- Conference
- 2025 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference deeply regrets the breakdown of the January 2025 ceasefire agreement between the Israeli Government and Hamas. We urge the international community and all parties to the agreement to do all they can to reinstate the ceasefire, ensure humanitarian aid is fully available and all hostages are released.
Conference believes that the resumption of air strikes on Gaza including the bombing of infrastructure such a water and electricity supply, the severe restrictions of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the approval of new settlements in the West Bank and complicity of the Israeli military with settler violence against Palestinian villages in the West Bank indicates the Israeli government is not currently interested in a peace agreement. Conference therefore calls on the National Executive Council to campaign for the UK government to use diplomatic pressure and the withholding of all UK arms exports to Israel to encourage the Israeli Government to engage in meaningful peace negotiations.
Conference is appalled by the killing of 15 health and rescue workers in March 2025 in Gaza, many of whom were working for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. They were driving clearly marked ambulances, with their lights flashing. Conference notes the attempted cover up of these killings, later contradicted by video footage found on the mobile phone of one of the deceased aid workers.
Conference recognises that the demand for a contiguous, viable Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure state of Israel is central to UNISON’s position on Palestine. The demand is fundamental to securing human and workers’ rights for the Palestinian people, including the right to decent work and quality public services.
Whilst grounded in international law and successive United Nations (UN) resolutions, international governments and agencies have failed to in their responsibility to support the establishment of a Palestinian state for 58 years.
Conference notes that whilst the 2024 Labour manifesto pledges to recognise “a Palestinian state as a contribution to a renewed peace process,” 146 member states of the United Nations have already officially recognised Palestine, leaving the UK in a small minority who have not. Conference calls on the National Executive Council to campaign for the UK government to recognise the State of Palestine immediately and to demand full recognition by the United Nations.
In January 2024 the International Court of Justice delivered the following interim judgement in the South African case against Israel under the Genocide convention– “In the Court’s view, the facts and circumstances… are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible”.
Conference welcomes and supports the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 19 July 2024, on the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.
The opinion confirms that the State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is unlawful and that the State of Israel is under an obligation to end the 58 year long occupation as rapidly as possible, immediately cease all new settlement activities and evacuate settlers. It confirms that all states and international organisations, such as the United Nations, have a responsibility not to recognise the occupation as legal, and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining it.
The opinion also confirms UNISON’s longstanding position that Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amount to segregation or apartheid, in violation of article three of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Conference calls on the UK government to fully comply with its obligations arising from the advisory opinion. In addition to officially recognising the State of Palestine, the government should ban trade with the illegal settlements, suspend the UK Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, until international law is respected, and support measures by the UN Security Council to end the occupation.
Conference believes that the past two years have been harrowing to watch as the atrocities in Gaza unfolded on our screens coupled with horrendous settler violence in the Occupied West Bank.
Conference condemns the Israeli military assault on Gaza. At the end of 2024 the UN reported that over 45,500 Palestinians have been killed and a further 108,000 injured. Approximately 70 percent of structures have been damaged or destroyed, over 90 percent of the population have been displaced, 80 percent of Gaza is under evacuation orders, and 91 percent face high levels of food insecurity, or worse. The rebuilding of Gaza will require a colossal international effort. It must embed the principles of decent work and quality public services and address the needs and hopes of the Palestinian people and their representatives, including trade unions.
Conference reaffirms UNISON’s condemnation of the heinous attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023, during which over 1,200 people were killed, 14,970 injured and 252 taken hostage.
Conference welcomes the UK government’s decision to suspend approximately 30 arms licences for items used by the Israeli Defence Forces in the conflict in Gaza, due to the risk that they might be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law. We are concerned however that this represents a small proportion of the approximately 350 UK arms licences to Israel and does not include the indirect supply of UK manufactured components for the multi-national F-35 joint strike fighter programme. Conference reiterates its call for the UK Government to fully suspend the arms trade with Israel, excluding the supply of protective equipment used for humanitarian, diplomatic and United Nations purposes.
Gaza’s fragile health system remains on the brink of collapse, according to the UN. At the end of 2024, 1,057 health workers had been killed, some have been detained, and just 47 percent of hospitals and 38 percent of primary health facilities were partially functioning due to the relentless bombardment, military raids, major shortages of critical medical supplies and shortage of health workers. Conference urges the UK Government to support action at the UN and in the international courts to demand that the Israeli Government adhere to international law. The sick and wounded must be protected and respected and health facilities must never be attacked in any circumstances.
