THE Scottish TUC condemned Israel’s invasion of Gaza today, as well as the British government “and all UK political parties which have failed to call for a ceasefire and the immediate halting of weapons sales to Israel.”

It adopted a general council statement on the war after a special session in which delegates heard from Palestinians via videolink.

Masa Hlelel, a volunteer firefighter from Nablus, said Palestinians were “aware of the thousands of people demonstrating across Scotland and the world” for peace and justice for their people.

“Do not underestimate the power you all have,” she stressed. “Keep marching, keep lobbying, keep campaigning.”

Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions Shaher Sa’ed described the horrific reality on the ground in Palestine, with over 85,000 houses destroyed, mosques, churches and trade union offices bombed, and not a single school now left standing.

He cited confirmed death tolls by occupation, with the dead including 485 medical workers, 465 firefighters, 300 education workers and 140 journalists.

But he ended on a defiant note: “This is our land, and we are not going anywhere.”

Palestine’s ambassador to Britain Husam Zomlot condemned Israel for “imposing famine on 2.3 million Palestinians” and warned the terror was worsening in the West Bank, where “hundreds have been killed in settler violence, thousands have been detained without charge and whole villages depopulated.”

The STUC statement affirmed targeted support for the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movement and opposed all arms sales to Israel. 

But on direct action at arms factories, it cautioned that “we recognise the right of civil society to seek to influence the arms industry, but not at the expense of undue pressure on or harassment of workers,” arguing “it is strategically more effective to target political parties, including front-bench Labour politicians, than the arms industry.”

Agreeing to remit a motion from the Public & Commercial Services union, its president Martin Cavanagh warned PCS would take legal action against the government and suspend members’ work in processing arms sales if it concluded they were at risk of breaching international law.

And the FBU’s Jim Malone, who in 2011 drove a donated fire engine to Nablus, affirmed that the STUC stood with the Palestine solidarity cause, “the largest social movement in recent history.”