Opinion Editorials, July 2014

Britain’s biggest trade union, Unite, has resolved to campaign for the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, which it slammed as “guilty of the crime of apartheid”, the Middle East Monitor reports.

In a rare move from a Western public body, Unite also acknowledged the futility of the US-backed “peace” process, which has delivered nothing but more Israeli land grabs and squatter colonies.

According to the Middle East Monitor report, Unite considered two motions related to Palestine-Israel conflict at its annual policy conference in Liverpool this week.

The main “Israel and Palestine” motion condemned Israeli violations of international law such as settlement construction, “crimes of persecution against the Palestinian people”, and the Israeli military’s detention and “torture” of Palestinian children. As well as the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Unite also highlighted the “racist laws” affecting Palestinian citizens of Israel.

The motion commits Unite to taking “bolder steps like those that were taken against the South African apartheid regime” as part of the fight against “the Israeli ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”. The union will work with others to develop a “campaigning and leverage strategy around BDS within the next 12 months”, notably “against complicit companies involved in the occupation, the apartheid wall and the illegal settlements (such as Veolia, G4S and Sainsbury’s)”.

In a slap in the face for the advocates of futile talks with Israel, a motion titled “Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation” was turned down.

“The motion expressed support for the stricken US-led peace talks and encouraged engagement with both Israeli and Palestinian trade unions,” the report said.

But the sum total of 21 years of US-led peace talks has been the virtual disappearance of the 22 per cent of Palestine which is supposed to make up the Palestinian part of the “two-state solution” that’s being talked about.

To its credit, Unite had the wisdom and courage to say “enough deception and lies” and defeated the motion.

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

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