By IRNA,
London : Israel is being singled out for condemnation by Britain’s six-and-a-half million trade union members at their annual conference in Manchester, north-west England next month.
The only condemnatory motion to be voted upon under the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Global Solidarity agenda also calls on the UK government and the EU to take “much stronger political steps” to ensure Israel abides by UN resolutions.
Delegates are also urged to back instructions for the TUC General Council to “organise and support a boycott of Israeli goods, especially agricultural products that have been produced in illegal settlements in the West Bank.”
Affiliates and employers are also being encouraged to cease investment in Israel, with amendments to extend the boycott to companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation, according to a copy of the final agenda obtained by IRNA.
At its annual conference last year, the TUC took the historic step of voting for a boycott of Israeli goods in the first resolution of its kind since the campaign to end anti-apartheid in South Africa.
In April, trade unionists stepped up the boycott campaign with the publication of a new leaflet entitled ‘Would You Buy Stolen Goods’ that called on consumers not to buy any goods from illegal Israeli settlements.
Following the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the TUC backed a global petition to world leaders, to make Israel accountable for its massacre of nine passengers in international waters.
The latest resolution “condemns the Israeli blockades of the Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza strip where there is a severe and ongoing deterioration in the living conditions of those living there.”
“The actions of the Israeli military, under the orders of their Government, in mounting a deadly assault on activists on the Mavi Marmara and other ships seeking to take humanitarian aid to Gaza is particularly condemned,” it reads.
“The effective annexation of massive swathes of land by Israel in defiance of international law, using walls and checkpoints and destroying Palestinian homes in the process, is a deliberate strategy to undermine the viability of the West Bank and thereby the potential for an independent Palestinian state,” the motion warns.
The TUC conference, which starts on September 13, traditionally opens a new political year in Britain and is followed by a season of annual party conferences.