Adams visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City.
By William E. Adams
International Secretary-Treasurer
From Nov. 26 to Dec. 4, I took my own time and money to be a part of a labor delegation to Israel. It was very moving, emotional and inspiring. It has been impossible to remain unaffected by the experience. We live in a moment when you can almost hear the wheels of history turning. Change is in the air. International conflicts, natural disasters, and the emergence of new democracies—these are expanding our worldview. Times like these demand that we pay attention. Engaged people are effecting change and affecting our lives every day.
In the wake of the war with Hezbollah, things were somewhat calm. Yet you had the feeling that things could explode at any time. It’s clear to me that the Middle East is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
While the peoples of the Middle East continue their centuries long dispute, one factor remains constant—in each country workers have to fight for their share of the wealth they produce. Whether they live and work under the rule of the Mullahs of Iran, or under Saddam Hussein’s labor laws in Iraq, or in the sweatshops of Saudi Arabia, workers have felt a need to organize and struggle. In Israel it’s no different. Our labor delegation would look at Israel’s working conditions and the state of the class struggle there.
Laying a rose at Rabin Square, where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
Our tour started in the seaport town of Haifa where they move containers and general cargo. APM Maersk had two gangs working that day. I counted 15 cranes and the ports are very busy.
On Wednesday, Nov. 29 the Histadrut Labor Federation held a general strike that shut down the whole country. The 650,000-member federation represents both Jewish and Arab workers. Our labor delegation was in solidarity with our striking brothers and sisters. The issue was the finance ministry’s failure to pay massive sums of money that the labor federation claims it owed to thousands of municipal workers. The strike was a very strong statement, all government offices, airports and seaports, railways, local authorities and garbage collection workers went out. About 100,000 workers had not received salaries in months, some six months, some eight months, some a year and a half. The head of the finance ministry was supposed to pay the debt by Sept. 20, but he did not keep his promise.
Ted Kirsch (President, Pennsylvania AFT), Dalia Rabin, Randi Weingarten, President UFT, Nat LaCour, Sec. Treasurer AFT.
“We had no choice to strike,” the Histadrut said. The courts ordered the workers back to work Nov. 30 and a settlement is in the works.
The workers also struck over not receiving their social benefits, according to Daniel Ben-Sheetrit, chairman of the powerful Histadrut union. Fox news and CNN did not cover this story. Polls showed 71 percent of the people were in favor of the strike. Workers need to be paid and they have families and bills to pay. The strike cost the economy about $70 million a day. What a great way to start our trip!
Education in Israel is a precious legacy. Following the traditions of past generations, education continues to be a fundamental value and is recognized as the key to the future. The education system aims to prepare children to become responsible members of a democratic, pluralistic society in which people from different ethnic, religious, cultural and political backgrounds coexist. It is based on the principles of liberty and tolerance.
Dalia Rabin and Barbara Easterling, Sec. Treasurer CWA.
We were honored to be addressed by Joseph Wasserman, General Secretary of the Israel Teachers Union, at our breakfast one morning. There are 120,000 teachers in the union. One of the problems is that the pay is very low and they are having a hard time attracting new teachers into the field. They have a close relationship with AFT here in the U.S.
We were able to visit two schools and mingle with the kids. All the schools have bomb shelters. At the first school, Jewish, Arab and other Muslim kids all went to school together in a multi-cultural program to teach common respect for one another. When the war with Hezbollah took place, a missile hit the school. The children were locked down in the bomb shelter for two weeks away from their families. They are living under the hammer everyday.
We should remember also that many kids here live in fear of street gangs. The kids in Israel use the word “fear” a lot. They’re afraid to be alone. You could still smell the smoke of the missiles. When we left the school on the bus, we passed the hat for donations to help the kids, and raised $500. Union people are very generous.
The delegation proceeded to the Lebanese border, where the war between Israel and Hezbollah took place three months before. A quiet came over the delegation. We were right there, with all the tension, pressure and instability.
We met with a young man, a lieutenant colonel who was in charge of the army post. He was very nice and polite, and he answered all our questions. Yet he had an edge to him. They are at war and on high alert all the time. He kept his finger on the trigger of his Uzi machine gun the whole time he talked to our delegation. He was clear that even at that moment, when things seemed calm, it could erupt and there will be more fighting and killing. I heard the emotion in his voice and the pain, yet it was very clear that dying is not hard, living together is what is hard. The lieutenant colonel was 22 years old.
As we looked over the border, we saw Lebanese troops, Syrian troops and U.N. troops. I thought to myself that this is a high-stakes poker game among rich and powerful men to control and shape one of the world’s most volatile regions, a region that tugs at emotions that have gone on for generations, ranging from national pride to hate and destruction. The young people are protecting their country, and when they are 18 years old men and women go into the army. For them it’s a badge of honor. They are children of the struggle.
On Wednesday we headed for Giladi and a kibbutz, an Israeli cooperative community. We had lunch with Rachel Jacob, the sister of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. She spoke to our delegation about her life. She spoke with passion and courage. She is a very regal lady in her early 80s. She spent most of her life on a kibbutz, an austere life for a very humble woman. She spoke of her late brother, Yitzhak Rabin, who was an instrument for peace. There was iron in her words of life and death for the whole delegation to hear. She came from the working class and her family lived a modest life. Her presence was like that of Golda Meir, Israel’s first woman prime minister. When she was finished speaking our group gave her a hug and thanked her for spending time with us. It was the first time I had ever spent on a kibbutz.
