The labour movement and the left should try to counteract despair in the Middle East with calls for genuine dialogue and exchange, not by finger-pointing and boycotts, writes Buzz Hargrove

I was disappointed by CUPE Ontario's recent decision to call for a boycott of Israel.

I start from a long history of support for a Palestinian state, with borders established through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, with support and assistance from the United Nations. I remain fully supportive of that approach.

I have continually condemned violence on both sides, and called for concessions by Israel including withdrawing from the West Bank and Gaza. I knew this could only be accomplished if the Palestinians recognized the right of Israel to exist and ultimately denounced violence as a solution.

I strongly believe Israelis have the right to be secure from suicide bombers, missile attacks and snipers.

I argued that Israel had to recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a homeland, with borders to be negotiated between the Palestinians and Israel and had to accept the role of the UN in helping bring this about.

Over the many difficult years that this conflict has been continuing, some significant progress has been made — including Israel recognizing the right of the Palestinians to their own state.

Of course, it is never easy to create a new state, especially in a context of continuing violence, poverty and factionalism.

Nevertheless, supporters of a two-state solution to the conflict must recognize the genuine progress that has been made — even, surprisingly, under the leadership of the old warhorse, Ariel Sharon. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and proposed relocating more than 80,000 settlers from the West Bank, sparking a huge controversy within Israel.

These were concrete efforts to help find a negotiated settlement with the PLO. Yet they are now all thrown into jeopardy by the extremism of Hamas.

Unfortunately, the situation has gone from bad to worse in the Middle East with the election of the terrorist organization Hamas.

The Hamas election was a major setback to efforts by the PLO and Israel to find a negotiated solution. How can Israel negotiate with Hamas, whose official policy is the annihilation of the Israeli people?

Moreover, Hamas has publicly supported suicide bombers and other acts of terrorism, with the goal of killing and maiming as many innocent Israeli women, children and men as possible.

All this coincides with the rise to power of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who publicly calls for the annihilation of Israel while he continues to develop the capability to build nuclear weapons.

One does not have to support the militarist rhetoric of U.S. President George Bush to recognize that Ahmadinejad's positions are a recipe for catastrophe, and he must be quickly opposed by the international community.

The Canadian labour movement and the left could play an important role in supporting a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict. To do this, however, we must get past simple rhetoric — like the claim that Israel is equivalent to the former South African apartheid regime.

As one of the many in the Canadian labour movement who for many years supported the struggle against apartheid, I am disappointed by this unfair depiction.

A more constructive approach for the labour movement would be to support the continuing peace efforts of PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas. We must all condemn Hamas for its support for terrorism and its refusal to recognize the right of Israelis to exist within secure borders, free of the threat of terrorism.

Finally, if a boycott is warranted, why not direct it at the extremist government in Iran for its continuing push to develop nuclear weapons and its official policy to annihilate the Israelis?

Indeed, workers are regularly jailed for any effort to form unions in Iran. If progressives remain silent about what is happening in Iran, we will cede all leadership on the issue to Bush and his allies, who have their own ignoble motives for an escalating conflict with Iran.

Good people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide have been trying for years to find ways to expand communication, exchange, and trust between them.

Brave leaders, like Abbas and Sharon, have taken enormous risks to bring their respective constituencies toward a peaceful and mutual resolution of the conflict. Recent events in the region, however, give rise to fear and despair.

The labour movement and the left should try to counteract that despair with calls for genuine dialogue and exchange, not by finger-pointing and boycotts.

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Buzz Hargrove is president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Canada's largest private sector union.