After much soul searching and gnashing of teeth, this decision is significant and timely:
The TUC today backed a targeted boycott of Israeli goods originating from illegal settlements and an end to arms sales to IsraelPalestinian territories“. to ramp up the pressure “for an end to the occupation of
The decision to step up its position was triggered by widespread dismay by unions at… the Israeli offensive in Gaza in January.
Reiterating the union’s condemnation of the offensive, Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, told union delegates that they “have a part to play” in seeing an end to the occupation, a dismantling of the separation wall and the removal of the illegal settlements.
In the most controversial motion to be debated at the four-day conference in Liverpool, Barber told delegates: “We believe that targeted action – aimed at goods from the illegal settlements and at companies involved in the occupation and the wall – is the right way forward.
“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.”