This October 7th marked a year since Israel turned its open-air prison in Gaza into mass graves, genociding tens of thousands of workers with weapons supplied by U.S. bosses. At a time when many workers in Israel have been won to extreme Jewish nationalism (zionism) and anti-Arab racism that has hardened into fascism, rightfully angry workers are turning to Arab nationalism as the only path to liberation. But Progressive Labor Party calls for workers on both sides of the fake “Israel-Palestine” divide to reject the bosses' nationalism, which claims that workers in Palestine and Israel, have the same interests as their respective elites. To see how fake the divide is between workers in Palestine and Israel, one need only look at the historical and present examples of solidarity and comradeship between Arab and Jewish workers in the region:
Living together
During the British Mandate (1920s to 1948), Arab and Jewish residents lived together despite nationalist pressure from their respective elites. The port city of Haifa was a major site of cohabitation. There were equal numbers of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim people, and immigrants from Europe and Syria who settled there. Jobs where workers with different nationalities worked instilled class consciousness and promoted friendships, but the ruling classes built an apartheid system that prevented cooperation. The Zionist and Palestinian elites appealed to nationalist ideology and created the separate Jewish Histradut and Arab labor federations, respectively.
Joint labor organizing and strikes
During the 1920s, Arab workers began organizing and joining trade unions, especially in the railroad industry.
Communists joined and organized the early trade unions. In 1925, the Palestinian Communist Party (CP) applied to join the Comintern, the international organization of communist parties established by the Soviet Union. The CP urged unified strikes and included Arab workers as leaders.
Railway
The railway industry employed large numbers of Arab and Jewish workers. They experienced bad working and living conditions, abuse, and low wages at their hands. In 1920, the employees organized the first union in Palestine to demand an end to such practices. The Jewish-run Histadrut opposed joint membership. The union adopted a policy of Hebrew-only labor.
Arab workers appealed to Jewish railway association members:
Such separate organizations are dangerous…We must unite and present common demands to the government, which ignores its obligation to the worker, and instead sends in the police and puts him in jail (Comrades and Enemies, 1996, p 105).
Increasing conflict between Palestinian and Israeli elites developed during the mid-1930s. Yet, Jewish and Arab railway workers sustained their spirit of class consciousness that paved the way for future joint struggles.
Drivers and truckers strikes
Against initial opposition from the Histadrut and wealthy Palestinian families, Arab and Jewish drivers united and pressed for reforms, striking together for a week in 1931 that shut down transportation and forced the government to reduce taxes.
Quarry workers
The Nesher Quarry, near Haifa, employed Jewish and Arab workers from Egypt and Palestine. Conditions were bad for all but especially for the Arab workforce. Wages differed by 10-fold, working hours were longer for Egyptians, and all were forced to buy from company stores and live in company hovels. In the 1920s, the workers struck. While nationalism ended up ruining this fightback, joint organizing occurred in other jobs. Arab and Jewish workers ran the salt plants, unionized bakeries, and organized in government and military offices, and the citrus and oil industries.
Palestinian Arab workers differentiated Jewish people from Zionism.
In 1944 during another railroad strike, a union leader reported that the slogan, “long live Arab-Jewish unity was enthusiastically received.” During the turbulent late 1940s, joint strikes erupted among 22,000 postal workers, telegraph workers, and government clerks. Even agricultural workers in the countryside formed joint co-operatives, and urban workers formed joint commercial boards.
This historical movement of worker-led solidarity seeking to cross nationalist and racist divides between workers in the region still exists. Here are some examples below:
Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian protests and solidarity
A few dozen weeks after Israel attacked Gaza, Jewish Israelis organized demonstrations calling for a cease fire and an end to the war on Gaza. They began with several dozen people at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv. As the war continued, more Israelis rallied against it, risking jail, beatings, shame, and isolation.
These are other examples of resistance organizations:
The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) organizes in Israel and other countries to defend and rebuild Palestinian property slated for destruction. It uses grass roots, direct action and international advocacy to safeguard Palestinian property.
Protecting olive orchards and farms
The olive industry on the West Bank is one of the most important. In 2015, it accounted for the livelihood of 100,000 Palestinian families and 25 percent of the area’s gross agricultural income. The IDF and settlers have destroyed the trees, and killed and injured the growers. The residents of Budrus with their Israeli partners successfully repelled Israeli troops with a 10-month campaign against a wall that would cut through the orchard inside the West Bank. They demonstrated daily with militant confrontations, holding signs saying Jews and Arabs Unite.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel documents attacks on health in Israeli prisons and war zones through collaborations with medical organizations in Israel and around the world. It recently released a statement calling for the end of Israeli bombings of hospitals and medical personnel.
Standing Together mobilizes Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel to work for peace, equality, and social and climate justice.
Women in Black, Israel originated in Israel in 1988 to oppose the occupation. Every Friday, women stand vigil on the street in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to hold discussions and teach about Israeli history and Palestinian liberation.
Combatants in Peace is a grassroots movement of Palestinians and Israelis, working together to end the occupation and bring sustainable peace, equality, and freedom.
The Refuseniks are young people who refuse to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. When a reporter asked what army a refusenik would join, he answered, "I would gladly enlist in the Red Army to fight the Nazis." The film, Tantura, presents interviews with elderly veterans who conducted the 1948 expulsions and killings of over 700,000 Palestinians.
Rebuilding internationalist & multiracial solidarity
Communists in the region and all over the world must reject the bosses’ nationalism and racism and lay our crosshairs firmly on the elites in both Israel Palestine, and all over the world rather than seeking to pit one group of workers against another. We must push anti-racist and internationalist messaging at every protest through chanting, literature and the personal connections we build with workers. Workers in Palestine and all over the world cannot afford for us to wait! Join the PLP and together we can smash the racist system once and for all!
