A delegation of PAME visited the Gaza of Palestine which is blocked by Israel on Saturday June 15 and Sunday June 16, 2013 and conveyed the support and solidarity of workers in our country with the Palestinian people who struggle and suffer.

It is the first time that a Greek delegation visits the Gaza Strip after the imposition of the long-time blockade by the state of Israel.

The delegation of PAME, consisting of George Perros, George Pontikos and Babis Vortelinos, had meetings with organizations and trade unions of the Palestinian people.

On Saturday, the first day of the visit to Gaza, PAME delegation met the General Union of Palestinian Workers and other trade unions.

The trade unions of Palestine expressed to the delegation of PAME the difficult situation that the workers and the people of Gaza experience, where unemployment exceeds the 45%, with a large percentage of the youth and women being unemployed, while the 70% of the people live below the poverty line.

The delegation of PAME in the meetings with the workers of Gaza faced once again the harsh reality that the Palestinian people experience, who struggle for their survival and for the establishment of an independent and a sustainable Palestinian state.

On Sunday the delegation visited the refugee camps, thus witnessing through their own eyes the brutal consequences of an inhumane blockade which condemns thousands of Gaza residents even to starvation. The delegation also visited regions where had received air strikes that destroyed buildings and infrastructure in 2008. In the meetings and discussions with refugees it became clear that thousands of people live every day with the fear that they may receive an air attack or bombardments by the Israeli military at any time.

With the blockade imposed by Israel with the support of the USA and the E.U. the situation becomes even more tragic for the farmers and the fishermen. It is characteristic that small-scale fishermen basically can not fish, since they are permitted to fish only up to 3 miles from the shore and if they exceed this distance the coastguard of Israel intervenes.

PAME delegation conveyed to the trade unions the solidarity of the class-oriented trade union movement and of the working class of Greece. The delegation denounced the attempt of incrimination of the movement of resistance and its activity in the name of terrorism and it stressed that the real terrorist against the peoples is the imperialism. It also denounced the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The delegation of PAME stressed once again the support of the class-oriented trade union movement of our country to the struggle of the people of Palestine for the establishment of an independent, sustainable and sovereign state, in the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It underlined that every people should have the right to decide by its own for its government and its future.

It demanded:

• The ending of the settlement and withdrawal of all the settlers.

• Demolition of the unacceptable separating wall in the East Jerusalem and all the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

• The ending of every blockade of the Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza Strip.

• The immediate release of all the Palestinians and of the political prisoners who are kept in Israeli jails.

PAME denounced the attitude of the ITUC (whose vice-president is Israeli) to the Palestinian problem. The ITUC serves the imperialist plans for the New Middle East.

It extended the international solidarity of the WFTU. The workers of Gaza know the WFTU activity and as they said it is the real friend of the workers of Palestine and it struggles for their rights.

For photographs press here:

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The Executive Secretariat