaza into the world’s “largest open air prison,” as- ing nonviolent protest -- to Israel’s ongoing ethnic sassinating activists, and cutting-off essential goods cleansing of the Palestinians. and services to 1.5 million people. Only as a result Indeed, most of Gaza’s population are survivors did Hamas abandon a unilateral two-year truce. of Zionist expulsions since the Nakba (Catastrophe) Even now, Israel seeks to derail Hamas truce of- of 1948, when 13,000 Palestinians were massacred, fers by escalating arrests, home demolitions, settle- 531 towns and villages erased, 11 urban neighbor- ments and murder in the West Bank -- from which hoods emptied, and more than 750,000 (85 per- no rockets have been fired. cent) driven from 78 percent of their country. Despite media portrayals, this violence is over- In 1967, Israel seized the remaining 22 percent whelmingly one-sided against Palestinians, who of Palestine – including East Jerusalem, the West have no aircraft, artillery or tanks. Bank and Gaza – which, in violation of UN resolu- Thus, while only one Israeli has been killed by tions, remains under Israeli military rule. rockets launched from Gaza since May 2007, Isra- Today, as a result of these policies, at least 70 el’s modern arsenal killed 60 Palestinians on March percent of the 10 million Palestinians are refugees 1 alone. -- the largest such population in the world. Despite On February 29, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minis- other UN resolutions, Israel vows that it will never

