The Edinburgh TUC motion reminded delegates that last year’s Congress in Ayr gave a generous welcome to the first recipient of a SUSPS award who is from Gaza.
UNISON’s Sam Macartney had just returned from a uniosn delegation to Palestine and he gave delegates a graphic account of the conditions Paelstinians are having to live in.
“The situation is bleak”. said Sam: “Settlement building has increased at an alarming pace. Palestinian homes being demolished is a daily occurrence. People have to pay to have their home demolished. Pay to have their contents and rubble removed and tossed on the street with nowhere to go.”
Palestinian settlements that remain are being cut off from all resources.
Sam said: “Walls are being erected and this increases daily, not one week but many. This stops farmers, schools and medical facilities being able to function.
“We witnessed ambulances being held in a queue with patients inside, the sick being removed and searched! Hebron, where Palestinians are corralled in pens and put behind fences to get to their mosque or go to work.
“1400 workers arrested over the last few months. Taken in chains/handcuffs to court for alleged working without a permit. I could give many more examples of blatant discrimination and racial prejudice.
“The STUC must review its policy as must all the unions involved in the BDS movement. We must object to the Co-Operative Bank’s continued attempt to drive out pro Palestinian groups like SPSC and others. We must fight this obscene Israeli government’s attempts to drive the Palestinian people out of their own country”, added Sam
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