SAMPLE Resolution: Labor in solidarity with the people of Gaza

This resolution was passed by WFSE 889 in Seattle, WA in April 2024. Workers Strike Back members draftred and introduced it. We’re sharing it here for any union member to use as a template for their own union.

WHEREAS the Palestinian people of Gaza are now facing an unimaginable human  catastrophe as the Israeli military, one of the most powerful in the world, imposes a  brutal blockade on Gaza and forced displacement, while heavily bombing the territory; and 

WHEREAS, the intensifying of the blockade and the bombing of Gaza began after  Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared on October 9, “I have ordered a complete siege on the  Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly”; and 

WHEREAS, in the six days since Gallant’s declaration, the Israeli military dropped  6,000 bombs on Gaza—an area less than half the size of New York City, and containing 2.3 million Palestinians; and 

WHEREAS, as a result of that bombing, as of January 8th, 2024 the Israeli government has  begun bloody attacks, with at least 22,835 Palestinians killed in thirteen weeks of strikes, including 9,600 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, and with at least 58,416 injured and more than 7,000 people across Gaza believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead; and 

WHEREAS, during that same period, the Israeli military has killed more than 332 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including 83 children, and with at least 3,800 injured; and 

WHEREAS, the Israeli state’s brutal assault on the people of Gaza comes in the wake  of the staggering loss of civilian lives by the brutal October 7 attack by Hamas, with 1,200 Israelis dead, 3,500 wounded, and another 200 taken as hostages; and 

WHEREAS, as groups around the world have recognized, including leading Palestinian organizations, Hamas’s act was a war crime, the largest mass killing of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust, and also killed numerous Arab-Israelis, including members of Bedouin communities; and 

WHEREAS, while the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination, and  people living under occupation have the right to resist and to defend themselves with force,  attacks on civilians such as this do not further the safety or liberation of the Palestinian people,  but instead, undermine it by providing a pretext for disproportionate retaliation by the  Israeli state and deepening divisions between ordinary Israelis and Palestinians; and 

WHEREAS, due to the horrific approach of collective punishment by the Israeli state, Palestinians are rapidly running out of food, water, medical supplies, electricity, fuel,  and other humanitarian aid, with the most vulnerable people suffering the most, for example with 50,000 pregnant Gaza women unable to access even basic care and with thousands more  mothers with newborns placed in similar dire circumstances; and 

WHEREAS, the Israeli government has cut off the sole water pipeline to Gaza, along  with the fuel and electricity that power water and sewage plants, and the United Nations  refugee agency reported on October 17th that Gaza’s last seawater desalination plant had shut down, bringing the risk of further deaths and waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery; and 

WHEREAS, while Israeli citizens have the right to defend themselves against all forms  of violence, the Israeli state’s violent policies of occupation and apartheid are root  causes of the current crisis; the Israeli government’s response has been completely  disproportionate, racist, and dehumanizing of the Palestinian people; and 

WHEREAS, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari made the admission that  “hundreds of tons of bombs” had already been dropped on Gaza, adding that “the emphasis is on  damage and not on accuracy,” and Giora Eiland, a major-general in the Israeli military, wrote  that “Creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a necessary means to achieve the  goal” and that “Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist;” and 

WHEREAS, Israeli Knesset member Ariel Kallner, called for a second Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic), stating, “Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the  Nakba of ’48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join! Their Nakba, because like then  in 1948, the alternative is clear”; and 

WHEREAS, in calling for another Nakba, Kallner and other Israeli leaders are referring  to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities in 1948 by Zionist militias to make way  for the creation of Israel in 1948, resulting in the killing of thousands of Palestinians, the  destruction of their villages, and the forcible expulsion of 80 percent of the Palestinian population  from their homeland, with many of the descendents of the Nakba living today in Gaza; and 

WHEREAS, even while mourning the deaths of Jewish Israelis, many ordinary Israelis as  well as  Jewish people along with many other people around the world are outraged at the Israeli government’s violent retaliation, as for example, Noy Katsman, whose brother Hayim  Katsman was killed by Hamas, told CNN that Israeli military retaliation “never brings us better  lives, it just brings us more and more terror”; and 

WHEREAS, this is yet another chapter in the decades-long conflict between the Israeli  state and the Palestinian people, beginning with the Nakba in 1948 and the subsequent expansion into Palestinian lands by the Israeli state; and 

WHEREAS, the Israeli state’s occupation of the Palestinian people has been with the  full support of the capitalist regimes of the United States and other Western imperialist nations, with the Congressional Research Service reporting more than $114 billion in U.S. military  funding for Israel since 1946; and 

WHEREAS, since the advent of this latest Israeli assault on Gaza, within the US State Department, “There’s basically a mutiny brewing . . .at all levels,” one official told  the media and Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official, abruptly resigned, saying that after  more than a decade of working on arms deals, he could not morally support the US support of  Israel’s war effort; and

