[Peace-discuss] (no subject)

[David Johnson]

Daam Workers Party: Election platform for the 19th Knesset, 2013 (abridged)
Posted on 18/12/2012 by Da'am Workers Party 
As Israel goes to elections for the 19th Knesset in January 2013, two critical issues cry out for attention. The first is the political stalemate which will lead to a third intifada and a terrible confrontation with the Arab world. The second concerns the austerity program and drastic cuts to the national budget which will lead to unemployment, poverty and the collapse of public services.

On one side, the Palestinians refuse to accept the occupation. On the other, a growing swathe of the Israeli population opposes the rampant capitalism that has taken over the country. The popular protests that erupted in the summer of 2011 are evidence that change is possible. The Daam Workers Party was actively involved in the protests, and struggles daily for social change among Jewish and Arab workers.

Daam offers the Israeli public an agenda of revolutionary change around these two issues: an end to the occupation and the creation of a society based on equality and social justice. A solution to the Palestinian question and peace are preconditions for the creation of a just society in which a person's ethnic background will not prevent her full participation in society.


I. The Palestinian question and the Arab world

1. Daam calls for an end to the occupation, the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, and the dismantling of the settlements.

The Oslo Accords thwarted the possibility of reaching a solution based on two states. A feasible peace agreement must include an end to the occupation, the dismantling of the settlements and the establishment of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. The economic crisis in the West Bank and the powerlessness of the Palestinian Authority (PA) will, sooner or later, lead to a third popular intifada targeted at the corrupt symbols of the PA. Israel will not be able to ensure political or economic stability without a real solution to the Palestinian question.

2. Daam supports the Arab Spring and the struggles of the Syrian people, and calls for peace with the future Syrian government based on an end to the occupation of the Golan Heights.

The democratic revolutions in the Arab world are key to changing Israel's relations with its neighbors. The Arab Spring offers a message of democracy and social justice, and constitutes an opportunity for building healthy and equal relations between Israeli society and the Arab world surrounding it. Daam stands with the Syrian people in their struggle against Assad's regime and adds its voice to the voices of the Syrians who call for an end to the dictatorship.

II. The economy

Daam is a socialist party which sees employment, not profit, as the natural right of every human being and the source of a flourishing economy and society. Daam is active in organizing workers in trade unions and in achieving collective agreements to ensure the full rights and job security of workers.

1. Privatization: Daam calls on the government to nationalize the public services and the industries that are being shut down.

2. Taxation: Daam calls for raising corporate taxes and reducing the taxation of workers.

3. National budget: Daam calls for increasing the national deficit to promote employment, welfare, education, housing and health; for abolishing the "Arrangements Law"; and for reducing the defense budget.

4. Cost of living: Daam calls for reintroducing price control on basic goods, for subsidizing public transport and for implementing the cost-of-living bonus agreement which was cancelled.

5. Employment: Daam is active in unionizing workers and in the struggle for collective agreements to cover all workers in the various branches of the economy, and calls for an end to employment via labor contractors.

6. Migrant labor and asylum seekers: Daam works to stop the employment of migrant laborers under terms limiting their basic freedoms, and supports the granting of asylum for refugees. Daam calls for regulating the employment of migrant laborers, refugees and Palestinians from the occupied territories, by unionizing these workers and employing them in keeping with Israeli labor law. Daam opposes the detention and deportation of migrant laborers and refugees, and the violation of their rights.

III. Gender discrimination

Full equality between the sexes: Daam works for the advancement of women in all fields of life, including politics, economics, culture and society. The advancement of women requires developed social services and the reduction of poverty, which disproportionately affects women. Daam woman activists are a dominant force in the party leadership, and stand at the forefront of the struggle for social and political change.

1. Women at work: The Workers Advice Center (WAC), which is a trade union affiliated with Daam, struggles for equal opportunities for women at work. It demands augmented enforcement of legislation intended to ensure equal pay and employment terms for men and women, and greater efforts to prevent discrimination because of pregnancy and birth. Daam calls for government support for a long school day, subsidies for daycare centers, the recognition of childcare costs for taxation purposes, and assistance for single-parent families. Daam opposes the raising of the retirement age for women.

2. Personal status laws and human rights: Daam calls for the complete separation of religion and state, for the provision of civil marriage, divorce and burial services, and for complete personal freedom in the choice of a partner.

3. Violence against women: Daam calls for increasing the enforcement of legislation and punishment regarding the trafficking of women, prostitution, sexual harassment and sexual assault.

IV. The environment

Daam calls for an end to the privatization of public and natural resources, and for the maximization of the public's share in these resources. Daam calls for increased investment in public infrastructure, improving public transport, and closing city centers to private vehicles in favor of clean public transport. Daam will act to return the water corporations to local authorities.

V. Israel's Arab citizens

Since the State of Israel was established, its Arab citizens, who today make up some 20% of the population, have suffered institutionalized discrimination which exposes the limitations of Israeli democracy. The lack of infrastructure and the discrimination in the allocation of resources have created poverty and caused the unraveling of the social fabric in Arab towns and villages. The Arab leadership takes advantage of the conservative and patriarchal character of Arab society to maintain its control over the Arab population. The segregation and distrust between Jews and Arabs is an obstacle to confronting the government's capitalist policies. Daam offers an alternative agenda centered on internal change within Arab society. It promotes openness towards progressive forces within Jewish society. In its struggle against racism in Israeli society, Daam seeks full and unconditionally equal rights for Israel's Arab citizens.

1. Employment: The employment of Israel's Arab citizens, in particular Arab women, is one of Daam's central demands and a fundamental aspect of its activities. Daam calls for affirmative action in the employment of Arab citizens in government bodies and public companies, preferential terms for the building and development of industrial zones in Arab towns, increased public transport between Arab towns and industrial/commercial centers, and an end to the import of migrant labor (see above, II.6).

2. Housing and development: Daam demands an end to the demolition of houses in Arab towns, an increase in land designated for construction around Arab towns, an increase in the land under the jurisdiction of local authorities in Arab towns, and an end to racist legislation that in practice prevents Arabs from living wherever they choose. Daam also calls for public construction in Arab towns, for state recognition of "unrecognized" Arab villages, and an end to the policy of dispossession of Arabs in the Negev region.

3. Education and public services: Daam demands an end to state-sanctioned institutional discrimination towards Arabs in the allocation of resources for development, education and social and cultural services; it calls for the appointment of educational staff according to capabilities and not familial ties or political considerations. Daam seeks an increase in the number of social workers and psychologists allocated to Arab areas, and in the budget for infrastructure and a long school day. Daam works to involve residents in its activities in schools, to oppose violence against women, and to invest in pupils in both formal and voluntary frameworks.

4. National service: Daam opposes making the granting of equal rights for Arab citizens conditional on national service or any other condition.

Daam opposes national service because it makes basic rights, which should be granted to every citizen, conditional on service to the state which consistently discriminates against Arab citizens. The neglect of Arab youth, plus the lack of employment, education, culture and an appropriate public sphere, creates poverty and violence. National service will not solve this problem or create jobs. Israeli society makes no attempt to integrate Arab youth, and thus young Arab citizens have no motivation to serve the state.

- Translated from the Hebrew by Yonatan Preminger
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