On the UN-declared International Holocaust Memoridal Day the South African national trade union centre COSATU sponsored an anti-Israel rallu at which COSATU’s President Sidumo Dlamini gave the following speech.

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Almost a year ago, Gaza was run down by the occupying forces of Israel in a barbaric show of might and in pursuit of their colonial expansionist ambitions.

Schools, clinics, UN buildings, social services, water and electrical installations, cultural institutions and businesses literally crumbled under the weight of heavy bombs and artillery. Dangerous and banned warfare chemicals, like white phosphorus were used in an attempt to annihilate the entire population, in which case women and children were the worst victims.

Israel instils fear and terror – funded and supported by USA

That was Israel at its best, doing what it knows best and what it has always done over the years to instil fear and terror amongst the occupied people.

Funded and supported by the US, Israel has no regard, whatsoever, for international law and continues to expand its colonial project to-date. Illegal settlements are all over Palestine and the inhumane treatment of the people of Gaza bears testimony to the savage occupation that some refuse to see, even when evidence is so naked.

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Dozens of female journalists from Gaza rallied on Sunday in front of the office of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate in Gaza City, demanding that membership be opened up to women.

Journalist Dunya Isma’il called on the PJS to introduce a set quota for women members, as in the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Ma’an News Agency reports.

“We request legal standards in registration and representation of female journalists in all the union’s committees, including membership and contest committees,” she said.

Struggle for union democracy

This is the latest twist in an extraordinary struggle now going on for  the democratisation of the Palestinian journalists’ union.

Historically most Palestinian unions have been merely a front, or an extension, of one or other  Palestinian political groupings.

However many unionists are currently fighting to re-create their organisations, making them accountable to the membership not to political faction leaders or the Palestinian Authority. The current struggle inside the Journalists Syndicate is particularly significant.

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The International Federation of Journalists has called for a postponement of a historic Palestinian journalists’  union congress,  because of undue political interference.

The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate announced on Wednesday that nominations were open for its leadership and a long overdue union conference will start soon afterwards.

The journalist union’s  top committee said they would receive names for nomination from Saturday, January 30, 2010 until Monday,  February 1, 2010.

In a statement to the Ma’an News Agency the syndicate said that Tuesday, February 2, 2010, would be the only day to contest nominations – and Friday, February 5, 2010, would see the start of the union’s congress.

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We’ve received news reports on Danish pension funds — one explicitly linked to the unions — which have announced divestments from Israeli companies.

In one case, PKA Ltd, one of the largest funds for Danish workers’ pensions, has announced it will sell its shares of Elbit systems, an Israeli company which it claims builds equipment for electronic surveillance along Israel’s separation barrier.

A spokesman for PKA said that “the barrier only serves military purposes and violates Palestinian human rights” — but did not mention that it was built to prevent terrorist attacks in Israel and has largely succeeded in doing so.  More details are here and here and here .

The TUC [Trades Union Congress] is calling for an end to discrimination and prejudice on Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) today (Wednesday).

HMD commemorates the loss of life in the holocaust of World War II, and in more recent genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. It is held on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, where 1.6 million men, women and children were killed in the Nazi holocaust. (more)

January 27, 1945 was the day that Soviet troops liberated the largest and most infamous of the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz — and it is for this reason that this day was chosen by the international community to serve as a day to remember the victims of the Holocaust.

How inappropriate — and indeed, offensive — it is to choose this day to hold a major anti-Israel rally, as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is doing. (more)

The  head of the civil service union Amjad Abu Raed has announced that the Palestinian Authority will increase employees’ salaries by four per cent this month.

Abu Raed told the Ma’an News Agency that a 2.75% increase will be tacked on to salaries for the cost of living, and 1.25% will be given as an annual bonus.

All governmental employees will receive the raise, he said, adding that the union received a formal decision from the Ramallah government announcing the decision.

The biggest single employer in the Palestinian Territories is the Palestinian Authority – and with an unemployment rate running higher than 20% these jobs are prized.

The Israeli national trade union centre The Histadrut is about to sign a groundbreaking new work agreement covering all construction workers in Israel – whether they are Israelis, foreign guest workers or Palestinians.

The announcement (expected January 21) will be a challenge to the Israeli right-wing who have campaigned to push all non-Israelis, working in construction,  out of the country.

The Netanyahu government has committed themselves to forcing  all foreign construction workers out of the country by 2012.

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TUFI reports on the UK government’s pledge of over £50 million for the Palestinian terrritories, including funds for tackling extremism in Gaza, and much more.  Read the full newsletter here.