Bob Ellis, an ILWU Local 23 member and friend told me many years ago that he went to Israel when he got out of high school and worked on a kibbutz. He picked bananas, and remembered the air raids back then and hiding in the bomb shelter.
Adams surveys the damage to the El-Mahaba kindergarten in Acre, which was destroyed by Hezbollah missiles.
Later that afternoon we headed up to Jerusalem. It was a beautiful drive. We had dinner that evening at our hotel with M.K. Yuli Tamir, the Minister of Education. We were also privileged to see a performance of “Me’urav Yerushalmi” by the youth choir of Jerusalem. They were great, with so much energy. These young people were so uplifting. After the dinner we had a chance to talk to the young kids. The dialogue was great. They had performed in San Diego last year. They all love the show “American Idol” and hip-hop music. Music is a universal language.
Thursday, Nov. 30 was a sunny day around 30 degrees and our first day in Jerusalem. It would be a day I will never forget. We went to the Yad Vashem Museum, the holocaust museum. I was overwhelmed with grief, sadness, anger and tears. How could something like this happen to human beings? Just like slavery, why, how, can human beings be so cruel? It makes me look at myself every day in the mirror and ask that question. History holds no parallel to those horrors.
From that museum we visited the Menachem Begin Heritage Center Museum, built in honor of the late prime minister and revolutionary who shared 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Egypt’s President Anwar al-Sadat. To be fair, we also have to remember that Begin authorized the invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
That afternoon we visited the market in Old Jerusalem. I purchased a painting of two men praying at the Wailing Wall, about the culture of the people and the peace process. It now hangs in my office in San Francisco.
As our delegation met with some of the workers, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was just across town meeting with Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. She praised Israel for its statement of restraint concerning the cease-fire, because it is quite fragile, but we would like to see it consolidated and then extended, she said. She said it had been a week of progress.
One worker told me that it was important to be honest about the country, there are many problems there, a lot of challenges. They are threatened, he said. He wanted to know about our country and the elections. It’s pretty clear to me that this administration’s legacy will be one of missed opportunities and failed leadership. Clearly, George Bush has not done enough to support peace. The citizens of America went to the polls Nov. 7 and proved that the vote was mightier than the sword.
While Israel takes good care of senior citizens, with great healthcare and good doctors, up to 3,000 Israelis sleep on the streets each night. They tend to be displaced persons, brought to ruin by a caustic cocktail of abuse, financial ruin and drugs, just like here at home.
Every person we met, regardless of religion or gender, wants to see and have peace. How does that come about? The Middle East seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. People we spoke to believe it would take a superhuman effort to achieve peace in the region.
We live in a culture of violence—some people think violence is a legitimate means of resolving disputes. And yet Fox News, CNN and others focus on just the violence, and yes, there are problems.
While we live in an age when every thought and utterance is filtered through the media, we sometimes forget that our world is torn by 25 border disputes involving some 40 nations. But even as technology has facilitated the global exchange of ideas and made the world a smaller place, it has failed to make it a peaceful one. It was Martin Luther King who taught us that a real moral struggle seeks to win partners—not leave victims. It’s not the past or present, the Middle East must gaze toward the future.
Sunday, Dec. 3 was our last day. We spent it in Tel Aviv and the delegation visited the Etzel Museum and Independence Hall, where the Israeli Declaration of Independence was signed May 14, 1948 and Israel became a state.
Adams looks out into Lebanon during a visit to Israel's northern border.
As the sun was setting, our delegation headed to Rabin Square to place a rose on the spot where Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was gunned down Nov. 4, 1995 by a Jewish assassin in the central square of Tel Aviv, at the end of a rally in support of his government and its policies. The assassination took place at the height of a charged political debate over the direction and future of Israel. Rabin was a man of valor and peace.
From Rabin Square we headed to our closing dinner at the Yitzhak Rabin Center, hosted by Dalia Rabin, the daughter of the slain prime minister. The Center was established by law in 1997 to commemorate the life and achievements of Yitzhak Rabin, and to examine the lessons, circumstances and implications of his assassination. The delegation was given a tour of the Center and the new Museum of History, which displays the life and times of Yitzhak Rabin.
We sat down for a full dinner and Dalia Rabin gave a short talk. She’s a very strong and powerful woman who carries the flame of her father’s legacy forward. Former President Bill Clinton talked about his friend and brother Yitzhak Rabin at last year’s museum dedication, where at least 150,000 attended. To the people of Israel, Rabin’s death was like the deaths of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were to the American people. They were good men, humble men who were heroes in their sacrifice, courage and strength.
Rabin’s land-for-peace idea was still popular with the Palestinians. Polls in March 2006 showed they would support return to the 1967 borders and recognition of Israel, and many Israelis still support that idea.
Rabin is missed because of his personal qualities of modesty, integrity, truthfulness, devotion and adherence to principle, no matter how difficult or unpopular. He belongs not to the past, but to the present and to posterity. His grave has become a shrine of pilgrimage and inspiration. He was the privileged and chosen instrument to carry peace to the Middle East.
We live on a planet deeply divided and still struggling to overcome political and economic repression. The message is very simple: hope, respect and relief for the oppressed and downtrodden.
Dr. King was very clear when he said: “If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality and strength without sight.” We must all rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful struggle for a new world. For me it hits the brain and tugs at the very heartstrings.
