GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Marking International Workers’ Day, the Hamas Movement hailed Palestinian workers for their struggle and role in the national project of resistance and liberation, calling for a global movement to criminalize the Israeli violations against Palestinian workers and realize their aspirations for freedom.
The Movement said in a statement on Wednesday which marks the first of May, “While Labor Day is internationally celebrated every year, Palestinian workers are still subjected to the worst types of abuse, torture, persecution, siege, racism, harassment, and denial of the most basic rights.”
Hamas cited an escalating pace of Israeli crimes and violations in light of the ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinian people, committed with full fascism and sadism, against Palestinian workers who constitute an important pillar of the people’s steadfastness in the face of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and 1948 Occupied Palestine.
International Workers’ Day represents an important opportunity to shed light on the suffering of the Palestinian workers, including those who worked inside 1948 Occupied Palestine, as a result of the Israeli violations against their legitimate rights, most notably liberation, freedom of movement, and their right to a decent life on their land, Hamas underlined.
The statement extended the Movement’s condolences to the families of martyred workers who fell while defending their right to freedom and dignity.
The Hamas statement held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the repercussions of the escalation of its crimes and barbaric incursions into the cities and refugee camps of the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as deliberate killing, systematic destruction of infrastructure, and the disruption of life and work of Palestinians, in flagrant violation of all international laws and conventions.
The Israeli crimes in the West Bank constitute an extension of the genocidal war being waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the statement highlighted.
The Movement also renewed its rejection of the Israeli targeting of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), urging all countries to assume their responsibilities and humanitarian duties towards the UN agency.
Hamas called as well for enabling Palestinian refugees, wherever they are, to exercise their legitimate rights, most importantly the right to work.
The Movement called on international organizations and human rights and humanitarian institutions to shoulder their responsibilities and expose the Israeli crimes against Palestinian workers, calling on them to take action to lift the unjust siege on the Gaza Strip which has been restricting laborers’ livelihoods and freedom.
Hamas urged movements, unions, and labor unions across the world to organize demonstrations and solidarity events, on International Workers’ Day, in support of the rights of Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the 1948 Occupied Palestine.
The statement also called on labor movements in all countries of the world, especially workers in the transport and port sector, to boycott the shipping companies of the Israeli occupation which has been committing crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing for more than half a year against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
