Press Release 23 April 2009
Scottish Friends of Palestine welcomes and endorses today’s vote by the affiliates of the Scottish Trades Union Congress to
- Support Boycotts and disinvestment against Israel
- Call for Sanctions against Israel
- Encourage positive investments in the occupied territories.
With around 400 delegates voting in favour (2 against) this was effectively a unanimous vote. It was also an informed vote, based on debate and consultation throughout the trade union movement in Scotland over the past year.
This vote is is both a reflection of, and part of, the strength of feeling across Scotland that the Israeli state must treat the Palestinian people as part of the human race, as part of mankind, not to be dispossessed, attacked, maimed, murdered as the mood suits.
This vote at the STUC Conference bears an important message to those myopic and hypocritical politicians in the UK and the wider international community who continue to tolerate, if not encourage, the murderous excesses, the continuing colonial policies and practices of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people. The message goes straight to the heart of government and political establishment. If you will do nothing to stop the actions of this rogue state then we, civic society, will take the lead, will show the way.
Let there be no no doubt as to the meaning of this vote for for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the state of Israel. Scottish Friends of Palestine advocates:
Boycott all Israeli products. Always read the label. Don’t be fooled by labels stating the country of origin as the “West Bank” which in reality means produce of illegal Israeli settlements. Visit www.easi-piesi.org to find Israeli products on sale in the UK.
Boycott all Israeli academic institutions. All are complicit in the denial of Palestinian rights. The Israeli miltary and propaganda machine cannot survive without them. Rarely, if ever, do they condemn the destruction of Palestinian schools and universities or the attacks on schoolchildren by racist Israeli settlers and the military machine of the Israeli state.
This includes all medical related events. The Israeli medical establishment remains silent on the issue of torture, the so-called “moderate physical pressure” applied to Palestinians in detention. Some even justify it. Many work within the system and are complicit in acts of torture. It is silent when ambulances and medical workers are attacked.
Boycott all Israeli sports teams and contestants. Their presence in the UK help Israel maintain its illusion of a civilised society. They never condemn the occupation, or the denial of Palestinian rights. Remember, conscription obliges all Jewish Israelis to take part in the occupation. Palestinian national sports teams, particularly the national football squad, have to rely mainly on team members from outwith Palestine. Israel refuses to allow all team members to travel abroad for training or competitions. Training facilities are targeted and destroyed by the occupation forces.
Boycott all Israeli Arts and Cultural events. These help Israel maintain its illusion of a civilised society. The participants are all complicit in maintaining an illegal and brutal occupation.
Boycott all Israeli trade unions and professional associations. Remember, Israel’s illegal settlements, its wall of annexation and despair, can only be constructed with the assistance of architects and organised labour. The Histadrut, Israel’s TUC, continues to play a prime role in Israel’s institutionalised and endemic racist policies towards the Palestinian people.
Scottish Friends of Palestine is a firm advocate of the total boycott of all Israeli institutions, academic and cultural bodies and Israeli products – until as such times that the Israeli state ceases to boycott the rights of the Palestinian people, and international law as it pertains to the Palestinian people.
Visit www.easi-piesi.org to find out what you can do.
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