International Crisis

Speech by John McFadden (NEC) to Scottish Trade Union Congress 17 April 2002

"Just over five weeks ago, I was a member of a UNISON delegation to the Middle East.

We were in Gaza and Ramallah during the worst two days (then) of the Israeli invasion of Palestine. March 9 was the bloodiest day of the Intifada, when 41 people were killed. During our visit, we heard of attacks on ambulances and the deaths of doctors and other medical personnel trying to get to wounded civilians and the deaths of journalists trying to report what was happening. We saw for ourselves the humiliation of people trying to get from place to place and long queues at checkpoints set up to prevent entry or exit from towns and villages. One PGFTU officer had to walk for 21/2 to 3 hours to meet us in Ramallah and had to do the same on the way back. This was not a unique occurrence. We heard first-hand the news of the Israeli army tanks rolling into Bethlehem during our meeting with President Yasser Arafat, at his headquarters in Ramallah, and we heard exchanges of gunfire and shelling by the Israeli army outside. Little did we know what would follow!

A lot has been said about what happened on September 11^th last year, and rightly so. The attacks that day were appalling and unacceptable. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives. One of our sister unions the Service Employees Union (SEIU), had around 350 local members on duty in the World Trade Centre at the time of the attack and many lost their lives - these were ordinary workers like porters, cleaners and maintenance workers. Also, fire fighters, ambulance crews and other emergency service workers lost their lives trying to get to the trapped and injured. Over and above the loss of life, many thousands more have since been affected by disability, lay-offs and redundancies. Mr President, I hope we will send a message of condolence and solidarity to their families today from this Congress. This action has done nothing to further the cause of freedom anywhere. On the contrary it was a contributing factor to israel's ability to carry out its terror attacks on the Palestinians without any restraint by the international community and it was the catalyst for the threats against Iraq, not to mention the further disasters suffered by the people of Afghanistan.

As Denis Goldberg pointed out yesterday, it is difficult to be even handed about the current violence in Israel and the Occupied Territories. On the one side you have a lightly armed, oppressed people whose land was taken by terror campaigns in 1948 to establish the state of Israel. This is why we remember Deir Yassin and the 400 other villages the Palestinian people fled from, causing the massive refugee problem still dogging the peace process. This was compounded by the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation.

On the other you have the might of a nation founded by its own brand of terrorism, supported financially and militarily by the most powerful nation on earth, and which has one of the best-equipped and most sophisticated military machines anywhere.

The action of the Israeli government, with the tacit and sometimes overt support of the USA and the UK, only provokes retaliation. After all, this is the natural reaction of people who feel themselves cornered and humiliated. I t was made very clear to us it is why you have young women and men strapping on explosives to blow up themselves and others. The refusal to insist that Israel withdraw from Palestine is the problem which needs to be addressed, otherwise the cycle of violence will go on. I just heard before coming up here that Colin Powell has gone home without saying anything about this.

The hypocrisy of the US and UK governments in their so called war against terrorism and dealing with the Middle east conflict is very worrying. They see themselves as the self-appointed police force of the free world. The rhetoric they have used has led to racist attacks on innocent people here, in Europe and in the United States. They are, of course, quite right to pursue the perpetrators of September 11^th and to state that a political solution based on UN resolutions is needed in the Middle East. However, they have to show clear evidence to justify their actions in Afghanistan, which they promised and haven't yet produced, and they have to show their intention that all sides must abide by UN resolutions, again something they have failed to do. They also have to show that all perpetrators of terrorism will be brought to justice. By standards applied in Kosovo and Serbia, Ariel Sharon should have been brought to trial for war crimes long ago. Instead, he now has been elected Prime Minister of Israel and continues his slaughter of the Palestinian people. He must be brought to book for what he has done. Finally, they have to stop using language which links all black people to acts of terror.

An attack on Iraq would further destabilise the region, leading to greater risk of attacks on Israel and further alienation of the Muslim world. They keep talking about a new world order, but this can never be built on the continuing self-interest of the US and its allies. We must make our government listen to the views of less developed parts of the world, particularly Asia and Africa, and listen to us when we try to tell them of the madness of their approach. We have tried three times to meet a government minister since we came back and each time we've been ignored. So much for their open door approach. This cannot go on!

It is also important for us to develop our work with the international labour movement and other progressive organisations and some priority has to be given to asking our American counterparts to put pressure on their government. It was interesting how many Americans interviewed after September 11^th kept asking, "Why us?" If they still don't know, we have to make them understand.

We can also put pressure on Israel. A boycott of Israeli produce has been called for by Bill Speirs. Every one of us can raise this in our own organisations and with our employers and other organisations, to get them also to refuse to purchase Israeli goods. My union's executive council will be considering this on Saturday, and I am confident it will be supported.

All that is being created by the current repression is more hate, more disaffection and more extremism. What is needed is to deal with the issues of oppression and poverty. Removing the breeding grounds for terror will be more effective in ‘rooting out terrorism' than all the tanks and bombs.

Please support the motion."