Johannesburg – The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) has announced a protest march in solidarity with Palestine.
SAFTU said the protest march to the US Consulate in Sandton is set to take place on Wednesday.
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The federation of trade unions earlier suggested that instead of escalating the fighting, Israel should stop its occupation of Palestine.
“The recent counterstrike by the Palestinian Resistance fighters is showing that peace, stability, and certainty can never be guaranteed in Israel-Palestine, until and unless the Zionist government ceases its violent occupation of Palestine and cedes the annexed lands back to Palestinians,” SAFTU said.
“The Zionist entity is directly culpable for the violence that occurs in the region, including against its own Jewish citizens, due to its ongoing regime of racialised settler-colonialism.”
SAFTU) said it was repulsed by the attitude of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in promising merciless war on Hamas.
The federation said: “The promise for a merciless war against resistance fighters and the ordering of Palestinian citizens of Gaza to leave by Prime Minister Netanyahu, as he prepares for the ‘vengeance’, means nothing but the continuation of catastrophic attacks on the Palestinians, violations of human rights, and sheer impunity from Israel forces”.
SAFTU said Palestinians have since 1948, been battling the Israeli state, which was established in violation of their political sovereignty and human dignity.
“Since 1967, the escalation of the occupation, has since increased the brutalisation of Palestinians and naturalised it,” said the Federation.
“The killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers has become commonplace.”
SAFTU said homes have been destroyed, Palestinians have been unjustly arrested and social services such as health and education are being disrupted by harassment and intimidation of public servants.
“How can an inhabited village be cleared as a military firing zone?” Asked the federation.
“This shocking decision affirms the state of Israel’s attempts to ethnically cleanse the area, as they have done in other areas.”
SAFTU added: “Under these conditions, the Palestinian people do not only have the right and the duty to resist the illegal occupations, harassment, and the atrocities committed against them by the Israeli state but deserve our support in doing so.”
SAFTU said it reaffirms its support to the Palestinian resistance fighters.
“However, we urge the resistance fighters to aim their guns at the Israeli forces, not at ordinary working-class Israelis,” SAFTU said.
“Further, we appeal to the Israeli working class to join forces with the Palestinian resistance fighters, particularly the working-class movement in Palestine, to fight against their government’s continued violation of Palestinian lives.
“We note that the struggle for Palestinian rights is part and parcel of the internationalist working-class struggles against imperialism.
“The Zionist project is aided and abetted by the United States, which exercises force to further their extractive geopolitical and economic interests in the region.”
According to Al Jazeera, on 9 October 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel remained committed to defending itself against Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza.
