In a statement released from its headquarters in Prague, The Czech Republic, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) condemned the Israeli rocket attack on Gaza City on July 22 that killed 15 Palestinian civilians, including nine children.
The statement demanded that those responsible for the attacks be charged with war crimes and brought before the International Criminal Court and the deployment of an international force to protect the lives of the Palestinian people living in the occupied territories.
The statement concluded with an appeal for urgent action by trade unions and all democratic forces to forcefully demand that the United Nations and Member States take immediate, effective measures to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. The entire statement follows:
World Federation of Trade Unions condemns Israeli missile attack on Gaza and murder of women and children, and calls for urgent international action to stop the genocide.
Yet another brutal massacre of civilian lives was carried out by the Israeli air force on 22 July by launching a missile attack on densely populated al-Daraj area of Gaza City, destroying homes and killing 15 Palestinian civilians, including nine children, in their sleep, the youngest of whom was only two months old. The WFTU strongly condemns these continuing acts of genocide which are perpetrated in the occupied Palestine territories by the Sharon regime, in gross defiance of world public opinion and the decisions of the U.N. Security Council demanding that Israel ends its illegal occupation, stop all military attacks and withdraw from these territories.
Those who are responsible for these “war crimes” should be brought before the International Criminal Court. The international community should act to put an end to Israeli militarism and brutal repression unleashed on the civilian population in the occupied territories, in gross violation of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. It is also essential that the United States administration abandon its military and political support to the Sharon regime, which is using the high-tech weapons provided by the U.S. to commit war crimes, kill civilians and destroy civilian property in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
The WFTU calls for urgent action by trade unions and all democratic forces in all continents to forcefully demand that the United Nations and Member States take immediate, effective measures to bring about:
* An immediate end to the illegal Israeli occupation and military attacks on the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and the deployment of an international protection force to protect the lives of the Palestinian people living in these territories;
* Urgent steps to provide international financial and technical assistance to the Palestine people and Palestine Authority to help resolve the humanitarian crisis caused by the Israeli aggression;
* Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories in Palestine, Syrian Golan and remaining part of South Lebanon, in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolutions, and immediate action to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their legitimate right to return and to self-determination and to establish their national and independent state with Jerusalem as capital.
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