EMERGENCY MOTION ON PALESTINE FOR WILTSHIRE & AVON HEALTH UNISON EXTRAORDINARY BRANCH EXECUTIVE MEETING, 4th FEBRUARY 2025
This Branch notes:
•The Israeli assault on Gaza since October 2023 has been catastrophic for the Palestinian people living in this area. During over 15 months of daily bombardments, deaths, injuries, displacement and starvation, at least 46,707 Gazans have been killed, which includes about 18,000 children. At least 110,265 Palestinians have been injured.
•Crucially this extreme collective punishment, in which the healthcare system and educational facilities have been almost completely decimated, was militarily and diplomatically supported by US and UK Governments.
•Whilst a precarious ceasefire has now been established, it is clear that the Israel state will not simply sit back and seek long-lasting peace. Any serious study of the longer history of Israel’s settler-colonial drive to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the land of historic Palestine, restricting their rights within an apartheid system of dehumanisation, should caution against any complacency.
•Meanwhile the murderous assault by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on areas of the West Bank continue, given confidence by Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President.
•Trump has now lifted the hold on the sale of 2000-pound bombs to Israel and removed sanctions on far right settlers who help instigate violent pogroms in the West Bank. It is outrageous that he is also now openly calling for the full ‘cleaning out’ of Palestinians from Gaza into neighbouring countries.
•In a further display of its callous disregard for Palestinian health and well-being, Israel has now banned the operation of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Israeli controlled areas. This will effectively sabotage and undermine the ability of the agency to provide services to millions of Palestinians. It would mean for example in the West Bank depriving 50,000 girls and boys of daily education and prevent 500,000 people accessing primary health facilities.
•Recent signs are that the British state is trying to escalate its attempt to stop people protesting in support of Palestine. At the national protest in London on Saturday 18th February the police charged two leading figures in the movement with public order offences. These are Ben Jamal, Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and Chris Nineham, Stop the War vice chair and chief steward of the protest. This follows police denying protestors the right to gather outside the BBC building in Portland Place.
This Branch believes:
•We have a responsibility to urgently resist and speak out against the latest attempts by the state to intimidate the pro-Palestine mass movement off the streets. This movement has been crucial in exposing the scale of the horror in Gaza, in contributing to Israel’s increasing international isolation, and in highlighting the UK Government’s complicity in the mass killing of Palestinians.
•As trade unionists and professionals working predominantly in the health and care sector we cannot remain passive in the face of the colossal physical and mental health disaster which has been unfolding and continues to unfold in Gaza. The level of trauma and physical suffering endured by children is simply unimaginable and we have a duty to demonstrate our on-going solidarity with the Palestinian people.
This Branch resolves:
•To show solidarity with both those arrested in the state clampdown on civil liberties and the right to protest, as well as with Palestinian trade unionists who have called on workers around the world to campaign to end the complicity of their governments, corporations and institutions in Israel’s system of oppression.
•To thus take up the call from Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Stop the War Coalition to participate in the national Workplace Day of Action for Palestine on 13th February. This could involve different forms of raising awareness in our workplaces, ranging from lunch-time protests to simply taking staff group selfies showing our support for the Palestinian people.
•To continue to encourage Branch members to attend national demonstrations for Palestine (the next one will be Saturday 15 February).