128 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine allow them to return. tion over the oil-rich Middle East -- and beyond. Palestinians who managed to remain within the In that capacity, Israel was apartheid South Africa’s 1948 areas -- today, 1.4 million (or 20 percent of the closest ally. population in Israel) -- are permanently separated After 9/11, it helped intensify the demonization from their families in exile, subject to more than of Arabs and Muslims. It has 200 nuclear weapons, 20 discriminatory laws, treated as a “demographic but helped manufacture “evidence” of Iraqi WMD. threat,” and threatened with mass expulsion. With U.S. weapons and support, it invaded Leba- In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, 140 il- non in 2006. legal, ever-expanding Jewish-only settlements and Together, these wars and occupations have killed, road systems dominate the water resources and maimed and displaced millions of people, thereby control 40 percent of the land. Palestinians are creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. confined, separated, denied medical treatment, and Now, Israel is the cutting edge of threats against degraded by an 8-meter-high separation wall, pass Syria and Iran. laws, curfews and 600 military checkpoints. In other words, oppression and resistance in Pal- From 2000-2007, 4,274 Palestinians in these estine is the epicenter of U.S.-Israeli war through- 1967 territories were killed, compared with 1,024 out the Middle East. These stakes are reflected in Israelis. The military has seized 60,000 political the ferocity of Israel’s attacks against Gaza. prisoners; it still holds and tortures 11,000. All of these conditions have dramatically wors- Labor’s Role ened since the Annapolis “peace conference” in No- In Palestine, South Africa, Britain, Canada and vember. other countries, labor has condemned Israeli Apart- heid. US Sponsorship Workers in the United States pay a staggering Israel’s war on Palestine depends completely on human and financial price, including deepening U.S. money, weapons and approval. economic crisis, for U.S.-Israeli war and occupa- Since 1948, Israel – the top foreign aid recipient tion. – has received at least $108 billion from the U.S. But through a combination of intent, ignorance government. In the past ten years alone, U.S. mili- and/or expediency, much of labor officialdom in tary aid was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will this country – often without the knowledge or con- be $30 billion. sent of union members – is an accomplice of Israeli Israel’s recent assault on Gaza was endorsed by Apartheid. a Congressional vote of 404-1. Democratic and Some 1,500 labor bodies have plowed at least $5 Republican presidential candidates fall over them- billion of union pension funds and retirement plans selves to offer more of the same. into State of Israel Bonds. On March 22, Dick Cheney reassured Israeli In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestin- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of “America’s. . . . ian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself always President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at against terrorism, rocket attacks and other threats,” a belligerent “National Solidarity Rally for Israel.” and that the U.S. and Israel are “friends – special In 2006, leadership of the American Federation of friends.” Teachers embraced Israel’s war on Lebanon. This “special friendship” means that, as in- Af These same leaders collaborate with attempts ghanistan and Iraq, it is U.S. aircraft, cluster bombs by the Jewish Labor Committee ( JLC) to silence and bullets that kill and maim on behalf of the oc- Apartheid Israel’s opponents – many of whom are cupiers. Just one of many targets was the Palestinian Jewish. General Federation of Trade Unions headquarters In July 2007, top officials of the AFL-CIO and in Gaza City, destroyed by F-16s on February 28. Change to Win signed a JLC statement that con- Such support bolsters Israel’s longstanding role demned British unions for even considering the as watchdog and junior partner for U.S. domina- nonviolent campaign for boycott, divestment and labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 129 sanctions against Israel. in April 1967, Dr. King answered these critics by Just days ago, the JLC and the leadership of pointing out that “silence is betrayal,” and that “the UNITE-HERE bullied a community organiza- greatest purveyor of violence in the world today . . . tion in Boston into revoking space for a conference [is] my own government.” on “Zionism and the Repression of Anti-Colonial At the National Labor Leadership Assembly for Movements.” Peace in November 1967, he reiterated the most Even the leadership of U.S. Labor Against the basic principles of labor solidarity: “Injustice any- War, which receives funding from several major where is a threat to justice everywhere ... Ultimately unions, remains adamantly silent about U.S. gov- a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but ernment, corporate and labor support for Israeli a molder of consensus.” Apartheid. These principles are no less relevant today. Labor leaders’ complicity parallels infamous Yes, the Israel lobby seeks to silence opponents “AFL-CIA” support for U.S. war and dictatorship in of Israeli Apartheid. All the more need for trade Vietnam, Latin America, Gulf War I, Afghanistan unionists to break that silence by speaking out and elsewhere. It strengthens the U.S.-Israel war against Israeli military occupation, for the right of machine and labor’s corporate enemies, reinforces Palestinian refugees to return, and for the elimina- racism and Islamophobia, and makes a mockery of tion of apartheid throughout historic Palestine. international solidarity. Therefore, we reaffirm our support for an imme- diate and total: A Necessary Stand 1. End to U.S. military and economic support for More than forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther Israel. King Jr. came under intense public attack for op- 2. Divestment of business and labor investments in posing the Vietnam war. Even within the Civil Israel. Rights Movement, some dismissed his position too 3. Withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from the ❖ “divisive” and “unpopular.” Middle East. In his famous speech at the Riverside Church

130 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine A reply to B’nai Brith Manifesto denouncing CUPE-Ontario’s Boycott of Israel

