Towards this year’s May Day, the International Workers’ Solidarity Day, several rallies against the deadly war in Gaza and the occupation of the Palestinian territories will be held across Israel, in Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Kufr Yassif and the Western Galilee, Jerusalem and other locations.
May Day rally in Tel-Aviv, May 1, 2023 (Photo: Zo Haderech)
Activists from Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality), the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and the Young Communist League are involved in the planning and preparations for all these May Day events, collaborating with other leftists and militant union activists. The central May Day demonstration being organized by Hadash and the CPI will be held, as every year, in Nazareth and will begin at 10:30 tomorrow Saturday April 27, with a mass march along Tawfiq Zyad street in the center of that city.
In Tel Aviv, Hadash, CPI social activists, youth groups will convene on May 1, for the city’s May Day rally and parade. The march will begin at 17:00 at the Gesher Teather in Jaffa and continue to Southern Tel Aviv, where a meeting will be held.
The ongoing Israeli war in the Gaza Strip has led to regular protests across the world. It is possible that turnout at rallies during the 2024 May Day could be larger, as labor unions may respond to the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and use International Workers’ Day as an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Towards May Day the PGFTU issued a call: “In the midst of pain and blood, in the displacement camps, amidst the rubble and the ruins of our homes, workshops, factories, stores and institutions destroyed by the Israeli occupation, using U.S.-made weapons, in the name of the PGFTU, we call on you for solidarity. Instead of celebrating with you on May Day, International Workers’ Day, we are busy shrouding dozens of people who are being killed around the clock in the middle of a genocidal war against our people — in every sense of that word. This has led to the destruction of everything in the Gaza Strip (hospitals, health centers, schools, universities, streets, water purification, sewage and other infrastructure, factories, shops, cultural centers, mosques, churches and even unborn children), none of which were spared by the occupation’s bombs, missiles and shells.”
“We are living through wholesale slaughter and forced dislocation — ethnic cleansing — committed against us. This devastating war and its catastrophes have forced upon us in the PGFTU in Gaza great responsibilities to collect the broken bodies and even pieces of our people, healing the wounded and trying to ease their pain (without anesthetics, antibiotics or other medicine), dealing with the psychological trauma (especially of the children), while trying to convey the truth of this suffering and the humanitarian and environmental catastrophe to the world.”
“Since the beginning of the aggression, we in the PGFTU have considered ourselves an integral part of our people — not separated from their reality. We have suffered and lost thousands of members, union offices, facilities and other institutions. Despite our efforts to provide relief to our people with the limited support we have received and to raise the voice of our people loudly in international forums, we have encountered shocking silence and neglect by the international labor movement. However, we recognize there have been some exceptional examples of unions, clearly demonstrated in leading protests denouncing the Israeli war of genocide being waged on the Gaza Strip.”
“After 173 days of the war on Gaza, more than 32,414 people have been killed, more than 74,787 wounded, and more than 10,000 are missing…More than 5,826 students and 264 teachers have been killed, and 9,570 students and 960 teachers are trying to recover from their injuries.” This is the alarming situation described on April 23 by Saed Erziqat, General Secretary of the General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT), addressing the Education International (EI) Executive Board meeting.
The GUPT leader went on to describe the harrowing conditions in Gaza where education has been completely halted and more than 625,000 students have lost their right to education. “The situation in Palestine is a humanitarian disaster, a real famine. The United Nations confirms this. People cannot find food,” he added. In addition to the devastating human toll, the Israeli bombing completely and partially destroyed more than 286 government schools and 65 United Nations run schools. The remaining 133 schools were turned into shelters. All 12 universities in Gaza were destroyed and 95 academics and staff were killed, he said.
Erziqat insisted that “killing and destruction will not create peace. Peace can only be achieved through acceptance of international law, UN resolutions, and the two-state solution. Our people want to live in peace and love life. What is spilled is not water, but our blood, and what is cut is not branches, but our remains. Do not remain silent but demand an end to the war.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=30983
