The Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) has launched an appeal for solidarity from European civil society

The Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) has launched an appeal for solidarity from European civil society

The Strasbourg Manifesto - made up of more than 700 NGOs from 22 EU countries - aims to offer, in close partnership with some sections of the European Parliament, an important and significant contribution to the resolution of the Israelo-Palestinian conflict. The Strasbourg Manifesto Coordination Group has received an urgent request from the PGFTU.

On October 14 2004 during a day session at which we were present devoted to the situation in occupied Palestine at the European Social Forum, London, the spokesman of the PGFTU, Mohammed M A Saleh, made a solemn appeal for solidarity from all sections of European civil society of which trade unions form an essential element.

The aim is to bring together all our energies, to mobilise all our experience and means in order to exercise political pressure at the European level, or at an even more international level, in order to end the devastating effects on the economy and on employment in the Occupied Territories, the real cause of which is the colonial-type war that the Palestinian people are subjected to.

Palestine lives under an apartheid regime clearly identified by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) which, in a recent message to the Palestinian people has expressed its ‘support for their battle for independence and national sovereignty’. The South Africans, who have suffered and overcome this type of segregation, are the best placed to judge the gravity of the situation and they have thereby shown us the way forward.

The Strasbourg Manifesto Coordination Group have, as a first step, made contact with local trade unions which have all stated that they are ready to support future actions to help the PGFTU.

The death of President Yasser Arafat had added a further degree of urgency to the absolute necessity to bring to the fore the help to be brought to the Palestinian people and their representatives who, on 9 January 2005 should elect a new president.

The conditions under which these elections will take place depend in not negligible part on the capacity of European civil society to mobilise together so that national and European politicians ensure that the elections take place in as normal a manner as possible, despite the presence of an omnipresent occupying army and settlers hostile to everything that could enable an occupied people to democratically choose a president, a government and the apparatus of State.

Different sorts of elected representatives have already shown their determination to be involved in this concrete form of support.

On 17 November 2004, during a Parliamentary session in Strasbourg, the European parliamentarians decided that 30 of them will act as observers during the election. Some other parliamentarians, partly in their capacity within the Palestine Delegation, were ready, if the Palestinians so wished, to take on some responsibilities locally during this electoral, or even pre-electoral period.

French local authorities have responded favourably to the request by the Palestinian Authority to come during the first half of December to work on the local elections.

In Lyons on 5 December 2004 at a fringe meeting during the “Associations of Mayors for Peace”, the European network will discuss their involvement in the municipal electoral process. These elections should be starting in the towns of the West Bank on 23 December but the dates will doubtless be postponed by a few weeks given the proximity of the presidential election on 9 January.

Alongside the actions mentioned above - and these represent only some examples - the NGOs and the trade unions of the entire European Union should:
- make vocal their solidarity;
  set up as quickly as possible the means to alert public opinion to the importance of the Palestinian presidential election;
  prepare an effective presence before, during and after the presidential election, according to the needs expressed by the Palestinians;

It is right now, and very rapidly before the election, that Europe, through its resources can and must carry a decisive weight on its elected members and, through its presence, on the local situation itself, a major stake in the conflict.

It is up to all the parties to act more or less instantly in close and informal collaboration with each other, systematically bypassing bureaucracy which could obstruct immediate and indispensable effectiveness.

The Strasbourg Manifesto Coordination Group, of which some of its components are very present in the occupied Territories and whose members are in permanent contact with Palestinians and Israeli pacifists is operating internationally and addresses all trade unions with a view to developing a common action. Its website www.eutopic.net/coordination offers a forum for suggestions from trade unions or these can be sent via email: appel_sbg@yahoo.fr (between appel and sbg is a _ subscribe)

If Europe is incapable of bringing peace to this neighboring region, no-one should doubt that this conflict, on which the eyes of the world are focused, will have, in our countries, consequences of which already daily we can identify the first fruits.

Strasbourg, 24/11/2004