Militant Israeli Strikers Throw Police into Sea

(ANS/Radical Guardian)—Striking oil workers forced the closing June 3 of the southern Israeli port of Ashkelon, on the Gulf of Aquaba. Police attacked and opened fire on the workers who began the wildcat strike May 20 to protest layoffs. Histadrut, the General Confederation of Israeli Workers, called the strike illegal and refused to support it.

The militant strikers seized and held several ships off the Israeli coast. When police tried to board the vessels, the angry workers threw them into the sea. The strike has halted all pumping of oil on the 100-mile-long pipeline from Ashkelon to the coastal city of Eilat. The Israeli Seamen's Union is supporting the wildcat, and dockers in Ashkelon, Haifa and Asded have staged solidarity strikes.

The armed attack on the strike by the Zionist settler regime comes amidst a severe economic crisis in the country. Inflation resulting from Israel's massive war preparations has caused prices on basic commodities to nearly double in the past year.