http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8261351.stmThe FBU condemns Israel for its offensive in Gaza in January
Union members have voted to support a boycott of goods produced in what they call "illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories".
Delegates at the TUC in Liverpool backed the move in protest at Israel's military campaign in Gaza in January.
They also supported calls to withdraw investment from some Israeli companies.
But suggestions of a wholesale boycott of all Israeli goods and services were blocked by the TUC's general secretary Brendan Barber.
He said: "This is not a call for a general boycott of Israeli goods and services which would hit ordinary Palestinian and Israeli workers, but targeted, consumer-led sanctions directed at businesses based in, and sustaining, the illegal settlements."
Agricultural products
The idea of a boycott has divided the union movement and on Wednesday, leaders were forced to suspend a debate on the issue after heated exchanges between senior officials.
The motion was originally proposed by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and also called for an end to arms sales to Israel and the suspension of official links between British and Israeli trade unions.
It was backed by the Unite and Unison unions, but the GMB called the motion "incredibly divisive" and "way beyond the logic of where we should be".
We have a history of supporting boycotts, such as the one against apartheid in South Africa
Mick Shaw, Fire Brigades Union
Despite objections, however, the motion was passed, and afterwards the TUC said in a statement that the boycott would target "agricultural products that originate in illegal settlements" in the West Bank, including dates, herbs, fruit and vegetables.
Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed during the three-week operation at the start of this year. Israel puts the figure at 1,166.
FBU president Mick Shaw told delegates there had been "unbelievable human suffering", adding: "We have a history of supporting boycotts, such as the one against apartheid in South Africa.
"There is no doubt that had an effect."
Israel's deputy ambassador in London said on Wednesday that such a move would not help prospects of peace in the region and would harm both Israeli and Palestinian workers.
But Hugh Lanning, chairman of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said it was a "landmark" decision.
The TUC is an umbrella organization of 58 British unions, representing about 6.5 million workers.
This above story comes a month after this one:
As many of you know, isreali boycotts are nothing new where a niche consumer sector is concerned, however what impact do you think it will have if large umbrella organizations such as TUS are also following suit ?Dons to consider Israeli boycott
Academics have backed calls for a wide-ranging debate on a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
The University and College Union (UCU) was urged, at its annual conference, to consider the "moral implications" of links with Israeli universities.
The motion condemned Israel for its "denial of educational rights" to Palestinians, but opponents said a boycott would not advance their cause.
Both the British and Israeli governments condemned the move.
Ahead of the debate UCU general secretary Sally Hunt urged delegates not to support the boycott call.
Ms Hunt said she did not believe the majority of UCU members supported an academic boycott of Israel.
But the motion, which argued that "passivity or neutrality was unacceptable" in the special circumstances of the Israeli occupation, will require union branches to consider a potential boycott.
Philosophy lecturer at Brighton University Tom Hickey, who proposed the motion, described the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as "barbaric".
"What are we to do with this? Are we to look away? If we do we make ourselves complicit in it."
'Barbaric'
He claimed that only a "handful of academics had separated themselves from collusion with the occupation", adding that justice must not be limited to home.
But those opposing the motion argued that a boycott of Israeli academic institutions would do nothing to help the plight of the Palestinian people.
Thames Valley University delegate Stephen Desmond said a blanket boycott of Israeli universities did nothing to move a two-state solution forward.
"It does not move Palestinians to a place where Palestinians have a homeland to call their own."
But London School of Economics delegate Mike Cushman said: "Universities are to Israel what the Springboks were to South Africa - a symbol of their national identity."
'Striking difference'
University of East London delegate Philip Marfleet acknowledged the issue was a "highly charged" one and explained how he was a convert to the boycott campaign.
He said he had visited universities in Israel and in the occupied territories, and that the difference between the two was striking.
While the Israeli university was functioning well, the Palestinian university he saw had been closed for 51 consecutive weeks because of arrests and incursions by Israeli forces, he claimed.
"Israeli academic freedom comes at the cost of the denial of the most basic of academic freedoms of Palestinian students," he added.
Another delegate, Sue Blackwell from Birmingham University, described how during a visit to her campus, the mayor of the Palestinian town of Ramallah had said: "People are beginning to starve now. But for Israel it is business as usual."
Journeys across the West Bank which had taken 20 minutes now took several hours because of all the army checkpoints, Ms Blackwell said.
"It is only that change on the climate of opinion which will in the end, as it did in South Africa, create a lasting and just change in the Middle East."
Jewish groups horrified
Delegates backed the motion in a card vote by 158 votes to 99, with 17 abstentions.
A full debate on the issue is now expected within UCU branches throughout the country, with the hope that a vote on a formal boycott may be held at the union's conference next year.
But the motion's proposer Mr Hickey said it would be up to the union's management to decide how this was put into action.
If a boycott was to be agreed upon it might mean UCU members being urged not to attend conferences at Israeli universities or submit articles to their journals, he said.
It would not mean Israeli academics could not come to UK campuses.
'Palestinian bombardment'
Higher education minister Bill Rammell said he was "very disappointed" at the vote.
"I profoundly believe this does nothing to promote the Middle East peace process. In fact the reverse."
The vote has also horrified the Israeli government and Jewish groups in the UK.
Israeli education minister Yuli Tamir claimed students at an Israeli college were being "bombarded by Palestinian Qassam rockets every day".
Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the umbrella group the Jewish Leadership Council, said he would be urging Ms Hunt to ensure any steps taking the union closer to a boycott would be put to a full ballot of UCU membership.
He claimed a small group of "extreme hard-edged activists" had capitalised on a lack of leadership.
Last edited by mafia996630 (2009-09-17 11:58:02)
