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The Congress of South African Trade Unions is outraged and disgusted at the latest massacres by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza, which have claimed an estimated 100 Palestinian lives in the past five days alone, most of them civilian women and children. The Israelis have even targeted ambulances, trapping the injured people inside.

There can be absolutely no justification for such brutality. While United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon has rightly condemned the violence as a “disproportionate and excessive use of force“, that is too mild; COSATU sees the Israeli attacks as nothing less than mass murder, an escalation of the ongoing genocidal campaign to crush and destroy the people of Palestine.

COSATU reaffirms its 2006 National Congress resolution which pledged solidarity and support to the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom, and demanded that:

• Our government should impose sanctions against Israel until the aggression on Palestine and Lebanon is stopped.
• We should step up the campaign for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
• COSATU members must boycott Israeli goods and demonstrations must be held at the embassies of Israel and the United States in South Africa.
• The government must end with immediate affect the diplomatic ties with Israel including recalling the ambassador.

COSATU will support any moves by the South African government to promote peace in the Middle East and advance the struggle of the oppressed people of Palestine for national sovereignty and human rights, and appeals to the workers of the world to take to the streets to show their disgust at these Israel atrocities and demonstrate their solidarity with legitimate fight of the oppressed masses of Palestine.

Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets
Braamfontein, 2017
P. O. Box 1019
Johannesburg, 2000
SOUTH AFRICA

Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24
Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667
Cell: 0828217456
E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za