Swedish dockworkers boycott Israeli ships

June 23, 2010

(JTA) -- Swedish dockworkers have begun a boycott of Israeli ships.

The boycott, which began at midnight Tuesday night and is scheduled to last for one week, covers all of Sweden's ports.

The 1,500 members of the Swedish Port Workers voted earlier this month to approve the boycott in protest of Israel's interception last month of a Gaza-bound flotilla in which nine activists were killed, as well as to protest Israel's blockade of Gaza. Eleven Swedish citizens were aboard the flotilla.

On the first day of the boycott, dockworkers refused to handle about a dozen cargo containers at a southwestern port.

Israel ships fruit, vegetables, spices and skin care products to Sweden. Swedish-Israeli trade accounts for about 0.2 percent of Sweden's total imports and exports.