- Conference
- Date
- June 16, 2017
- Decision
Conference calls upon UNISON through its international solidarity department to enhance its existing policy on Palestine namely by strengthening UNISON policy to include both Colonisation and occupation of Palestine into the policy wording.
Colonisation.“The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.” Source UN, President Jimmy Carter 2006.
The preeminent obstacle to peace is Israel’s colonization of Palestine. There were just a few hundred settlers in the West Bank and Gaza when I became president, but the Likud government expanded settlement activity after I left office. President Ronald Reagan condemned this policy, and reaffirmed that Resolution 242 remained “the foundation stone of America’s Middle East peace effort.” President George H.W. Bush even threatened to reduce American aid to Israel.
Conference it goes without saying that within this motion we can give many examples of the ongoing and ever expanding colonisation of Palestine however as the motion states our objective as regards the motion is to strengthen our existing policy with regards Palestine.
It was clear to all concerned who visited Palestine as part of the UNISON delegation in April 2016 that the ever expanding illegal settlements with the full legislative backing of the Israeli parliament are a clear and unambiguous project of colonisation.
Conference Occupation is temporary, colonisation is permanent. We must act now and not wait until we read about the Palestinian indigenous people in the historical context. Including colonisation in our existing policy provides a new platform for debate that allows our members to speak about the issue surrounding the situation in Palestine from the context of examples of colonialism and its historical lessons.
Royal Hospital Trust
NEC POLICY: SUPPORT AND AMEND
68.1
Delete first paragraph and replace with: “Conference calls on the National Executive Council to use the words colonisation and occupation when describing the illegal occupation of Palestine.”
In the second paragraph insert “is defined by the United Nations as” after “Colonisation”. Delete “Source UN, President Jimmy Carter 2006.”
At the beginning of the third paragraph insert “In 2006 former US President Jimmy Carter said “”
Delete fourth paragraph.
National Executive Council