WHEREAS, Andrew Dinkelaker, the general secretary treasurer of the United  Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, has noted that this massive US military support “is  pouring gasoline onto a fire. It encourages that there be military solutions, and military  solutions will get more people killed;” and 

WHEREAS, the root of the crisis is the enforcement of the existing order in which  Israeli capitalism, with the strongest military power in the region, violently imposes  occupation and annexation and denies millions of Palestinian people their basic rights, including the  right to self-determination; and 

WHEREAS, a growing number of labor movements worldwide recognize that the  occupation is at the center of the conflict, as for example noted by the Congress of South African  Trade Unions (COSATU) that “ending the root cause of the violesnce means ending 75 years of occupation and Apartheid;” and 

WHEREAS, in recent days a growing number of North American unions, including the  American Postal Workers Union, the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health  Professionals, the Rutgers University Faculty union, SEIU 1021, the Canadian Union of  Postal Workers, the Ontario Federation of Labor, Unifor, Canada’s largest private  sector union, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario, have adopted  resolutions and issued public statements in support of a cease fire, hostage exchange  and humanitarian aid, with some resolutions also calling for an end to military aid to  the Israeli government and an end to the occupation; and  

WHEREAS, these union calls join an earlier sign-on statement, endorsed by more than  a dozen unions, including UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of  America), the American Federation of Teachers - Oregon, the Chicago Teachers Union,  IBEW Local 520, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the New Jersey State  Industrial Union Council, Pride at Work/Eastern Massachusetts, San Antonio Alliance of  Teachers & Support Personnel NEA/AFT Local 67, UAW Region 6, UAW Region 9A, and  UFCW 3000, demanding an immediate cease fire and humanitarian aid; and  

WHEREAS, the subjugation of Palestinians by Israelis has included the super exploitation of Palestinian workers, including blacklisting of worker-activists, suppression of strikes,  work restrictions, union-busting, and physical attacks by Israeli forces and even Jewish Israeli settlers; and 

WHEREAS, the declaration of war by the Israeli government and the spreading of  military escalation to the Israel-Lebanon border pose a significant threat of wider regional  conflict, particularly in the context of heightened tensions and polarization globally due to the New Cold War between the United States and China, which has already escalated the scale and duration of war in Ukraine; and 

WHEREAS, in recent days union members and Jewish and Palestinian community  members, along with many other community members, have joined in peaceful protests in cities worldwide in calling for an immediate cease-fire, aid to the people of Gaza, a halt to US military aid to Israel, and an end to the Israeli occupation of and control over Palestinian  territories; and 

WHEREAS, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, comprising 31 unions in  West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza have called on “our counterparts internationally and all  people of conscience to end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes—most urgently halting the arms trade with Israel, as well as all funding and military research. The time for action is now—Palestinian lives hang in the balance”; and

WHEREAS, our union, WSFE 889, includes members whose families have been  impacted by the latest round of violence, with victims in Israel, Gaza, and the occupied West  Bank; and 

WHEREAS, our union, WFSE 889, recognizing that “An Injury to One is an Injury to  All,” stands in solidarity with the members of the Palestinian labor movement, with all  Gazans facing brutal assault and deprivation, and with all working people in Israeli, the West Bank,  and Gaza who have suffered and are suffering;

WHEREAS, our union, which includes members of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) who labor diligently for the welfare of children and families, recognizes that United States’ provision of military aid to Israel is directly contributing to the massacre, injury, and traumatization of thousands of children in addition to extensive orphaning and separation of children from their families. DCYF was created to be “a comprehensive agency exclusively dedicated to the social, emotional, and physical well-being of children, youth and families” and in alignment with DCYF’s guiding principle of having “a relentless focus on the outcomes of children”, our union stands firmly against the siege on Gaza and our government’s aid to it. Our mission is to “protect children and strengthen families so they flourish”, and thus we must be clear and resolute in our stance against the violence inflicted upon children and families in Gaza and the West Bank.  

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that our union, WFSE 889, reaffirms its  commitment to combat Islamophobia and antisemitism in all of their forms, and furthermore reaffirms its support for both the people of Israel and the Palestinian people to live in peace and security; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that our union, WFSE 889, demonstrating its solidarity with  the people of Gaza, joins the growing worldwide call for an immediate cease-fire, humanitarian aid to help Gazans recover, an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, the release of all hostages on both sides, and an end to the Israeli occupation and subjugation of Palestinian lands; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that our union, WFSE 889, commits to join the growing  international anti-war movement and to mobilize its members to participate in collective action to demonstrate our opposition to the war on the people of Gaza; and 

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that our union, WFSE 889, commits to use our collective  labor power and work with unions and allies domestically and worldwide to organize  collective action, participate in international and national days of collective action, and provide both financial and public support to striking workers calling for a ceasefire to bring maximum power to enforce our just and humane demands.