Boycot Israel 3

'Israeli boycotts: gesture politics or a moral imperative?
The Guardian

I welcome your leader criticising the decision by the NUJ to boycott Israeli goods (April 20). For many years we have been working with trade unions in the region, the Histadrut (Israeli TUC) and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), to meet and establish links with British unions. What trade unionists need in the region is solidarity, engagement and respect, not divisive calls that can only help the extremists. The general secretary of the PGFTU said in a letter only this week to Ofer Eini, chairman of the Histadrut, that "we must emphasise our mutual need for peace in our two societies, for the benefit both of workers and because peace will reflect stability". If the two union federations want to work for peace together it is our duty to support them. It is a pity that the NUJ did not take part in our recent delegation to the region to show real solidarity with fellow trade unionists, rather than taking on gesture politics. Roger Lyons Chair, Trade Union Friends of Israel

You suggest that, in voting to boycott Israel, the NUJ has strayed too far from its legitimate business. We do not think such arguments apply to our grave concerns as doctors about the health-related impact of Israeli policy on Palestinian society. Persistent violations of medical ethics have accompanied Israel's occupation. The Israeli Defence Force has systematically flouted the fourth Geneva convention guaranteeing a civilian population unfettered access to medical services and immunity for medical staff. Ambulances are fired on (hundreds of cases) and their personnel killed. Desperately ill people, and newborn babies, die at checkpoints because soldiers bar the way to hospital. The public-health infrastructure, including water and electricity supplies, is wilfully bombed, and the passage of essential medicines like anti-cancer drugs and kidney dialysis fluids blocked. In the West Bank, the apartheid wall has destroyed any coherence in the primary health system. UN rapporteurs have described Gaza as a humanitarian catastrophe, with 25% of children clinically malnourished.'

Lees verder: http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,,2062435,00.html