The recent furore that met the decision of the University and College Union (UCU) in Britain to debate over the next year the possibility of an academic boycott against Israel does more to advance the case for a boycott than any reasoned argument ever could. The vicious reaction of Israeli government officials and apologists for Israel internationally has served to illustrate in stark terms the way in which occupation, oppression and ethnic cleansing has for years worn the mask of exceptionalism, divine purpose and victim.

Consider some of the statements which have emanated from those who are exercised at the prospect of a boycott against Israel. Isaac Herzog, for example, is a member of the Israeli Government, who in response to the UCU's decision said: “there is an active Muslim minority joining forces with left-wing elements in the British public.”

Congratulations, Mr Herzog, you are quite right, there is unity between significant sections of the British Muslim community and left-wing elements in the UK. It is based on the simple fact that though we may not share a common religion or culture, we do share a common humanity. More importantly, we share a common oppressor in the form of the racism and exploitation that underpins that extreme variant of capitalism otherwise known as neo-liberalism, which the state of Israel serves so well as Washington’s attack dog in the Middle East.

Next we have Israeli Trade and Industry Minister, Eli Yishai, who described the boycott as “an extremely worrying issue.”

Thank you, Mr Yishai, your words are music to the ears of every Palestinian who’s ever experienced the humiliation of trying to pass through an Israeli checkpoint barring them from moving freely in and around their land; music to the ears of the countless thousands who’ve been made homeless by Israeli bombs, missiles and bulldozers; music to the ears of every man, woman and child in the world who has and is suffering at the sharp end of an economic system predicated on profit regardless of the human or social cost, and who understands that the front line in the epic struggle of resistance to this economic system is currently in the Middle East.

Internationally, just as we have come to expect, the Zionist movement has not been slow to react either. And who better to lead the way in raining down a veritable deluge of moral indignation than that well known apologist for the state of Israel, Alan Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard University: “I guarantee that we will obtain legislation dealing with this issue,” he said, “imposing sanctions that will devastate and bankrupt those who seek to impose bankruptcy on Israeli academics.”

But rather than be checked by such stentorian pronouncements, the momentum for a boycott has been ramped up with the resolution that was passed at the beginning of June by, Unison, the UK national health and public service workers union, at their annual conference in Brighton. Representing 1.3 million workers, the Unison resolution calls for an immediate boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel in what has to be one of the most politically substantive motions every passed by a British trade union for over a generation. Indeed, so powerful and determined is the wording of this resolution it instantly recalls to mind the principal and courage which made the trade union movement such a beacon of hope for humanity at one time.

It reads:

'Conference notes that, during 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon and Gaza, withheld tax revenues from the Palestine Authority and refused dialogue with the elected Authority following the democratic elections of January 2006, re-sealed the borders of Gaza, expanded illegal settlements in the West Bank and continued the construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall.

'Israeli policy represents a calculated defiance of international law and the United Nations (UN), with the collusion of the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) which cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority.

'Conference repudiates the Blair government’s consistent stand in support of the Israeli government throughout the shameful events of 2006, even joining the US in failing to call for a ceasefire amidst worldwide condemnation of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

'UNISON believes the appropriate response is to support the growing international moves towards a union-based campaign of boycott and sanctions against Israeli institutions, in line with the call from over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations including the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions and individual unions and labour collectives.

'UNISON welcomes the moves in 2006 towards implementing the campaign of Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) including those by the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) in Ireland, the Ontario region of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Congress of South African Unions (COSATU), and the open letter from artists supporting a cultural boycott.

'UNISON resolves to participate fully in this growing international campaign by:

'1) promoting discussion of these issues at branch and regional level through union publications, and involving the membership in conjunction with regional international committees;

'2) continuing cooperation with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign at national, regional and local level;

'3) investigating how UNISON members may be involved in trade with Israel or with key companies active in this trade;

'4) highlighting to members the scope for consumer boycott of such trade;

'5) investigating whether pension funds may have investments in Israel or in key companies trading with Israel, and seeking disinvestment from any such pension links;

'6) supporting members who are able to take union-based action in line with Conference policy;

'7) organising regional conferences where possible in cooperation with other Trades Union Congress affiliates and with PSC, to discuss the BDS campaign;

'8) reviewing progress at the Nation Executive Council quarterly.

'Conference recognises that the BDS policy will be opposed by the Israeli trade union federation Histadrut.

'Conference notes that the Histadrut expressed no opposition to the invasions of Lebanon or Gaza, nor to the apartheid wall, throughout 2006 despite its own substantial economic conflicts with the Israeli government.

'Conference considers that appropriate relations with the Histadrut are based on explaining our union’s policy and encouraging the Histadrut to condemn the Israeli government’s blatant violations of international law.

'Conference reaffirms UNISON’s right and desire to act in solidarity with the Palestinian people.’

It seems that after many long years of suffering in isolation, the Palestinians are being joined in their struggle for self determination and human rights by the international working class. In this country this support is being given in defiance of a British government that has been a staunch supporter of Israel’s repeated violations of international law vis-à-vis the Palestinians and its Arab neighbours. No longer can Israel claim the status of victim, nor assert its right to exceptionalism, as she has done throughout her history to justify the brutal and barbaric treatment of a people whose only crime is to assert their right to live in freedom on their own land. The Palestinians were not responsible for the Holocaust, and for far too long they have been condemned to pay the price for it. The fear of attracting the dreaded calumny attached to the label anti-Semitic for far too long has prevented meaningful international opposition to Israel’s policies taking shape. However, with last year’s month-long assault on southern Lebanon, the veil of denial was finally and irrevocably stripped from the eyes of all except the most diehard supporters of this apartheid state or the incurably blind.

Yes, at long last it appears that the tide of fortune is turning in favour of the Palestinian people across the world, with the justice of their cause not only recognized but actively supported internationally. Ironically, just as such an awakening is taking place internationally, divisions within the occupied territories, fomented by Israel, the US and EU governments, has left the Palestinians divided.

Israel is a rogue state, the fourth largest military power in the world, armed with stockpiles of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Hezbollah dealt the myth of Israeli military invincibility as shattering blow in the summer of 2006, a defeat which was felt at all levels of Israeli society. In response to that defeat, like a wounded animal, Israel has vented its rage on the Palestinians, reflected in events that have taken place recently with the undermining and isolation of Hamas and the sealing off of the Gaza Strip.

At time of writing nobody can say for certain what will happen. What is clear, however, is that the Palestinians can do no more. They are a people in desperate need of support in the face of Israel’s unremitting and brutal occupation. The moves by the UCU to discuss a boycott, and the Unison resolution calling for one, provide proof in our time that humanity is joined by bonds which transcend race, ethnicity, religion and economic advantage.

Both Unison and the UCU have succeeded in restoring faith in the meaning of the word solidarity.

End.