{news} GP RELEASE: Greens, pressing Palestinian rights, urge boycott of Israel

[Justine McCabe]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, November 28, 2005
 
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene at greens.org
Mohammed K. Abed, Wisconsin Green Party,
608-332-9900, mkabed at wisc.edu
Justine McCabe, International Committee,
860-354-1822, justinemccabe at earthlink.net

 
GREENS, CALLING FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS, URGE
DIVESTMENT FROM ISRAEL

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the United
States has endorsed a statement calling for a
comprehensive strategy of boycott and divestment
that would pressure the government of Israel to
guarantee human rights for Palestinians.

The resolution, introduced by the Wisconsin Green
Party and passed in the Green Party's National
Committee, seeks reversal of Israel's current
policies.  The text is appended below.

 
"Israel's treatment of Palestinians -- those who
are Israeli citizens as well as those in the
territories -- is comparable in many ways to
South African apartheid, and has resulted in a
cycle of violence and lack of security for both
Israelis and Palestinians," said Mohammed Abed, a
member of the Wisconsin Green Party.  "A stable
and just resolution of the conflict requires the
full realization of the human rights of
Palestinians and Israelis."

 
Greens allege that the 'peace process' will
ensure neither peace nor human rights, and have
called the Gaza Disengagement Plan a smokescreen
to buy time and accumulate political capital for
the Sharon government while it pursues a plan to
force Palestinians into disconnected reservations
on less than half the West Bank.

 
The Green Party is already on record as
supporting the right of Palestinian refugees to
return to their homes and to receive compensation
for their losses; immediate Israeli withdrawal
from all lands acquired since 1967, including the
West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem (see
<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article329199.ece>);
maintenance of Jerusalem as a shared city open to
people of all faiths; suspension of U.S. military
and foreign aid to Israel; complete dismantling
of the Israeli separation wall; and serious
consideration of a single secular, democratic
state as the national home of both Israelis and
Palestinians.  Greens have affirmed the right of
self-determination for both Palestinians and
Israelis.

 
"The Green Party is on the side of the many
Israeli and Palestinian organizations working
together to achieve a just resolution through
nonviolent means," said Ruth Weill, co-chair of
the Wisconsin Green Party.  "As proven in South
Africa in the 1980s, divestment and boycott are
an effective means to achieve justice for the
oppressed."

 
Greens note that direct U.S. aid to Israel has
been conservatively estimated at nearly $105
billion since 1949, which does not include
recently proposed assistance such as the $1.2
billion package for developing the Negev and
Galilee.

 
"American taxpayers' money is subsidizing
 Israel's mistreatment of its Palestinian citizens
and of Palestinians in the occupied territories,"
said Peter LaVenia, chair of the Albany, NewYork
Greens.

RESOLUTION
Adopted by the Green Party of the United States,
November 21, 2005

1. The Green Party of the United States (GPUS)
publicly calls for divestment from and boycott of
the State of Israel until such time as the full
individual and collective rights of the
Palestinian people are realized. 

To maximize the effect of the Green Party's
support for divestment and boycott of Israel:

2. The party calls on all civil society
institutions and organizations around the world
to implement a comprehensive divestment and
boycott program. Further, the party calls on all
governments to support this program and to
implement state level boycotts.
 
3. The party urges the Campus Greens network to
work in cooperation with other campus
organizations to achieve institutional
participation in this effort.

 
4. The GPUS National Committee directs the Green
Peace Action Committee (GPAX) to encourage the
larger anti-war movement to promote the
divestment/boycott effort.

 
5. The GPUS National Committee directs the
International Committee to work with our sister
Green parties around the world in implementing an
 international boycott.

 
MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

 
Green Party International Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/intl/

 
Green Party Peace Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/


University of Wisconsin Divest from Israel
Campaign http://alawda.rso.wisc.edu/links.htm


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