Statement issued by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on May 1
(International Workers' Day) May 1, 2026
Statement issued by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on May 1 (International Workers' Day)
"Workers of the world, crush the hell of imperialism."
The Popular Front on International Workers' Day: Towards protecting the rights of workers and building an international workers' front to confront genocide, break the siege, and end the occupation.
O masses of our working class... O revolutionaries of our steadfast people,
May Day, International Workers' Day, arrives as a living embodiment of a historical struggle against exploitation and injustice, a struggle consecrated by the blood of workers, during which rights were won through decades of struggle and sacrifice.
This day, which marked a turning point in the history of the global labor movement, resonates this year in our Palestinian reality, burdened with unprecedented suffering, where its symbolic struggle is intertwined with a daily scene of hardship and resilience.
We in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as we salute this glorious occasion and recall its revolutionary meanings, extend our deepest respect and admiration to the martyrs, prisoners, and wounded of the Palestinian labor movement, and to the struggles and sacrifices of the Arab and international labor movement, which has been consecrated by the blood of workers throughout history in the pursuit of liberation, social justice, and human dignity.
On this occasion, we emphasize that the Palestinian worker is facing one of the most severe phases of targeting, amidst a war of extermination aimed at their physical existence and their ability to survive and produce, and which seeks to undermine the foundations of their lives and human dignity. What our workers are experiencing, especially in the Gaza Strip, transcends traditional descriptions of crises. We are witnessing the total and comprehensive destruction of the production system, a systematic attack on the essentials of life, and a paralysis of the production sector that has led to hundreds of thousands losing their livelihoods. Unemployment rates have reached stifling levels, transforming our working society into a victim of comprehensive aggression, a suffocating siege, and widespread destruction of factories and workshops. The "breadbasket" is also being annihilated, as farmers and fishermen face a scorched-earth policy. Agricultural lands have been razed, fishing boats destroyed, and production areas transformed into fields of death and starvation.
Furthermore, the economy has suffered heavy losses as a result of the targeting and depletion of workers in the occupied West Bank, causing a profound social shock and leading to widespread poverty and mounting debt. The search for work has turned into a daily confrontation with bullets and arrests at checkpoints and walls, where martyrs are killed and wounded as they strive to provide for their families.
O masses of toilers and builders of life... O revolutionaries of truth, freedom, and steadfastness
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on this occasion, while renewing its commitment to defending the working classes, affirms the following:
1. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the rights and interests of the Palestinian working class and our entire people, who are struggling for their freedom, independence, right of return, and the establishment of their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, in the face of a comprehensive campaign targeting their very existence and their ability to survive and produce.
2. We demand binding policies that protect the rights of workers and guarantee a minimum standard of living and social justice, through formal laws and collective agreements that ensure their rights and establish a fair minimum wage. 3. We reiterate our call for the restoration of national unity and the formulation of a comprehensive strategy to confront the war of extermination and the liquidation plans, leading to the building of a resilient economy free from the constraints of agreements that mortgage our livelihoods to the will of the occupation.
4. We emphasize the necessity of rebuilding the Palestinian trade union movement on democratic and representative foundations through fair and inclusive elections, building an international workers' front in cooperation with international unions, and escalating boycotts, strikes, and political pressure tactics, including boycotting the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and divesting from the war economy and the apartheid system.
5. We call for escalating field action in ports and factories to disrupt supply chains and stop the tools of killing and destruction, and expanding the international movement of unions and free people to lift restrictions on food production, and transforming the union position into a global pressure force to stop the genocide, break the siege and end the occupation.
May Day lived as a day of struggle and liberation... and victory for the toiling and oppressed
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,
Central Media Department,
May 1, 2026