n 31 May 2006, B’nai Brith issued a statement B’nai Brith: We applaud Israel as a vibrant society denouncing the decision by CUPE-Ontario that respects the civil, religious and cultural rights toO support the global campaign of boycotts, divest- of all its citizens. ment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid. The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) has CAIA: Israel consistently denies its non-Jewish prepared this response to the myths and allegations citizens equal access to social services and the ma- raised by B’nai Brith. terial resources of the state. Palestinian citizens of Israel constitute one-fifth of the Israeli population B’nai Brith: We support the State of Israel, a sister yet it is illegal for any individual or party to run democracy to Canada, the only country in theMid- for the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) if they do dle East founded on the rule of law. not support the Jewish character of the state. Israeli Knesset members have openly advocated the force- CAIA: The state of Israel continues to violate in- ful expulsion of Palestinian citizens. ternational law through the construction of its Wall In Israel, 93 percent of the land is earmarked through Palestinian territory, through its occupa- for Jewish control and development through state tion of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and its denial ownership, the Jewish National Fund and the Is- of Palestinian refugees the right to return to their raeli Lands Authority. In apartheid South Africa, homes and lands. Israel remains the only country in 87 percent of the land was reserved for whites. The the UN general assembly with more than one class 2002 state budget, for example, allocates around $30 of citizenship (through the Population Registry per person of the housing ministry budget to Arab Act) where Jews are granted preferential access to communities compared with $3,100 per person in land, and water resources, as well as social services. Jewish ones. Over 100,000 Palestinian citizens of The United Nations Committee Against Torture Israel are from “unrecognized villages,” residential has repeatedly condemned Israel for its continued areas that have existed for hundreds of years but are use of torture against Palestinian civilians. In 1997, deliberately refused recognition by the Israeli gov- Amnesty International noted, “Israel is the only ernment. These citizens are denied any basic services country on earth where torture and ill-treatment such as running water, electricity, proper education are legally sanctioned.” Over 9,000 Palestinians are and health services, and access roads. currently held as political prisoners by Israel, in- In May 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court ef- cluding 400 Palestinian children. One thousand of fectively banned marriage between Israelis and these detainees are held without charge or trial; the Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, equivalent of 8,000 Canadians held under Security a decision that the Israeli daily Haaretz termed Certificates. “shameful.” Until recently, the Bank of Israel and To describe these practices – thoroughly docu- the state electricity company did not hire anyone mented by UN bodies, and international, Israeli who was Arab. and Palestinian human rights organizations – as Furthermore, Israel continues to occupy the the “rule of law” is to mock the basic principles of West Bank and Gaza Strip, thus denying millions of justice. Palestinians their civil, religious, and cultural rights

labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 131 through the imposition of military checkpoints, CAIA: During the fight against Apartheid in South through the destruction of mosques, churches, and Africa, international sanctions and boycotts were places of worship, the killing of civilians and the tar- instrumental part in forcing the regime to change. geting of Palestinian political institutions and par- South African archbishop and Nobel laureate Des- ties. Palestinians are identified by different colored mond Tutu has likened the Israeli treatment of identity cards and license plates and are forbidden Palestinians to the treatment of black people under from traveling on certain roads. Movement of Pal- South African apartheid. Trade unions, churches, estinians between towns and villages is controlled social groups, NGOs, and political parties all over by Israeli permits and checkpoints. the world joined in boycotts, at the request of South These measures should be described as they are: African anti-apartheid groups. It should not be for- examples of Israeli apartheid. The main thrust of gotten that, at the time, Israel provided major po- the CUPE Ontario decision is the comparison with litical, financial and military support to the South South African apartheid. Indeed, the first item of African Apartheid regime. the CUPE resolution is to conduct an “education Two days after the CUPE Ontario resolution campaign about the apartheid nature of the Israeli was adopted, another boycott resolution was passed state.” It is striking that the various attacks against by the largest union of university teachers in Brit- the CUPE Ontario resolution refuse to address this ain, the National Association of Teachers in Further theme. Does B’nai Brith support or oppose Israeli and Higher Education (NATFHE). NATFHE, apartheid? representing around 70,000 members, declared its active support of boycotts against Israeli academ- B’nai Brith: We oppose the CUPE-Ontario boy- ics and academic institutions that do not publicly cott of Israel, as inherently biased and discrimina- take an explicit stand against Israeli apartheid and tory, betraying a politically-charged agenda. Israel’s discriminatory educational system. These two resolutions represent the latest in a CAIA: The CUPE-Ontario resolution calls for an snowballing movement to isolate Israeli apartheid education campaign and for the respect of interna- in the manner of South African apartheid. In July tional law. The resolution specifically targets Israeli 2005, over 170 Palestinian trade unions, NGOs and practices already found to be in violation of interna- religious groups issued a call for boycotts, divestment tional law, i.e., discriminatory citizenship rights, the and sanctions against Israeli apartheid. A long list Wall, and self-determination for Palestinians. of institutions, city councils, religious organizations, Yes, CUPE-Ontario does stand on the side of political parties and unions have since endorsed and those who are oppressed and who are struggling for acted on this call. In March 2006, the Green Party their rights. Indeed, this should be fundamental to of the United States issued a powerful policy state- the principles of the labour movement. CUPE-On- ment that supported “divestment from and boycott tario should be applauded for taking this stand in of the State of Israel until such time as the full indi- support of justice, human rights and international vidual and collective rights of the Palestinian peo- solidarity. ple are realized.” In February 2006, the Church of England’s general synod-including the Archbishop B’nai Brith: We understand full well that such boy- of Canterbury-voted to disinvest church funds cotts, from wherever they emanate, do nothing to from companies profiting from the Israeli occupa- advance true peace in the Middle East, but rather tion. On 16 December 2005, the regional council of create a roadblock to meaningful resolution of the the Sor-Trondelag in Norway passed a motion call- conflict, and; ing for a comprehensive boycott on Israeli goods to We expose such boycotts as thinly veiled at- be followed up with an awareness raising campaign tempts to delegitimize the existence of the State across the region. Sor-Trondelag was the first Nor- of Israel and its right to protect its citizens against wegian county to boycott South Africa and is now terror and violence. the first to boycott Israeli apartheid.

