The Unison union has blocked the participation of an Israeli expert at an NHS-sponsored workshop on negotiation and conflict management next week in Manchester aiming to tighten boycott grip on Israeli regime.
Union members "would find it difficult to be lectured in conflict resolution by someone from Israel," a Unison spokeswoman told the Guardian.
Unison, which is Britain's largest trade union, representing 1.3 million public service workers, has frequently voted in favor of a general boycott of Israel.
"Unison's local representatives at the Manchester Mental Health & Social Care Trust did request that the decision to invite Mr Moti Cristal to facilitate a Partnership Workshop on 8th May 2012 be reversed," Kevin Nelson, the regional secretary of Unison North West Region said.
"It was considered that the decision to invite a prominent Israeli negotiator would be unacceptable given UNISON and TUC policy on the Middle East conflict.”
Moti Cristal, an Israeli advisor and trainer on negotiating skills, who was scheduled to present a "master-class" at a workshop on conflict resolution for managers on May 8, received an email on April 27 from the company organizing the seminar, telling him that his lecture had been cancelled "on the grounds that it is [the union's] policy and also that of the Trades Union Council to support the Palestinian people."
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) has planned to deliver a message to the office of the British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday, May 7, asking for British intervention to press Israel into responding to the Palestinian prisoners’ humanitarian demands.
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