12 September 2019, UK Trades Union Congress

Motion 75 Palestine – supporting rights to self-determination

Motion carried.

Congress notes:

i. The US and Israeli administrations are destroying prospects for peace in Palestine – by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, stopping funding for Palestinian refugees, the continuing siege of Gaza, expanding illegal settlements and plans to annex illegally large areas of the West Bank. Trump’s “deal of the century” is an attempt to destroy core Palestinian rights.

Congress believes:

a. TUC policy must prioritise Palestinians’ rights to freedom, justice and equality, including by applying these principles based on international law to all UK trade with Israel.

b. The TUC needs to condemn the ongoing injustices against the Palestinians, denied their right to self-determination since the British Mandate, and during the 1948 Nakba when Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes.

Congress resolves to:

1. Oppose any proposed solution for Palestinians, including Trump’s ‘deal’, not based on international law and UN resolutions recognising their collective rights to self-determination and to return to their homes

2. Support efforts to establish an ethical policy on all UK’s trade with Israel, framed around international law on settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and stopping any arms trade with Israel used in violation of the human rights of the Palestinians

3. Commit to raise the pressure on corporations complicit in arms trading and supporting Israel’s illegal occupation and settlement building, by working with its affiliated unions, with the international trade union movement, and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, to develop strategies to put pressure on complicit corporations to cease all such activities.

Moved by: Artists’ Union England

Source: TUC Congress

FURTHER REPORTS:

14 September 2019, The New Arab

British trade unions vote ‘overwhelmingly’ to pass motion boycotting Israel

The Trades Union Congress, which has 5.6 million members, has adopted several similar motions in recent years targeting illegal Israeli settlements and the UK-Israel arms trade.

The leaders of British trade unions this week overwhelmingly passed a motion to boycott Israel during an annual conference in Brighton.

The non-binding Motion 75, entitled ‘Palestine: supporting rights to self-determination’, was submitted by Artists’ Union England and accused Israel of “destroying prospects for peace”.

It called for Trades Union Congress (TUC) policy to “prioritise Palestinians’ rights to justice and equality, including by applying these principles based on international law to all UK trade with Israel.”

“The message from every major union was clear: we understand the seriousness of the assault on the collective rights of the Palestinian people being mounted by Israel with the support of Trump and far-right allies,” Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said on social media.

The TUC, which has 5.6 million members, has adopted several similar motions in recent years targeting illegal Israeli settlements and the UK-Israel arms trade.

In 2010, the TUC encouraged employers and pension funds to divest and boycott the goods of companies who profit from settlements, Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territory, and the construction of the controversial West Bank separation wall.

The TUC in 2014 also called on the UK and European Union to end the arms trade with Israel and all military industrial cooperation, including the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) is a campaign promoting various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.

Led by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), BDS strives to uphold the principle that Palestinians are entitled to equal rights.

Source: The New Arab

12 September 2019, Morning Star Online

Motion passed supporting right of return for Palestine

Britain’s trade union movement has voted to support the right of return for the Palestinian people.

Delegates at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton voted to oppose any “proposed solution” in the conflict that is not “based on international law and UN resolutions recognising their collective rights to self-determination and to return to their homes.”

The motion also called for unions to “raise the pressure” on corporations and arms traders who are complicit in human rights abuses in Israel and Palestine.

Artists’ Union of England delegate Martin Sundram said: “At the moment we’re looking at a people lacking the control that allows them to function as a society — water, the freedom to travel, the basic right to safety.

“What we’re defending in this motion is not just the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people, but the rule of law itself.”

Unite executive council member Philippa Marsden said: “Besieged and blockaded from all sides, the Gaza Strip remains the world’s largest prison.

“But increasing numbers of annexations and the building of illegal settlements has built a string of mini-Gazas across the country.

“All of us here must redouble our efforts to build solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

On behalf of the TUC general council, GMB general secretary Tim Roache said: “We oppose the recent US policy of withdrawing much-needed aid from the United Nations Work and Relief Agency in Palestine.

“This is particularly concerning given that, in recent years, it has been reported that Gaza was on track to become unlivable by 2020.

“We recognise calls by UN officials to halt further demolitions, and concerns expressed by further settlements.”

Source: Morning Star Online