132 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine The central obstacle to peace in the region is Is- CAIA: The CUPE Ontario convention was attend- raeli apartheid. We must work to end this apartheid ed by over 900 delegates democratically elected by system if we are to provide justice and hope to all CUPE Locals all over the province. All resolutions in the area. CUPE-Ontario should be congratu- were provided in written form to the delegates in lated for taking this courageous stand in support the months before the convention took place. The of human rights, and openly supporting the global boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution was movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions put forward by the CUPE Toronto District Coun- against Israeli apartheid. cil as well as other CUPE Locals. Many delegates spoke in favor of the resolution at different points B’nai Brith: We warn that the “Right of Return” during the convention proceedings. demanded by CUPE-Ontario would ultimately It is ironic, indeed, that an organization un- lead to the destruction of the Jewish State. ­related to CUPE-Ontario should undertake a mas- sive lobby campaign to get CUPE Ontario to re- CAIA: In 1948, with the founding of the Israeli voke a decision made at its highest decision making state, 80 percent of the indigenous Palestinian pop- body, and in the process accuse the union of being ulation were driven from their homes and land and “highjacked.” The Coalition Against Israeli Apart- became refugees. The Israeli state guarantees any heid affirms its support for union democracy and person of a Jewish background, anywhere in the decision making. world, the right to become a citizen of Israel yet the indigenous population is refused their right to B’nai Brith: We note CUPE-Ontario’s failure return. Article 13 of the UN Universal Declaration to condemn the gross abuses perpetrated against of Human Rights states,”Everyone has the right trade unionists in many Arab countries, and ques- to freedom of movement and residence within the tion its failure to stand in solidarity with its union borders of each state; and everyone has the right to colleagues elsewhere, as is surely its sacred respon- leave any country, including his own, and return to sibility. his country.” The right of return of refugees is not a matter of negotiation. It is an inalienable right of all CAIA: Once again, B’nai Brith belies its ignorance people. Currently, Israel stands in direct violation of of what actually happened at the CUPE-Ontario the UN Declaration of Human Rights, a document Convention and of the mandate of CUPE. An of which Israel is a signatory. emergency resolution was unanimously adopted in The right of Palestinian refugees to return to support of pro-reform and pro-democracy activists their homes and land is not simply a legal ques- in Egypt, many of whom have been subject to ex- tion. Most significantly, it points to the fact that we tra-judicial jailing and torture. The Convention re- should oppose any state that operates on the ba- peatedly underlined the importance of internation- sis of one religious or ethnic exclusivity. The cen- al solidarity as central to building a strong union tral goal of the anti-apartheid struggle is a state in movement in Canada that learns and co-operates which anyone can live, regardless of their religious with other struggles. This theme was also stressed or ethnic background. This unquestionably means in the Action Plan for 2006 adopted by the conven- the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their tion. An international solidarity forum organized homes and lands from which they were expelled in by the CUPE International Solidarity Commit- 1948. tee at the Convention discussed struggles in Haiti, Colombia, Palestine and the situation of people in B’nai Brith: We condemn the highjacking of Canada jailed under security certificates. Invited CUPE-Ontario’s core mandate by individuals who guests addressed the convention on the situation in have marginalized and ignored the views and values Venezuela and Bolivia. CUPE members spoke at of union members who do not support the prevail- and participated in a demonstration in support of ing anti-Israel mindset refugee rights in Canada.

