BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, AND SANCTIONS
At the June 19, 2018 Regular meeting of the Vancouver & District Labour Council, delegates present passed the following motion in support of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel in response to the country’s actions against the Palestinian people.
****
BECAUSE article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring parts of its own civilian population to territory it occupies; and
BECAUSE the International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) violate international law; and
BECAUSE Israeli settlement expansions in the OPT are an undeniable obstacle to the Israel – Palestine peace process; and
BECAUSE Israel has continued, despite international pressure, to expand its settlements and to demolish Palestinian homes and other infrastructure in the OPT; and
BECAUSE UN Resolution 194 establishes the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their lands and properties; and
BECAUSE Canada and other nations have previously succeeded in ensuring respect for human rights through the use of economic and political sanctions, including in the case of South Africa; and
BECAUSE the world has watched in horror as dozens of unarmed Palestinian protestors have been killed, and hundreds wounded, by Israeli military forces in recent weeks,
THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL support the use of boycott, divestment and sanctions (“BDS”) that are targeted to those sectors of Israel’s economy and society which profit from the ongoing occupation of the OPT; and
THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL FURTHER support such a form of BDS until such time as Israel implements a permanent ban on further settlement construction in the OPT, and enters into good faith negotiations with representatives of the Palestinian people for the purpose of establishing a viable, contiguous and truly sovereign Palestinian state; and
THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL FURTHER support such a form of BDS until such time as Israel dismantles the apartheid wall, recognizes the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality, ceases the use of excessive force against protestors, and respects the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194; and
THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL FINALLY oppose all efforts to prohibit, punish or otherwise deter expressions of support for BDS.
