World Support urged f The Palestinian workers’ struggle for trade union rights in the Israeli-occupied territories, and the fight for Palestinian independence should become a_high- profile issue among Canadian trade union- ists. The “intifada”, the Palestinian uprising that began last July as a spontaneous out- burst but has evolved into an urgent crisis for the Israeli government, has forced the spotlight of international attention on the brutal facts of life in the occupied territories. Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is essential to the economic, political and social warfare it has directed at the Palestinians. There are a total of 38 registered trade unions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but in fact many more exist without “legal” recognition. Since 1979, the Civil Administration of the Territories has refused to approve the registration of new unions. Some 60 unions are operating without license in the West Bank, most of them founded before 1967. According to a back- ground report circulated by the Interna- tional Co-ordinating Committee for NGOs on the Question of Palestine, only five new unions have been authorized since 1967. Meanwhile, more than 50 unions have app- lied for permits and have either been rejected outright, or have not even had their request acknowledged by the occupation authorities. The closure of union offices, and the arbi- trary seizure of unions assets and property are common _otcurrences. Just since the beginning of the intifada, the General Fed- eration of Trade Unions in the West Bank lists at least 14 union organizations that have been closed down by the military for the next two years. Raids by the military on union offices are also common. Recently, four union offices in Jenin (on the West Bank) were invaded. Union property was destroyed, records seized and the general secretary of the union in question, Ibrahim Abu Fadala, was beaten up. The military occupiers have numerous legal weapons to deploy against the unions as well. Military Order 825, for example, gives the Military Governor the power not or Palestinian unions An Israeli soldier (above) stands guard over Palestinian prisoners (r) in Israel's Negev Desert detention centre Ansar Ill. Included among those being held are eight of the 13 members of the execu- tive of the General Federation of Palesti- nian workers. only to approve candidate lists for union office, but also to strike out the election. Under the law, unions have to submit their lists at least 30 days prior to an election. Any candidate convicted of a “political” offence is barred from holding office. In the Gaza, the Commércial and Public Workers Union on April 4, 1987 defied a ban on holding elections, with the result that the authorities rejected the election results and barred the whole executive from taking part in union activities. Palestinian labour groups note how this order sharply contradicts the International Labour Organization’s freedom of associa- tion and protection of the right to organize convention, which guarantees unions’ rights to draw up their own constitutions and rules, elect officials and organize their affairs “in full freedom.” Union leaders and members face arrest | Iranian regime executing Tudeh activists for opposition to war Just two days after the Iran-Iraq cease-fire was announced Aug. 8, the Iranian regime began executing political prisoners, a representative of the Tudeh (Communist) Party of Iran (ICP) told the Tribune. Reports say that as many as 800 have been executed in the last month. “Many of those killed had been sent- enced to long prison terms; many had not even come to trial, they were just summarily executed,” he charged. “And there are indications that 55 others are awaiting imminent death, their execution orders signed by the justice ministry.” Their “crimes,” the ICP representative said, was to oppose the war, oppose the regime, and call for human rights. This is the pretext used by the government to label them guilty of treason. Many of those executed were from the Mujihaddin, a left party which attemp- ted an_ insurrection — unsuccessfully — in western Iran. But also, the ICP representative said, “we have heard that in the recent wave a member of our cen- tral committee — Zarshin As, first secretary of the Tudeh youth — and other party members, were also mur- dered.” Many of the political prisoners held in jails throughout the country have begun an organized hunger strike. The government has responded by maintain- ing the strike leaders in solitary confine- ment under awful conditions, and forbidding visits from their families. The strike has spread to all major prisons in the country, “dungeons,” as the ICP representative pointed out, ‘where severe torture is carried out. “The government is quite willing to see them die ‘voluntarily’; it has never taken their health into consideration,” he said. “If they die of hunger — and the government has also starved prisoners to death because there is severe rationing and food shortages, the regime is quite content. They call it ‘cleaning out’ the prisons.” The ICP representative said effective solidarity with the prisoners, both inside and internationally, has been hindered by the lack of unity among opposition forces. “Despite Tudeh’s willingness for united action and a united front to sup- port the political prisoners, we have not been successful.” He asked Canadians to appeal to Ottawa to call for an end to the execu- tions, for humane treatment in the jails, for the reintroduction of family visits, and for fair trials in the presence of inter- national observers. “We don’t think the regime will release the prisoners, but it can treat them better,” he said. “The Iranian regime can be pressured now; it wants to show a good face, to be consi- dered ‘civilized’, by the international community. So these demands are realis- tic, although hard to win.” 8 e Pacific Tribune, October 3, 1988 and “administrative detention” for the! activities. A glimpse of life in Israeli dete™ tion centres was recently seen in the co™ troversy that swirled around the shooting ol two Palestinian prisoners in a centre called Ansar III, in the Negev Desert close to th? Egyptian border. Last May, the General Federatio! released a list of the names of some 20 unio leaders and members who had been plac under administrative detention. Eight of thé federation’s 13-member executive commll tee are under arrest, along with more that 50 federation council members and !o union activists. Leaders such as Jebreel Rajoob of thé Jerusalem press workers union; Has@ Khader of the public institutions worker union in Nablus; and Adnan Dagher, he of the same union in al-Bireh, along W! many others, have been recently deport Last March, Dagher gota six-month dete tion order and was deported less than month later. First arrested in 1974, Dagher has had? endure four consecutive six-month dete™ tion orders, and two years in jail without charge laid against him or the benefit 0 trial. The Palestinians are looking for inter tional support, much in the same way worl labour has rallied behind the cause of SoU! 4 African unions battling apartheid. They” like unions here to send fact-finding m” sions to the occupied territories to see com tions and the struggle for themselves. They would also like to establish dire’ relations with unions and labour cent! Ze The persecution and harassment of Palest! nian unions can be curbed and en through such solidarity and public pressY i on our governments to protest Israel denial of the Palestinians’ right to orga? and fight to improve living conditions.