labour for palestine SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement 133 CUPE-Ontario has a proud tradition of solidar- B’nai Brith: We call on citizens of good will to de- ity with international unions, and support for the mand that CUPE-Ontario repeal its boycott which international standards of human rights, environ- stands in stark contradiction to the established for- mental practices, and labour conditions. To suggest eign policies and trade agreements set by the Gov- otherwise is to engage in deliberate obfuscation of ernment of Canada, which represents the Canadian CUPE’s mandate and practices. people

B’nai Brith: We dispute the right of CUPE-On- CAIA: The position of the Canadian government tario – with its declared anti-Israel agenda – to rep- is clearly in support of Israeli apartheid. Canada resent itself as a credible body to undertake public was the first country in the world to cut aid to the education on the Arab-Israeli conflict Palestinian Authority, the elected representatives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. CAIA: CUPE-Ontario has many representatives Canada has a free trade agreement with Israel that and members who are extremely knowledgeable helps to sustain and reward Israeli apartheid. This of the practices and experience of Israeli apartheid. resolution is one more indication that a growing This includes a large number of Palestinians and number of Canadians clearly do not support these Jews who support the anti-apartheid movement. policies. All citizens of good will should be con- CUPE-Ontario also has a wide network of aca- cerned, and should feel free to voice their concern demics, fellow unionists and individuals who sup- with Israeli apartheid, individually or collectively, port this anti-apartheid stance and are experienced through resolutions in unions, churches, syna- in conducting public education campaigns. Other gogues, temples, and mosques, through community CUPE divisions, such as CUPE BC, have already meetings, letters to the editor, political lobbying v produced high quality educational booklets on mat- and public demonstrations. ters such as the apartheid Wall.

134 SECTION five: Palestine Solidarity and the North American Labour Movement labour for palestine Campaigns and Further Resources

BDS Campaigns in Canada buy from this bookchain (and support alternative There are some simple steps that you can take to independent bookstores) until the owners publicly become active in the BDS campaign in Canada: cut all financial ties in support of the Israeli mili- tary. See www.caiaweb.org for more details. • Join local groups that campaign for Palestinian rights and in support of the boycott, divest- Campaign against the Charitable Status ment and sanctions movement against Israeli of Jewish National Fund ( JNF Canada) apartheid. Canada gives tax deductible status to the Canadian • Work within your school, university and union arm of the Jewish National Fund ( JNF). The JNF to pass resolutions against Israeli apartheid and owns land in Israel, which it is mandated not to sell in support of boycott and divestment. or lease to non-Jews. By restricting the control of • Lobby your member of parliament to end the land to people from only one ethnic group, the JNF charity status of the pro-Israel institutions and is a key institution supporting Israeli apartheid. to cancel all agreements between Canada and Funds from the Canadian JNF established a “park” Israel. over the ruins of three Palestinian villages (Amwas, • Don’t buy Israeli products and complain to Yalu and Belt Nuba) demolished and ethnically shop owners when you see these products on cleansed by Israel in 1967. This park is called Can- the shelf. ada Park and the 10,000 original inhabitants – like • Educate your friends, family and workmates all Palestinian refugees - are barred from return- about Israel’s policies and the Palestinian ing to live on their land. The Canadian government struggle for justice and return. Organize a film helps to subsidize this racism and ethnic cleansing screening, discussion group or workshop! Feel by giving charity status to the JNF. See caiaweb.org free to utilize the material developed by CUPE for more details. Ontario at cupe.on.ca Campaign for Seriously Free Speech and Some of the local boycott and solidarity campaigns in Defence of Mordecai Briemberg in Canada are: In 2008, the CanWest media empire launched an attack against respected Vancouver solidarity ac- Campaign against Chapters Indigo tivist, Mordecai Briemberg. Briemberg is facing a Books and Music lawsuit from CanWest related to a parody of the lo- In 2007, activists in Toronto launched a campaign cal CanWest paper, the Vancouver Sun, which was against Chapters Indigo, Canada’s largest book circulated in satirical criticism of the paper’s skewed chain, because of their majority owners’ financial coverage of Israel/Palestine. While Briemberg was support for Heseg – The Lone Soldier Foundation. not involved in the production of the paper he Heseg is a scholarship program that supports in- found it amusing and reportedly picked up a few dividuals from around the world who want to go copies to hand out. He has now been targeted for and serve in the Israeli military and was founded by retaliation through the courts. Further details avail- the majority owners of Chapters Indigo. The cam- able at www.seriouslyfreespeech.ca. paign against Chapters Indigo asks people not to labour for palestine 135 Campaign Against Israeli Wines in B.C ery. These wines are produced from grapes grown In 2008, the Israeli government announced plans on occupied Arab land, and many of the wineries to “rebrand” its 60 years of dispossession and eth- are located on occupied Syrian land in the Golan nic cleansing. In British Columbia, the focus of Heights. As the South African campaigners said this “rebranding” is the promotion of wines under many years ago outside BC liquor stores, then as an Israeli label from the Galil Mountain Winery, now, DON’T DRINK WITH APARTHEID!! See the Golan Heights Winery and the Dalton Win- www.cpavancouver.org/

Further Resources

Books The Wall Must Fall, CUPE BC International Solidarity Committee, 2007 (www.cupe.bc.ca) Apartheid Israel: Possibilities for the Struggle Within, by Uri Davis. New York: Zed Books, 2003 A History of Modern Palestine, by Ilan Pappe. Cambridge University Press, 2004 The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappe, Oneworld Publications, 2006 Image and Reality in the Israel-Palestine Conflict, by Norman G. Finkelstein. Verso: London, 2003 The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish-Arab Divide, by Susan Nathan, Bantam Dell Publishers Group, 2005 Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948, by Tanya Rheinhart. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002 The Myths of Zionism, by John Rose. London: Pluto Press, 2004 Palestine, by Joe Sacco. Seattle: Gary Groth and Kim Thompson, 2002 The Question of Palestine, by Edward Said. New York: Vintage, 1979, rpt. 1992 The One State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock, by Virginia Tilley. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005

Websites Alternative Information Center, Jerusalem: http://www.alternativenews.org Electronic Intifada – regular news and analysis: http://www.electronicintifada.net BADIL – Palestinian refugee NGO: http://www.badil.org B’Tselem – Israeli human rights organization: http://www.btselem .org Canadian Dimension – commentary and analysis: http://www.canadiandimension.com Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid – BDS campaign in Toronto: http://caiaweb.org/ Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions: http://www.icahd.org Grassroots Campaign to Stop the Wall: http://www.stopthewall.org

136 labour for palestine

Co a l iti o n Ag ain s t Is ra el i A part he id Labour for Palestine

A reader for unionists and activists in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israeli apartheid

Developed by the labour committee of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid

Labour for Palestine is an invaluable resource in the Palestinian people’s struggle for justice.

Packed with information, this reader provides historical background, political analysis of the current situation, and arguments in defense of the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. A must read for all unionists and social activists. B A l u o r

f o A publication of r

the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid P a

$15 s e l [email protected] N I T

www.caiaweb.org

Top: CAIA rally & march e Toronto February 2007 Revised 2008 Bottom: Nakba commemoration rally May 2008 Photos by Robert J. Allison