Conference condemns the Israeli Knesset’s decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from working in areas under Israeli sovereignty and prohibit Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency. UNRWA provides a critical lifeline 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territories, providing essential health, education and social services and the impact of its closure in Gaza has been described by UN and humanitarian agencies as catastrophic. Conference welcomes the UK Government’s resumption of funding for UNRWA, following its suspension under the previous Conservative government, but calls for further action to ensure sufficient quantities of aid enter Gaza.
Conference further condemns the continued annexation of the West Bank, including the establishment and expansion of illegal settlements. The situation in the West Bank further deteriorated in 2024, with over 500 Palestinians killed and 3,000 injured. The year also saw the highest levels of settler violence, displaced people and destroyed structures recorded in the West Bank, since the UN began documenting them.
Conference notes existing UNISON policy in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement and the excellent work done across UNISON branches and regions. On many occasions we have reaffirmed our commitment to the BDS movement.
Conference agrees that to ensure that we are not funding companies linked to arms manufacture, dual use goods or any companies profiting from illegal occupation, apartheid or genocide, we must strengthen and resource our ethical procurement procedures across the union.
Conference welcomes UNISON’s work on divestment and engagement and the withdrawal of the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill. We support the call for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to divest from companies which continue to supply weapons and military technology to the Israeli Government used in violations of international law. We also support the call for funds to begin the process of divestment from companies on the United Nations list of business enterprises involved in or with the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and for time limited engagement with companies involved in the occupation, but not on the UN list. The LGPS should be invested in scheme members interests and funds should use their influence to encourage the companies they invest in to protect human and workers’ rights, adhere to international law and protect the environment.
Conference calls on the National Executive Council to:
1) Campaign for the UK government to officially recognise the State of Palestine as a contribution to a two state solution;
2) Continue to call for international governments to support a permanent ceasefire leading to lasting peace in Gaza, and ensure full access to humanitarian assistance, the immediate and safe release of hostages, and the release of Palestinians wrongfully held in Israeli prisons, including under administrative detention;
3) Campaign for the principles of decent work and quality public services to be central to international efforts to rebuild Gaza, based on the demands of Palestinian people and their representatives, and for trade unions to play a key role in the process;
4) Call on the UK government to fulfil its responsibility not to recognise the occupation as legal, and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining it, including by banning trade with the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank;
5) Call on the UK government to suspend the arms trade with Israel and the UK Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement until international law is respected;
6) Call on the UK government to uphold justice and accountability by respecting and implementing the rulings of the international courts;
7) Inform UNISON members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s ‘Don’t Buy Apartheid’ campaign that calls for the boycott of Israeli produce like avocados, oranges, herbs and dates and the boycott of Coca-Cola and its brands Schweppes, Sprite, Fanta, Innocent, Appletiser, Smart Water and Costa Coffee;
8) Disseminate relevant materials and information on Boycott Divestment and Sanctions to all branch officers and everyone involved in procuring UNISON goods and services at central, regional and branch level;
9) Provide direct briefings for all involved in paragraph 8 above, on businesses that are complicit in or benefiting from illegal occupation, violations of human or workers’ rights or international law, including the crimes of genocide or apartheid to support them in making these ethical procurement decisions;
10) In line with current UNISON policy that ‘Local Government Pension funds engage with the companies they invest in and to demand they end their involvement in the occupied Palestinian territory and in the violation of Palestinian human rights’, organise further training for all UNISON nominated pensions officials/trustees or representatives on pensions divestment. Clear guidance should be issued that all such officials/trustees or representatives will seek the exclusion of companies complicit in or benefiting from illegal occupation, violations of human or workers’ rights or international law, including the crimes of genocide or apartheid in Palestine. The list of these companies includes all those on the Boycott divestment and Sanctions list, and in detailed reports by the United Nations, and other human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Who Profits and Don’t Buy into Occupation’;
11) Commit to ensuring that all companies providing UNISON Services to Members are not complicit in or benefiting from illegal occupation, the crimes of genocide or apartheid and violations of human and workers’ rights;
12) Continue to lobby for the exclusion of companies complicit in or benefiting from illegal occupation, the crimes of genocide or apartheid and violations of human and workers’ rights in all public sector procurement.