May 012012
Statement issued by the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
On the first of May, International Workers’ Day, we salute the Palestinian homeland – the workers and peasants, men and women, youth and elders, everywhere they are, in Palestine or in diaspora and exile.
May 1 this year is a scene of struggle for the liberation of the Palestinian people, as we mark
the struggle of the Palestinian national movement of prisoners who continue an open-ended hunger
strike in defense of their rights, to stop the brutal racist abuses of the occupation
authorities and its prisons against them. Our pioneering Palestinian working class is
contributing the largest share in the national democratic and social struggle, standing with all
of its strengh alongside the struggles of prisoners on hunger strike, in order to achieve their
demands to end solitary confinement, isolation and the “Shalit law,” and the resumption of
visits so as to maintain their human dignity, on the road to liberation from the occpation. The
process of Palestinian liberation will never reach its national, democratic or social goals
without the direct involvement and effective leadership of the Palestinian working class in the
struggle for national liberation, for freedom and national self-determination.
struggle ahead, the Palestinian left will build the power of hope and the will for change, for the struggle for liberation and return, and for our rights to liberty, justice, democracy and progress.
Our Palestinian working class is suffering desperately in the current conditions of the Palestinian people, reeling from the blows of occupation, siege, aggression and exploitation
inside and outside Palestine. In the current conditions of the Arab peoples, it is critical to promote and develop trade union organizations, consciousness, and political unity of forces. The
current moment of Arab street protests and uprisings against oppression in all forms and struggles for democracy requires a review of the role of the Arab left to promote the unity of the Arab peoples’ struggle against dependency, corruption, tyranny and foreign intervention, and for liberation, dignity, freedom, democracy, justice and social progress.
O, Palestinian workers, our heroic Palestinian people..
Our Palestinian working class in the occupied homeland are under geographical and political
attack, bleeding fromm many wounds, but this does not prevent the voice of struggle of the
Palestinian working class for improved working conditions and reducing unemployment which is
approximately 50% in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and work to protect workers’ rights and
serve workers’ interests.
Resisting the historical and continuing iinjustice against the Palestinian people requires us to
raise the struggle of the working class and its historical perseverence as an avenue to raise
its influence in national decision-making, something that would not be possible without the
struggle of working class Palestinians for democracy and social rights.
On the first of May, we confirm that the first step is to end the current Palestinian division
and political disintegration and put aside narrow factional interests in the interests of the
unity of the people and their struggle. Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza are still suffering
from aggression, siege, starvation, and crisis, and this means that unity must come first, and
unity is the inalienable choice of the Palestinian people. At the same time building an economy
of resistance and national steadfastness must be an economic priority before any other interest,
to protect workers, economic and social rights, fight corruption, adopt the minimum wage and
social protection in order to end the situation of work in the settlements and return instead to
the cultivation of agriculture and protection and development of sectors, sources, and natural
and productive resources, and salvation from dependence on the market and the occupation
economy.
We salute the heroic prisoners who are splitting the sky to achieve their rights to dignity and
freedom, and salute all progressive forces around the world who raise the banners of struggle
and solidarity against the occupation and for freedom, justice, self-determnation and
sovereignty of the Palestinian people.
Salute to the Palestinian working class and the working class of the world on May 1
Political Bureau, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
