RESOLUTION: 

Whereas, as union members committed to Palestinian liberation, we are devastated and enraged by the horrific loss of life unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank, where the death toll has surpassed 13,000. We recognize the absolute urgency of an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in the region;

 

Whereas, we are bearing witness to the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, executed through the bombing of hospitals, schools, and neighborhoods, as well as an unrelenting siege of Gaza cutting off access to food, water, electricity, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid;

 

Whereas, Israel has mandated the evacuation of over a million Palestinians from Northern Gaza, in what many are calling a “second Nakba,” only to subject refugees to continuous bombardment as they flee. This forced displacement is part of Israel’s long, brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing, which is supported by the U.S. and many European governments;

 

Whereas, we recognize the historical roots of this recent escalation in violence in the 75 years of Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime in Palestine;

 

Whereas, the U.S. government has offered unequivocal support to Israel’s apartheid state, including through its racist Zionist rhetoric, the provision of arms and military equipment, as well as nearly $4 billion a year in military aid. These are tax dollars which could be utilized for public education, healthcare, and infrastructure but which are instead financing the massacre of Palestinians abroad;

 

Whereas, Palestinian trade unions have made an urgent call to action for labor unions “and all people of conscience” internationally to end complicity with the genocide and take action in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Palestinian unions have been instrumental to organizing local and global resistance to apartheid, including during the First Intifada, when they coordinated strikes, boycotts, and other actions against the occupation and worked with students, women’s committees, and popular committees to practice mutual aid and build a democratic movement for a free Palestine;

 

Whereas, a growing number of international and local unions are condemning Israel’s actions and demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, together with many other social movements around the world. In the U.S. the government, employers, mainstream media, and police respond to anti-Zionist statements and actions with terminations, censorship, arrests, and sometimes violence.

 

Whereas, as a union of organizers for environmental and climate justice, we recognize the deep intersections between settler colonialism, militarism, ecocide, and climate catastrophe. We reject the heinous greenwashing by the U.S. and Israel, including by the U.S. military and the IDF. Additionally, U.S. militarism is inextricably tied to climate change, the U.S. military being the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases on Earth. To secure climate justice for everyone, we need to demilitarize and decolonize, returning land to its Indigenous peoples and organizing a Just Transition from the industries harming both people and planet.

 

Whereas, we oppose all forms of environmental racism, from the places we live and organize in Texas to occupied Palestine, where Israel has continued extracting and degrading Palestinians’ agricultural land, water, forests, oil, and other natural resources, increasing water insecurity and climate vulnerability in the region. Israeli settlements’ waste treatment facilities have caused 70% of Gaza’s beaches to be unsafe for recreation due to hazardous discharge. 97% of Gaza’s water is unsafe for human consumption which has led to inexcusable avoidable illness and death including 12% of all child deaths in Gaza. The drive for profit has led to industrial settlements of over 300 polluting factories as well as crushers and quarries that have contaminated the air and destroyed ecological landscapes and natural resources in the West Bank. Bombardment and military attacks multiply the catastrophic environmental impacts of occupation.

 

Therefore, be it resolved, that we, as members of the Texas Environmental Workers Union and CWA Local 6154, call upon elected officials to:

• Oppose all existing and any future military aid to Israel

• Use all available legal means to pressure Israel to an immediate ceasefire including supporting sanctions, making public statements and media appearances, etc.

• Call for an end to Israeli apartheid and the occupation and blockade of Palestinian land by Israeli military forces.

• Call on Israel to retract the evacuation order for Northern Gaza and for a restoration of water, power, and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

 

Be it further resolved, we will call upon our employer, Texas Campaign for the Environment, to make a public statement in support of a ceasefire, and to pledge to participate in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israeli apartheid.

 

And be it further resolved, that the Texas Environmental Workers Union encourages other unions, labor councils, and international unions to join the call for de-escalation, ceasefire, and an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel.