Union chief demands UK action on Israel violence

A Scottish union boss is lobbying the British Government to help the Palestinian people.

Bill Speirs, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, is making the call following a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

He wants Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to kick-start the peace process in the region.

He met Mr Arafat in the blockaded West Bank city of Ramallah during a visit to the Middle East.

The union leader said: "We agreed with President Arafat that on our return to Scotland we will, among other things, seek an urgent meeting with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, to convey what we have seen and heard here.

"It is clear that the Palestinians are living under a brutal and violent occupation, and are in daily terror that the Israeli government is going to unleash something even worse.

"Britain has an historical responsibility to act, and the STUC will do what it can to press for action."