In a joint statement on Friday, 15 associations and unions in America described the occupying country as an "apartheid state" because of its racist policies against the Palestinians.
This movement is remarkable in America, which included unions of school and university teachers, and American labor unions; Denouncing the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinians.
In the statement, the Vermont workers´ union condemned "the ethnic cleansing practiced by the occupation forces in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods, and the daily attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the recent attacks on the Gaza Strip."
The statement described what the Palestinian people have been subjected to for 73 years with "a policy of ethnic cleansing from a Zionist colonial state, which began in 1948 by expelling about 730 thousand Palestinians from their homes."
He explained that these measures "came as a result of US financial aid, amounting to about $3.8 billion, and the political support provided by successive US administrations" to the Israeli occupation state.
The statement stated that the Vermont State Labor Union´s board of directors, which has about thirty thousand members, voted unanimously in favor of signing the statement condemning the recent war by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
The statement called on American and international unions to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, boycott and withdraw investments, and impose sanctions on Israel to punish it for its racism.
The signatories to the statement
Activists supporting the Palestinian right are still communicating with other unions to sign this statement, as 15 unions and institutions have signed it so far.
Among these associations, organizations and unions are the University of Minnesota Workers Syndicate, the State Finance Bar Association, the New York Public Defense Lawyer´s Association, the Black and Colored Coalition within the Progressive Movement in the Democratic Party, Jews for the Palestinian Right of Return, and the Progressive Action Committees for Solidarity with Palestine Within the Democratic Party, the African American Bar Association.
In the same context, today the Seattle Teachers´ Union in Washington State voted unanimously on a similar resolution; It stated that the Israeli apartheid and colonial state, since its establishment, has expelled Palestinian refugees and prevented their return to their homes, while since its establishment it has received about $147 billion in financial support from the United States.
The statement explained that "Israel, in its recent war on Gaza, killed more than 200 Palestinians, including 60 children, wounded more than 1,300 citizens, displaced 40,000, and expelled hundreds of residents of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan from their homes."
He said: "While we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand an end to any future attacks on them, we call on the US government to stop financial aid to Israel, and we call on the Seattle Police Department to stop its joint programs with the Israeli police and the exchange program between the city police and its counterpart in Israel."
He called on labor unions and teachers´ unions in other cities to adopt similar resolutions, announcing the Seattle Teachers´ Union´s official endorsement and support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.
