An ITF delegation visited the home of the family in the small rural village of Duma in the West Bank and met with relatives during a union mission to Israel and Palestine in September last year. Watch a video from the visit.
The purpose of the delegation was to promote greater co-operation and constructive initiatives between transport workers in the two countries and much progress was made in identifying new opportunities and consolidating existing ITF initiatives particularly at truck checkpoints between the two countries
On Sunday prosecutors charged a man and a minor with racially motivated murder at a court near Tel Aviv in relation to the deaths of Ali Dawabsheh and his mother and father, Saad and Riham. The attack in the occupied West Bank was one of the catalysts for the fiercest eruption of street violence in the region in years.
ITF president Paddy Crumlin and general secretary Steve Cotton were part of the September delegation that also included representatives from the International Trade Union Confederation, Unifor and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen. Crumlin said: “We are positive about the action taken by Israel’s prosecutors, this is a good start. However it would be wrong to pretend there isn’t a great deal more to be done.
“We visited the home of the Dawabshehs, we spoke to relatives of the murdered family, we saw the grief and the suffering ordinary men and women are being subjected to in the most demanding of circumstances. What the ITF is committed to is equality in this region, underpinned by our view that equality is intrinsically linked to justice. This particular outrage has gathered enormous attention worldwide even in an area punctuated by many acts of violence and human rights transgression. Of course there are many other instances of criminal attacks that have taken place where justice has not been done in such an effective and timely fashion. Thousands of other families are grieving and suffering; we would like to see action on their behalf too in an even-handed and equally resourced application of the law. The illegal settlements in Palestinian Territories are a flagrant provocation that need immediate redress.
“The ITF will continue to dedicate time, resources and effort to achieving co-operation and peace and to work to strengthen transport workers’ rights and protections to secure stable and productive economies and secure and peaceful communities in both Palestine and Israel."
Find out about the ITF Gaza support fund.
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