This May Day, Palestinian workers call for US solidarity

The Israeli occupation of Palestine is dehumanizing in thousands of ways. The military steals dignity, individuality, basic freedoms, and often people’s lives.

One site of this dehumanization is the massive military terminals that tens of thousands of Palestinian workers must pass through every day. This film gives a glimpse of one stage of the demeaning, repetitive, unrelenting process. After passing through the initial gates, Palestinians must pass through several more (understaffed, crowded and cruel) steps, taking up to three hours to pass through.

Among the lives taken at these terminals are 59-year-old Adel Muhammad Yakoub and 39-year-old Ahmad Samih Bdeir, who were both crushed to death as a result of extreme overcrowding. Others face random strip searches – even children and the elderly are not exempt. And for those fortunate enough to make it through relatively smoothly, many still face long travel times, unsafe working conditions, and pay as little as 10 dollars (less than 40 shekels) a day- less than one sixth of the Israeli minimum wage.

In response to the deaths and indignities, Palestinians have organized and protested over the years, both over conditions at the terminal itself, and at the settlement factories they have been forced to work at. Muhammad Blaidi is general secretary of the Palestine New Federation of Trade Unions (New Unions) which organizes with the workers at these terminals. New Unions came together as an independent federation of trade unions in 2013 –formed from independent union organizing that began among agricultural workers in 2006. In 2010, unions that would form the federation participated in a 6-month strike by workers in the illegal settlements in the Tulkarem area. The federation was officially recognized by Palestinian authorities in 2016. In their organizing, they have focused on workers and industries they say are not represented by the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions, which was founded in 1965 and is linked to the Palestinian Authority and the PLO.

The New Unions are internationalist and militant, paying tribute to the long history of international workers’ struggles, including the Haymarket Martyrs of Chicago, who protested in 1886 in Chicago for the 8 hour day. Invoking the US’s militant history, Blaidi calls on workers in this country to join with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation. “Americans don’t need to represent occupation,” he says. “They can take a stand for humanity.”

Translation by Nadine Saliba, with additional translation and editing by Kristen Ess Schurr. Sound recording by Lewis Raven Wallace. Footage and logistical support by Eyewitness Palestine – Delegation 66.

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